Cedar Rapids Firemen’s Saxophone Band 1929

 

Firemen's Saxophone Band. Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I found this picture of the Cedar Rapids Firemen’s Saxophone Band in The Gazette. They were selling tickets for their fifth annual Firemen’s Ball in the Memorial Building on January 31, 1929. The proceeds were to be used to fund the educational and social activities of the group.

Pictured, first row, left to right: Joseph Sedlacek, Louis Mikulecky, Arthur T. Torson, Glenn W. Powers, and Andrew T. Coleman.

Second row, left to right: Charles L. Nelson, Fred D. Condon, Charles H. Anderson, Harry R. Gaskill, Joseph A. Gaskill, and Michael J. Sherik.

Top row, left to right: Clarence Simon, T. W. O’Brien, M. P. Collins, and Ray A. Serovoy.

Picture and information from The Gazette. January 20, 1929.

Ackley Iowa High School Baseball Team 1913

(The Des Moines Register. June 29, 1913)

Ackley High School’s baseball team finished the season with an 8–1 record, losing only to Union High School before defeating Union 7–1 to win the tournament championship. Pictured are, top row: Ekers, Snater and DeNul; middle row: Reinhardt, Rolender, R. Leach and Bleek; bottom row: Penning and G. Leach.

Girl's Orchestra From the I.O.O.F. Orpahns' Home in Mason City

(From The Sioux City Journal. May 18, 1911)

The girl's orchestra from the I.O.O.F. Orphan's Home in Mason City played a benefit concert in Sioux City on May 18, 1911. Mrs. George M. Kellogg of Sioux City raised the money to pay for their instruments.

A Different Look At The Founding of Iowa

I had some fun today, and asked ai to make illustrations of Iowa's founding by three visionary artists--Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso.

Joan Miró’s Iowa mural looks like history after chugging three Super Big Gulps and no sleep. Indians, pioneers, forts, riverboats — all bouncing around in bright colors and weird floating shapes. The Mississippi River twists through the whole thing like a giant blue snake that escaped from a Looney-Tunes cartoon.

Nothing makes sense. That’s the fun of it. Miró painted feelings more than reality, so Iowa history turns into this wild, happy dream filled with stars, squiggles, moons, and shapes.

Salvador Dalí’s version looks like the frontier wandered into somebody’s fever dream. Wagons melt. Faces droop. The river stretches forever while creepy skies hang over everything. Even the clocks look exhausted.

The painting feels strange, dramatic, and a little unhinged. Dalí loved taking normal scenes and twisting them into something bizarre. His Iowa looks like Lewis and Clark got lost inside a nightmare and marched west, anyway.

L. F. Walker Drumcorps Waterloo

The Waterloo Courier published this picture of the L. F. Walker Drumcorps on September 30, 1915.

Left to right - standing: (unknown first name) Smith, Roscoe Frisbie, Lou Frossele, Frank Snyder, and E. M. Wyant.

Left to right - sitting: John P. von Lackum, Geo. Crownover, Arthur Slade Frank Worcester, and Oscar Slade.

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.

Hoovervilles The Ultimate Dig At Herbert Hoover

(colorized image of a photo published in The World's Work in 1920)

They called them Hoovervilles, and the name stuck. Not funny. Not clever. Just mean and dead-on. The country was broke, jobs gone, banks shuttered, and people were out there hammering together shacks from junk like it might hold the world together one more night.

They spread like a bad rumor on riverbanks, rail yards, and empty lots on the edge of town. No water. No heat. Breadlines curling around the block like a slow funeral. People standing there with hollow eyes, waiting for a handout that might run out three bodies ahead of them.

Martin "Farmer" Burns Iowa Wrestler

 

Des Moines Register. June 3, 1906.

Martin "Farmer" Burns was born in Cedar County, Iowa, in 1861, and grew into one of the toughest wrestlers of his time. He studied the sport, figuring out holds and techniques that gave him an edge. By the late 1800s, he’d worked his way up to the American Heavyweight Championship.

Burns helped turn Frank Gotch into a world champion. His workouts were brutal—neck bridges, long runs, endless drills—but they worked. He turned wrestling into something smarter, tougher, and a lot more dangerous.

Iowa Wrestler Frank Gotch Demonstrating Toe Hold

Des Moines Register. July 16, 1905.

