On August 15, 1931, the Story City Bakery held a Tall Corn Contest.  Mr. Valline, the baker, offered cash prizes for the 15 tallest stalks.  The contest sponsored by the local bakery in cooperation with the Vocational Agriculture Department at the High School brought out 67 participants. At the conclusion of the judging, prizes were awarded, contestants were served lemonade and cookies, and group photos were taken. Each contestant received a free copy of the group photo. Below are the contest rules, the list of prizes offered, and the winners as described the following week in the Herald.

Contest Rules
Date of contest is August 15th. Entries may be made from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Contestant must be a man 21 years or older and must be a farm owner or renter. Contest management will furnish identification cards. All stalks entered will become the property of the contest management. Stalks will be measured from the ground line to the tip of the tassel. Crooked stalks will be straightened for measurement.  Each contestant may enter only one stalk for prize. Prizes will be paid at 4:30 p.m. the same day. Contest will be staged in the parking east of the bakery. 

Prizes Offered 
Tallest corn stalk: 1st $1, 2nd 75c, 3rd 50c, 4th 25c, 5th 20c, 6th 15c, 7th to 15th 10 cents each.

From August 20, 1931 Herald
“A. C. Reinsch received the new one dollar-bill, as first prize for his fourteen foot one inch stalk. In the coin flip T. Z. Henryson took second place and 75c, O. C Vangness drew third place and 50c, while E. C. Frette was forced to take fourth place and 25c. These men tied on stalks thirteen feet and three inches in height. Hans Hendrickson won fifth place and 20c by a coin flip, forcing Amos Fossel to take sixth place and 15c for his thirteen foot and one inch stalk. Guy Heers and S. T. Farmer won a dime each with their thirteen foot stalks. M. Mathiason, T. C. Carpenter, Harry Henderson, C. Richards and T. T. Wicks won ten cents each with stalks ranging from twelve foot eight inches to twelve foot eleven and one-half inches in height.”

​With all of the road maintenance that is currently ongoing in Story City, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how the roads were originally paved for the first time 100 years ago. Through research into the 1917 and 1918 editions of the Story City Herald, I was able to learn the specifics of the materials used, the paving company hired, which streets were paved, and the time it took to complete. We also have several photos of the process in our photograph collection, a few of which we are sharing here.

In the March 29, 1917 edition of the Herald, a notice of intention was printed that stated the town council intended to pave, grade and to build curbs and gutters upon and along certain streets and parts of streets in Story City.  It was announced in the June 14th edition that the paving resolution had passed at the city council meeting that week. The council would be asking for paving bids that would include Broad Street from the Northwestern depot at the west end to the park on the east end. The bids would also include Pennsylvania Ave a block north and a block south of Broad St. The proposed paving would be about 27,000 square yards, and about 800 feet of additional curb and gutter would also have to be built. 

The bids were opened on July 2 at a special council meeting and seven different companies were represented. The bids were as follows on the various kinds of pavements:
Bitulithic—$2.29, $2 34 $2.37.
Class " A " asphaltic concrete,$2.29.
Class " B " asphaltic concrete: $2.21, $2.29.
Asphaltic concrete without, the binder course: $ 1.99, $2.11, $2.15.
Class " A " sheet asphalt $2 29.
Class " B " sheet asphalt $2.20 and $2.24.
Monolithic brick of various methods of laying: $2.35 to $2.82.
Semi-monolithic vitrified brick: $2.79 and $2.97.
Concrete pavement: $2.15.
The prices for extra excavations ran from 49 to 65 cents per yard. The bids for paving across the
Northwestern tracks were made separately and ran from $3.50 to $7.50 per yard.
All of the above prices were for the square yard. According to the Herald editor P.A. Olson, “The prices, as we understand, are a third more than those paid by the larger cities two years ago — but goodness knows when they will be any lower.”

It was announced in the July 12th edition that the council had chosen vitrified brick for the paving method with the contract going to Cary & Sons of Clinton, and their bid was $2.35 per square yard. The contract called for the completion of the project by November 1st.  

