​In honor of Veterans Day our photo of the month for November shows Story City men leaving in 1917 to go off to war. The photo is looking west down Broad St, the old depot was on the north side of the street. Just over 200 people from the Story City area served in WWI. Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the United States entering WWI. To mark this anniversary, the Historical Society is researching and planning an exhibit that will share the history of Story City’s involvement in the war. We are putting a call out for any Story City related WWI memorabilia. If you have items that you would like to donate or loan to the Historical Society for this exhibit, please contact us. Also if you have any family stories about WWI you’d like to share, we’d love to speak with you. We'd like to thank all of the men and women from Story City who have served and who are currently serving in the armed forces.  We are truly grateful for your service.

​This year is the 80th anniversary of the 1936 Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects being completed in Story City's South Park. Our historic photos this month feature two of those projects, the swinging bridge and the shelter house.  These photos are from Katherine (Jacobson) Munsen's 15th birthday party in 1936. Katherine's mother had planned a brunch in the new shelter house that included cantaloupe with red raspberries, bacon and eggs, cinnamon rolls and fudge squares. Record temperatures were set that July with eleven consecutive days, from July 4- July 16, where the temperature reached 100 degrees F and above.  The Historical Society would like to thank Katherine Munsen for sharing these photos and her memories with us.

​This month we are featuring two historic photos from the Story City Maid Rite. It was located at 519 Pennsylvania Ave. These photos have been recently donated to the Historical Society by Gerry Anderson. Gerry’s parents, Johnny & Lucille Egenes, owned the Maid Rite for about 19 years from early 1950s through the 1960s. There were 11 stools around the counter.  Maid Rites cost 24¢ each or 5/$1, pie was 15¢, bottle of pop 10¢, and a cookie was 5¢.  Thanks to Gerry for donating these photos.  If you have old photos of former businesses in Story City that you’d like to share, please contact the Historical Society.

By John Valen

It is the 11th year and the 11th hour of the Story Festival! The Story City Historical Society, the Bertha Bartlett Public Library, and the Greater Chamber Connection have teamed up in super-hero fashion to bring to you the 2016 Story! Festival. Volunteers from all three organizations make up the twelve member planning committee. The festival will take place September 15-17, Thursday through Saturday. The committee is excited to present Pippa White and La’Ron Williams as the featured storytellers.

On Thursday of the Festival, the “Dinner and a Story” will combine a satisfying meal from Dinners by Dawn with the enticing stories of Pippa and La’Ron. Guests will dine in the Fairview Lodge while listening to their stories for a relaxing evening. Tickets for this event will be pre-sale only so make sure to grab your tickets early. 

During the day on Friday, the tellers will visit the schools carrying on the tradition of oral storytelling. That night, kids and adults can be spooked in the “Fright Night” of scary stories. There will be a first round of stories for younger audiences, followed by a second round of stories not for the faint of heart. Prepare to be scared!

Saturday will feature workshops with Pippa and La’Ron. Unlike past years, the workshops will not be held concurrently, but will be held at separate times. Anyone wishing to go to both workshops will be free to do so. “Storytelling 101: Improving Your Public Speaking” will be presented by Pippa, and “Changing our Stories Will Change our World” will be done by La’Ron. 

Following the workshops, there will be a Story Slam, which welcomes stories and poetry alike. The event is free and open to all ages. That night there will be two concerts featuring our storytellers. 

As events and times are finalized, there are several ways to keep up-to-date on the latest news. You can visit their website: www.storycity.net/story-festival/, or you can visit their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/StoryFestivalSC/. Tickets, sponsorships, and ticket packages are available for sale directly on the page.

​The historical photo this month features one of the Museums of Story City. The Bartlett House Museum is a Queen Anne style home built in 1903 for Henry Torkel Henryson and his family.  H. T. was the son of Torkel Henryson who brought early settlers from Norway to this area in 1855.  

H.T. was born in Story City in 1865.  He worked in various trades - farming, shoe store clerk, and had an interest in the S.R. Corneliusen store.  H.T. became president of the First National Bank in 1908, continuing there until his family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1913.

This home was purchased in 1996 by the Story City Historical Society with a generous gift from Dr. Frances Bartlett Kinne.  It has been restored and furnished from the 1903-1920 era.  The museum is dedicated to Dr. Kinne's parents, Charles M. and Bertha Bartlett and her brother Charles.  The home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. All of the Museums of Story City are open extended hours during the summer, Sundays from 1-3 pm.

​Its that time of year, graduation in Story City is almost here.  This photo is one of the oldest Story City High School graduation photos we have in our collection. This is Bertha (Olson) Bartlett's high school graduation photo. Bertha often told her daughter, Frances Bartlett Kinne, that the class was upset when a man joined the class in the 12th grade. Back row: Inger Grotness, Carrie Larson, Bertha (Olson) Bartlett, Alonzo Donhowe, Edith Ericson, Martha Gravdahl. Front row: Ellen Jorgenson, ___, Hagen (teacher), Neah Paulsen.

From the June 2, 1905 Herald: Commencement exercises of the high school were held in the opera house last evening and a class of seven girls and one boy finished the course. They have been hard and enthusiastic workers the past school year and are deserving of much credit. The orations were well delivered with fine elocutionary effect, and in a manner that displayed excellent training. The efforts of the class were highly appreciated by the large audience present and each oration was loudly applauded. 