The Des Moines Register printed this photo of Iowa wrestling champion Frank Gotch applying his famous toe hold. The pain was such that opponents surrendered within seconds of his applying it.
 

Vardon, Perry & Wilber Those Three Boys

The Davenport Democrat and Leader. January 17, 1909.

 Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information on this act. Just a photo, and a simple blurb saying they were one of the musical acts performing at the Family Theater in January 1909.

Sculptor Florence Sprague

Charcoal drawing after an image in the Des Moines Register.
August 23, 1914.

Des Moines sculptor Florence Sprague studied for two years at the Chicago Art Institute. Previous to that, she spent two years studying with Professor Charles A. Cuming. According to the Des Moines Register she spent the summer of 1914 creating candlesticks, bookends, and other knick-knacks to sell in local craft shops.

Click here to read a longer biography of Florence Sprague Smith.

Davenport Baseball Team of 1889

 

The Davenport Democrat and Leader printed this picture of the 1889 Davenport baseball team on August 20, 1912.

Upper row: (left to right) Con Strothers; Whitaker; Routcliffe; and Henry Schuhknecht.

Middle row: (left to right) Joe Kappel; Sammy Nichols; Bob Allen, captain; Charles Gessinger; and Henry Kappel.

Bottom row: (left to right) jerry Harrington; Billy Rhines; Jack Fanning; Jack and Jacj Lauler.

Moore's Original Jazz Band Estherville, Iowa

 

The Des Moines Register printed this picture of Moore's Original Jazz Band on June 11, 1911. They called them the Estherville Military band.

Band members: 

Back row (left to right) - Orville Moore, Walter Crowell, Jr., Jay Haffelfinger, Charles Dischler, William Gavin, Herman Max Maine, Edward Norelus, and Earl Hipple.

Front Row: (left to right) - Ray Floyd, Norman C. Maine, Fred Marshall, and Elmer Moore.

Pioneers of Fort Madison Iowa

This sketch of the early pioneers of Fort Madison was published in Illustrated Fort Madison, 1896.

Sioux City Telephone Company 1907

The Sioux City Journal published this picture of the operations center of the Sioux City Telephone Company on February 17, 1907. Pictured are: Milton S. Crandall, wire chief; and Irma Markley.

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.

Mrs. W. F. Mitchell President Des Moines Women's Club 1906

 

Picture from the Des Moines Register. September 30, 1906.

Mrs. W. F. Mitchell became the president of the Des Moines Women's Club in September 1906. She succedded Mrs. H. L. Carrell.

Colonel Earl D. Thomas Fort Des Moines 1906

Colonel Earl D. Thomas, commander of the Eleventh Cavalry at Fort Des Moines, took command several cavalry units in Cuba in 1906.

Thomas began his military service as a private in the Eighth Illinois, rising to sergeant-major during the Civil War. He graduated from West Point in 1869 and was assigned to the Fifth Cavalry where he took part in many of the Indian Wars. He fought in the Indian campaigns in the Republican River Country, the Apache Campaign of 1872-1874, at Four Peaks, Salt River Canyon, Music Mountain, and many more campaigns in the West.

Thomas was on frontier duty in Kansas and Nebraska from 1878 to 1885, led a surveying expedition in 1879, and fought in the Western Indian Wars from 1885 to 1898. 

When the Spanish American War broke out, he helped outfit Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, then served as an inspector general of volunteers. In 1899, he became an associate judge in a provincial court in Cuba. He returned to the United States in 1900 and served on the frontier for several more years.

Thomas was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1904 and took command of the Eleventh Cavalry at Fort Des Moines in April of that year. When he headed to Cuba in 1906, two-thirds of the 851 men at Fort Des Moines went with him.

Capitol Park High School Baseball Team 1903

The Des Moines Register printed this picture of the Capitol Park High School baseball team on May 3, 1903. They didn't identifty the players in the picture, but they did list the team members and positions. 

Robert Gates, catcher; Andrew Chalmers, pitcher and team captain; Martin Peterson, first base; Fred Gates, second base; Walter Sargent, third base; Ray Prather, shortstop; Burt Sargent, left field; Ray Hampton, center field; John Dwight, right field; and Benjamin Franklin and Charlie Holmes, substitutes.

Capitol Park High School Football Team 1903

The Des Moines Register printed this picture of the Capitol Park High School football team in a special section on area schools in th May 3, 1903 issue.Unfortunately they didn't name the individual players.