As the community was waiting for the paving project to begin a few weeks later, P.A. Olson wrote of a petition in the July 26th edition. “Some excitement was stirred up the fore part of the week by the rumor that a petition was being circulated to get out an injunction to stop the paving work. So far nothing has come of it, although a number of signatures were obtained, we understand, in the residence blocks affected by the paving. To most of us the opposition which is developing now appears rather ill timed, as it will be pretty expensive to institute what at best can be only a period of delay. Better not do it.”

The excavating machines started on August 22nd to cut down the high spots on Broad St., cutting out six to twelve inches of graveled dirt all the way down the street. With a 14-mule grading machine and half a dozen dumping wagons, the top of the old streets were peeled off at the rate of 250 to 350 yards a day. A large portion of the dirt was dumped in the parking on Park Ave north of Broad St. due to a low spot there that tended to flood. The street grading portion of the project was completed within two weeks. 

The brick pavers finally arrived in Story City towards the end of September. It was reported on September 27th that seven train cars of brick had arrived on one train with five more cars yet expected. Two local men, Clifton Wier and Elven Hovland were given the contract to haul the brick from the train cars to the street. 

From the October 11th edition of the Herald: “The long looked for paving gang put in its appearance Monday morning—and now you ought to see how the brick is going down on our main thoroughfare. The present gang comprises about half a hundred men and they are covering about a quarter of a block per day, or four days to the block. The paving gang is largely recruited from our own city. A noteworthy feature of the work is the way several, of our "retired" farmers are dipping into it, and those middle aged men are doing "their bit" in hastening on the big paving job.”

It was reported on December 6th, 1917 that the paving of Broad St. from the depot to the park was almost completed except for a narrow strip near the park. The weather had been good in November so the men could work almost every day. However, December brought on cold weather and the project was delayed until spring. The paving contractors, Cary & Son, did not meet their November 1st deadline, but they were back in Story City in the beginning of April 1918 to finish the project. 

Broad St. was completed by the middle of May and it appears Pennsylvania Ave was completed by August as the figures were on file at the office of the town clerk showing the cost of the paving. It was reported in the Herald on August 8th that the property owners along the paved streets must pay the paving assessment by the following Monday or else they must sign waivers giving them the opportunity to pay the assessment in seven yearly payments. The total cost of the paving project would have been at least $64,450 based on the square yards of paving area, which would equal to $1.2 million in today’s money. 

On July 20, 1917 the first draft numbers were drawn at the Senate Office Building in Washington, DC. Here in Iowa, Story and Hamilton counties were 2 out of 3 counties in the entire state that had already sent more than their full quota of men. None of the registered men in the Story-Hamilton county area had to enter the army at this time. They would be called later as needed. Below is an article from the July 26, 1917 edition of the Herald that describes how the draft lottery went in this area.

The first draft during WWI was held on June 5 of 1917. Men between the ages of 21-31 were registered. On the left below is a proclamation from the governor of Iowa that was printed in the May 31 edition of the Herald. Below on the right is an article from the June 7 edition of the Herald that describes the how the draft registration went in Story county. 2,758 men registered in Story County on this date 100 years ago. Of that number 90 were from Lafayette Township and 122 were from Story City.

One of the men from Story City who registered for the draft on June 5 was Lewis Brattebo. He was a Private First Class in Company A of the 30th Machine Gun Battalion which trained at Camp Funston in Kansas. The battalion was scheduled to deploy to Europe but was prevented due to the influenza outbreak during September and October of 1918.  It was reported that 61.3% of the battalion was sent to the hospital. The total number of deaths at Camp Funston due to pneumonia following influenza was 430. Below the two articles is a scan of the front and back of Lewis's draft card.

On April 30, 1917 about a dozen men from Story City left to join the military. Photos from the large gathering to bid good-bye to the men are above. Below is an article from the May 3, 1917 edition of the Story City Herald describing the gathering.

​In honor of the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War 1, our photo of the month for April is of Alfred Jacobson during his time stationed in Hawaii. This photo of Alfred was recently donated by his daughter Katherine Munsen. It shows Alfred, who is second from the left, in Libby's pineapple fields. 

