The Iowa State Bank Robbery At Des Moines (1919)

 

(Des Moines Tribune. March 25, 1919)

For seven weeks, M. R. Pharmer was the victim. Then the police decided he might have helped plan the robbery.

Pharmer was assistant cashier at the Iowa State Bank in downtown Des Moines. On the morning of March 25, 1919, two gunmen talked their way through the bank’s locked door, pulled revolvers and forced Pharmer and two other employees into a back room.

Minutes later, the gunmen were gone with a bag full of cash and bonds.

The Des Moines Tribune put it across the top of the front page:

BANK ROBBERS GET $20,000

Police searched Des Moines and the surrounding countryside, questioned witnesses, checked automobiles, and chased suspects.

Nothing worked.

Three days after the robbery, the chief of detectives admitted he had no fresh evidence. Two men had walked into a downtown bank in broad daylight, taken a small fortune and disappeared.

Curtiss Flyer Exhibited At The Des Moines Corn Exposition

 

Glenn Curtiss in his flying machine (Des Moines Register. December 3, 1909)

Des Moines was about to get a look at something most Iowans had never seen up close: a real flying machine.

Glenn H. Curtiss, one of the biggest names in the new and slightly crazy world of aviation, was sending one of his aeroplanes to the Corn Exposition. The machine was expected to arrive by express and would be assembled inside the Coliseum.

And this wasn't just any airplane.

Curtiss had recently become an international celebrity after competing against some of Europe's best aviators at Rheims, France. He won the Gordon Bennett aviation trophy there, beating Frenchman Louis Blériot in a 20-kilometer race by only a few seconds.

The Des Moines exhibition was handled by A. P. Warner of Beloit, Wisconsin, an aviator associated with Curtiss. Warner was expected to explain the machine, answer questions and show curious Iowans how this strange new invention actually worked.

There was even talk of flying it.

That part depended on the weather. Curtiss machines could fly in winds that would keep some other early aeroplanes on the ground, but December in Iowa wasn't exactly ideal flying weather. If conditions cooperated, organizers hoped to arrange a short outdoor flight.

Riddell Automobile Co. Des Moines - Iowa's First Automobile Dealer

 

(Des Moines Register. June 16, 1901)

W. J. Riddell picked a hell of a time to get into the automobile business.

In 1900, he was selling bicycles at Eighth and Locust in Des Moines. His shop carried Cleveland and Crescent bicycles. A good one cost around $30. Riddell advertised his place as the “Oldest and Largest Exclusive Bicycle Store in the City.”

It was a solid business. People knew what bicycles were. They knew how they worked and where they could ride them.

Then along came the automobile.

The early cars were loud, expensive, and unreliable. Iowa had few decent roads. Gasoline could be difficult to find. Mechanics who knew what they were doing were even harder to find. A horse could usually get you home. An automobile might leave you sitting in the mud.

Riddell wanted in.

In 1903, the Des Moines city directory listed him under both bicycles and automobiles. Soon the bicycle dealer at Eighth and Locust was running the Riddell Automobile Co.

The Highland Park Murders Des Moines Iowa

 

Lena and Thomas Peterson

Thomas Peterson, 13, and his sister, Lena Peterson, 16, were “slaughtered” on Madison Avenue, a half-mile northeast of Highland Park College, on the evening of Sunday, April 13, 1902.

 

The children were on their way home after attending evening services at the First Methodist Church. After leaving the church, they stopped at Watt’s Restaurant, purchased some candy, and continued home. That was at about 9 p.m.

 

Based on the distance they traveled, detectives assumed they reached the scene of the attack at about 9:40 p.m. 

 

Mrs. Edward Dubey lived a quarter of a mile away from the murder scene. She heard screams coming from the road about that time, but did not give it much thought. Her neighbor was a loud, obnoxious drunk, and she assumed he was arriving home after having too much to drink.

 

The attackers could not have picked a better spot for a murder. The children were killed on a lonely, isolated hill, with the nearest house nearly a quarter mile away.

 

Ralph Peck and Naomi Spear rode by the murder scene minutes after it happened.

 

“I heard the Peterson boy cry out,” said Peck, “and saw something at the side of the road. I called ‘Hello,’ and got no response. It was making a noise like a puppy or a child. I thought it was someone hurt, but it occurred to me that someone might be fooling me.”

Clifford Samuels 17-Year-Old Des Moines Inventor

 

Clifford Samuels and his machine. (Des Moines Register. November 26, 1911)

Most 17-year-olds in 1911 spent their time thinking about school, baseball, or getting into trouble.

Clifford Samuels of Des Moines spent two years building a wireless telegraph machine.

The whole thing cost him seven bucks.

He became obsessed. His grades started slipping. Friends hardly saw him. Family complained he spent all his time reading, fooling with wires, and staring off into space. Sometimes he got so wrapped up in it that he forgot to eat.