In honor of spring and the baseball season beginning, the Historical Society's photo of the month for April is of Hank Severeid.  Hank was born in Story City in 1891 and grew up playing on the local teams.  He went on to play on a few minor league teams in the Midwest and in 1911 he made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds. Hank played for three other major league teams after the Reds including the St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, and the New York Yankees.  During his time with the Yankees, Hank played with big names like Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.  Hank's last season in the majors was in 1926. This photo is of Hank and his wife Adele visiting Story City after he finished his last season.  The sign on the back of the car reads "Welcome Home Hank" and the two boys in the back seat of the car are Harris and Charles Hill. Join us at the Carriage House Museum on April 28th at 5:30 pm for a ballpark themed dinner and a presentation by Don Doxsie on his recently published book Iowa Baseball Greats, which includes Hank Severeid.

​In the early 1900s Julia and Anna Mathre opened a millinery shop which was located on Broad St about where the Post Office is today. In this photo the sisters are posing with some of their millinery products. Their hats were made out of felt or straw – materials that were malleable and could be molded. The material chosen would be shaped over carved wooden hat blocks – different blocks for different head sizes. Once dry, they would hand stitch the brim and hatband on and add adornments of ribbons, flowers, feathers and bows. The Mathre sisters were probably quite busy this time of year with spring just around the corner and Easter fast approaching. 

​The main project for the Story City Historical Society in 2015 was the exterior rehabilitation of the Bartlett House Museum, our Queen Anne style historic home. There were several areas on the exterior where the woodwork had begun to rot and the whole exterior needed to be repainted.  The rehab for the Bartlett House began in June with a hand sanding and scraping volunteer day.  The Historical Society worked with local contractor Ron Cook for the woodwork repair and painting.  Ron did a wonderful job with all of the detail work needed to complete this project.

The Historical Society received multiple grants for the exterior rehab on the Bartlett House Museum.  Our two local Questers chapters, the Hook & Eye Questers and the Praeri Rail Trail Questers, applied for a grant through the Iowa State Questers organization on behalf of the Historical Society.   We received a $7,000 grant courtesy of the Iowa State Questers organization.  We also received an additional $1,400 from the local chapters over the last two years for the Bartlett rehab project.  

The Historical Society was also one of the recipients of the Paint Iowa Beautiful grant for 2015.  We received 10 free gallons of paint through the Diamond Vogel company.  We would like to thank the Hook & Eye Questers, the Praeri Rail Trail Questers, and Diamond Vogel for their contributions to this project.  We would also like to thank all of the volunteers who came to help out on June 14th with our hand sanding and scraping event.  It’s wonderful when local people, companies, and organizations support the Historical Society as we continue to preserve Story City’s heritage.  

As the weather has turned cooler with fall here and with school in session, it seems like an appropriate time to look back at the early schools in the Story City area. P.A. Olson, the editor of the 1940 Story City Herald Anniversary Book, included an article written in 1890 about the public schools and the country schools, plus articles by W.A. Wier and J.H. Frandsen also mention memories from early school days. 

To begin talking about schools in the area, we have to go all the way back to 1856, which was the first year school was taught.  The first teacher was Ann Sutlief and the log house of Richard Jenness was used as the school.  In 1857 a schoolhouse was built on the public square in Fairview.  According to W.A. Wier, the building was 20 by 24 feet, and was for some years the finest schoolhouse in the north half of Story County. The schoolhouse was also used as a place for religious services and other public gatherings.

The article written in 1890 gives details about the third school building in Story City.  It was completed in 1881 at the cost of about $3,500.  The building was a frame structure consisting of two stories with four rooms.  It was located at approximately 627 Elm Ave.  The school employed three teachers and a principal and according to the 1890 article, “in 1889 the enrollment was 62 in the principal’s room, 32 intermediate, and 70 primary.”

The 1890 article also gave statistics on the country schools in Story County based on a report from 1889.  The report showed an average attendance of 3,109 of a total enrollment of 5,027.  These school children were attending in 27 independent and 116 sub-districts, with 35 rooms of graded and 133 ungraded schools.  The schools employed 79 men and 233 women teachers, at average monthly salaries of $43.80 and $29.01 respectively.  The total amount paid to teachers in 1889 was $41,713.

In his article, J.H. Frandsen shared a memory from one of these country school districts, the Copenhagen district school.  O.B. Peterson was Frandsen’s first teacher at the school in the early 1880’s.  During this time the “country youngsters were raised mostly on homegrown foods and carried our more or less dry sandwich lunches to school. O.B., on the other hand, often brought a whole tin can of pears or peaches in his lunch.  I can still see the appealing, beautifully colored labels on those tin cans.  Then one day, to my astonishment and delight, he pulled out with his jack-knife a whole pear and marched down to my seat with it and and asked me to try it. Oh boy, was that good! It was my first taste of a canned pear and never have I had one that tasted better.”  Fifty-five years later Frandsen wrote a letter to Mr. Peterson telling him of the goodness of that pear and that his act of generosity and kindness lives on in his memory. 

We hope you have enjoyed this brief look at early schools in the Story City area.  The Historical Society is fortunate to have a wonderful example of an early one room country school in our Sheldall Schoolhouse Museum, which was once located just a few miles north of Story City in southern Hamilton county.  Several of the teachers mentioned in these articles in the 1940 Story City Herald Anniversary Book also taught at the Sheldall Schoolhouse, including O.B. Peterson and W.A. Wier.  If you would like to tour the Sheldall Schoolhouse, please contact the Historical Society.