Several Story City men were stationed at three different forts in Hawaii. This group of seven men volunteered for service shortly after the U.S. declared war on April 6th. A total of 16 men from Story City had volunteered for service during April of 1917. Fred Jensen wrote a letter to the editor of the Herald on June 23, 1917 which was printed in the July 12, 1917 edition of the Herald. In his letter, Fred writes of their travel aboard the U.S. Transport Sherman to Honolulu and their time in quarantine as several cases of measles broke out on the trip.  Here is an excerpt:

"So far we have been lucky in staying together. Alfred Jacobson, Elmer Wendel, Andrew Matson, Milton Olson, Will Peterson and myself are here in the same camp. Oscar Dale is in a camp at Fort De Russey, which is six miles from here. We will be released from quarantine next Saturday, and will be assigned to our respective companies. Elmer Wendel, Milton Olson and Will Peterson will go to Ft. DeRussey; Andrew Matson will stay at Ft. Kamehameha. and Alfred Jacobson and myself to Ft. Armstrong."

The Historical Society will have the Story City in WWI exhibit installed for our Spring Dinner and Presentation on April 27th. The community is welcome to attend. If you are not able to visit on the 27th, the exhibit will be up through 2018. We also look forward to sharing Story City's WWI history over the next two years via our website and Facebook page.

​This photo was taken on March 23, 1923. In order to establish road connections between Story City and Roland, Mayors Jacobson and Skromme organized shoveling crews to clear away snow from a twenty-foot drift on the Roland road three miles east of Story City.  Seventeen men from Story City took part in the shoveling bee. Pictured are O.L. Ose, John Lee, Ben Holm, Q.T. Sande, Lester Swenson, Ed Charlson, Ding Larson, Tom Matson, Chris Lekness, Chris Johnson, Bernt Egenes, Otis Sevde, Fritchoff Larson, and Bill Peterson. We hope March 23, 2017 has far less snow than that date 94 years prior.

​For the month of February we are featuring one of the Historical Society's vintage valentines. This valentine was donated by Dave and Rosemary Osheim. The card was given to Dave's uncle Clifford Wierson by a Miss Bohling. Clifford was born in Story City in 1919. This valentine is probably from the late 1920s. The card was printed in Germany as it has "Germany" printed on the front in the lower left corner. Goods from other countries were required to bear the name of the country in which they were made. In the 1930s this was expanded to require more precise wording such as "made in..." or "printed in...". Since this card bears just the word "Germany", it would therefore date to prior to the early 1930s. Many of the most desirable valentines of the late 19th century and early 20th century were created in Germany. The phrase on the card states "I'll be glad not sad, if you will be my Valentine." The head of the girl is movable and rotates between a happy face and a sad face. The Historical Society would like to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day.

​The Historical Society is featuring two photos from a Story City Federated Women's Club (FWC) meeting that was held on January 16, 1950.  Mrs. Stanton James presented a program on "antiques" in a unique manner. From the January 19, 1950 Herald article on the program: "She began with an original poem, in which she invited her neighbors in for a cup of coffee and to preview the trousseau of her daughter who was about to be married and was planning a year's honeymoon trip, so the garments were from every season of the year." Many beautiful costumes dating back several years were modeled. Photographed here are the summer and winter costumes. Mrs. James also had variety of wedding gifts on display and gave the history of many of them, including a music box, a framed hair wreath, Battenberg scarfs, Haviland china dishes, copper from Norway, etc. The Story City FWC was officially organized on September 19, 1938. Regular session meetings were held in the Community Hall (now known as Grand Viking Hall). This club had one of the largest memberships of any of Story City's women's organizations. At the time of the 1950 meeting, the membership totaled 128. We would like to thank Katherine Munsen for donating these photos to the Historical Society.

​The historical photo of the month features Sylvian Skeie as Santa in a sleigh with ponies by Story City's Municipal Christmas tree. Skeie was born in 1902 in rural Story City. The photo was taken around 1950. Story City has celebrated Christmas with a municipal Christmas tree for over 100 years as the first tree was put up in 2014.