And then he spent a day with a Navy officer learning about wireless communication. When he got home, he started building his own machine.

Then came the big test.

After two years of tinkering, reading, and daydreaming, Clifford fired the machine up.

It worked. On the first try.

Clifford told a reporter for the Des Moines Register that it could send messages up to fifteen miles and pick up signals from as far away as three hundred miles. Not exactly small-time stuff for a high school kid in 1911.

When They Lit Up Des Moines' Western League Ball Park

 

The Des Moines Register. May 2, 1930.

The Des Moines Register printed this picture showing readers what to expect at the first night time ballgame at the Western League Ball Park. The Des Moines Demons were playing the Wichita ball club in what the paper called a "night baseball experiment."

Pictured at the far right is L.E. Keyser, president. Club members shown (left to right) include: Cy Lingle, catcher; Bud Tinning, pitcher; Jim Oglesby, firstbase; Leo Norris, secondbase; Hughie Nielsen, shortstop; Breezie Windham, thirdbase; Fred berger, leftfield; and Francis Keyes, rightfield.

The Wild "Party Taxi" Murder That Shocked Des Moines In 1922

 

Party Taxi Thad Mitchell's body was found in

If you wanted to take a walk on the wild side in 1920s Des Moines, Thad (T. W.) Mitchell was your guy. Mitchell ran a prosperous party-taxi business, a smaller version of today’s party buses.

 

He carried a book containing the names and phone numbers of over three hundred clients to whom he acted as a pimp, chauffeur, and guide, so whether you needed a bottle of moonshine, a woman, or a safe spot to meet—Mitchell could hook you up.

 

He ran the Consolidated Taxi Company with his partner, “Bullets” Richart. The partners had a fleet of six Cadillacs that ran from 6 p.m. into the wee hours of the morning, transporting passengers to roadhouses and other rendezvous points. Or just giving them a refuge where they could make out, drink, and take advantage of the extended backseat as they rode along.

 

Off-duty policeman William Winburn found Mitchell dead in his Cadillac sedan early on December 8, 1922. Mitchell was seated behind the wheel, with the ignition on and the gear thrown in reverse. 

Vintage Adventureland: The Rides Every Iowa Kid Remembers

 

Silly Silo was a classic Adventureland attraction for nearly thirty years

If you grew up in Iowa, Adventureland was the place to go. Summer vacation. School trips. Boy or Girl Scout outings.

 

Adventureland had something for everyone. Food. Rides. Games. People watching.

 

All of that was fun, but the rides are what you remember most.

 

The Silly Silo (1974–2013) looked like an ordinary farm silo. Until you walked inside.

 

Then things went crazy.

 

Riders were crowded against a wall while the room spun faster and faster. When it got up to speed, the floor dropped away. It was simple engineering, but first-time riders felt like the world was ending. Or at least your little part of it.

Who Remembers Duane Ellet And Floppy WHO TV Des Moines

 

If you grew up in Iowa anytime between the late 1950s and the late 1980s, there’s a good chance you knew exactly what time The Floppy Show came on.

From 1957 to 1987, Duane Ellett and Floppy were a huge part of daily life on WHO-TV in Des Moines. For a lot of Iowa kids, Duane and Floppy were as familiar as the kitchen table, the school bus, and snow boots lined up by the back door.

This was back when television wasn’t endless. There were only a few channels. If you missed something, you missed it forever. No rewinding. No watching whenever the spirit moved you. If Floppy was on at a certain time, you got there.

Usually with cereal, in pajamas, and yelling for somebody to stop touching the rabbit ears because the picture was just right.

Duane Ellett had a face people trusted right away. Calm, friendly, never trying too hard. He wasn’t loud or  fake cheerful. He seemed like a decent fellow who had somehow wandered onto television and stayed.

Before He Became President Ronald Reagan Was A DJ At WOC In Davenport

Before the speeches, before Hollywood, before anyone ever called him “Mr. President,” Ronald Reagan was just a young guy trying to get a job during the Great Depression.

He didn’t have a master plan. No five-year vision. No idea he’d end up in the White House someday. He just had a friendly voice, a little confidence, and the willingness to walk into a radio station and say, “I think I can do this.”

Somehow, that worked.

He landed in Davenport at WOC radio, and like most first jobs, it wasn’t glamorous. Early radio wasn’t slick or polished. It was closer to organized chaos. Equipment was finicky. Scripts were loose. And if something went wrong, you were already on the air when you found out.

WOC had a reputation, though. The Palmer family ran it, and they enjoyed pushing things forward—new tech, new programming, and fresh voices. That also meant expectations were higher than you’d expect for a Midwestern station in the 1930s.

So, if you bombed, people noticed.

Drake University Advertisement 1930

 

The Des Moines Register ran this advertisement for Drake University in its August 31, 1930 issue. It gives a great view of the campus and the observatory.

New Court House Clock Des Moines 1912

 The Des Moines Tribune printed this picture of the new court house clock on November 29, 1912. The clock was expected to be fully operational within a few days.

First Automobile in Des Moines W. W. Sears

 

(Des Moines Register. July 15, 1906)

The first automobile in Des Moines landed in W. W. Sears’ lap, almost by mistake.

Debeltrand Grocery meant to raffle it off. Then they went broke.

Sears grabbed the car and drove it to the fairgrounds. Bad idea—if he wanted to stay unnoticed. Every stop turned into a crowd. People swarmed it. Stared. Asked questions. Couldn’t believe it moved without horses.

He cruised the streets daily, drawing bigger crowds each time.

Not long after that, J.O. Wells, W.E. Hamilton, Webster Bishop, and a handful of others jumped in and formed the Des Moines Automobile Club. Thirteen members. Most didn’t own a car yet—but they planned on getting one.

The club didn’t last a year, but that didn’t matter. The automobile wasn’t going anywhere.

(Unfortunately, the paper didn’t give a date on  when Sears acquired the automobile. My best guess would be 1900. The paper noted several claims against the company for unpaid debts)

Herman A. Breithaupt Des Moines Expert Zither Soloist and Chef

 

(colorized photo from the Des Moines Register. April 15, 1928)

Herman A. Breithaupt, an expert Zither Soloist, was featured in the Des Moines Register in April 1928. Born in Germany in 1896, he began playing the zither when he was ten. 

Breithaupt's other passion was cooking. He worked in the kitchen at the Hotel Savery III in Des Moines, where he cooked and trained new chefs in the culinary arts. He told his students, "A meal correctly combined, scientifically prepared, and properly masticated is necessary for a healthy body."

In his spare time, he lectured at schools and clubs on food preperation, recipes, and health.

He was fifty years ahead of his time in his belief that one day, high schools would train young men to be chefs and food scientists.

Advertisement Clemens Automobile Company Des Moines, Iowa

 

This advertisement for the 1915 Overland Model 80 automobile was published in the Des Moines Register, August 23, 1914. It was available from the Clemens Automobile Company, located at Fourth and Grand Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa.

Plans For The New Hyperion Club Des Moines 1909

 

(Picture from Des Moines Register. January 17, 1909)

In January 1909, the Des Moines Register published plans for the Hyperion Club, offering a glimpse of what was shaping up to be one of Des Moines’s more ambitious country clubs.

The Hyperion started out in 1904 as a dancing club, organized by about 19 members. Before long, the group shifted gears, reorganized as a country club, and grew to around 100 members.

By 1909, it was still growing. Membership had reached 225, and the club was clearly thinking bigger. Its grounds, near Waveland Park, covered 225 acres and included an 18-hole golf course laid out at full championship length.

The plan printed in the paper showed a sketch of a new clubhouse with plenty of extras. The building was to include family quarters, bachelor quarters, lockers, a bathhouse, and a billiard parlor. There was also to be a separate building called Bachelor’s Hall.

The club sat along the Perry Interurban Line, about a 35-minute ride from downtown Des Moines. That made it close enough for city members to get there with little trouble, while still feeling like a trip out of town.

Brown-Williams Auto Co. Advertisement Des Moines 1909

This advertisement for the Brown-Williams Auto Co. appeared in the Des Moines Register on January 17, 1909. The dealership was located at 512 Grand Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa.

 

Historic old Buildings in Des Moines

 

Des Moines in 1858

On September 30, 1906, the Des Moines Register ran a pictorial on the historic old building of Des Moines. I picked two of them to feature hereL  a look at Des Moines in 1858, and the Des Moine Hotel in 1855. Some of the other pictures not shown here included the Old Congregational Church in 1858, the first bridge on Walnut Street in 1866, and the D. F. C. Grunell House, built in 1848.

Artists' Sketch Proposed Fleming Building in Des Moines

The Des Moines Register printed an artists' sketch of the proposed Fleming Building in its September 30, 1906. The building was to be erected on the southwest corner of Sixth Avenue and Walnut Street. When completed, the ten story building would be the largest office building in the city, and one of the most expensive at a cost of $350,000. Each floor would house 28 offices.

Great Eagle Hearse Stops in Des Moines 1913

On the stranger side, the Great Eagle hearse from San Francisco made a stop in Des Moines in September 1913. The vehicle was carrying the body of Michael Moran whose last wish was to travel the continent one final time. The hearse was accompanied by undertaker R. H. Hambley; W. A. Peck, sales manager for the United carriage company; and R. A. MacBride, a Des Moines Undertaker.