Iowa residents had a large assortment of automobiles to choose from in 1909. Like today, you could select a gas or electric model, and in some cases steam driven.
Here are two advertisements from Des Moines Automobile dealers taken from the Des Moines Register. November 28, 1909.
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| Thomas Flyer - Model H, sold by Moyer Auto Co, |
Map showing the proposed route of the Davenport-Iowa
City Interurban Railway. Company name: Davenport, Iowa City & Western
Traction Co. It would run within five miles of the Rock Island and Clinton-Iowa
City branch of the same road.
(The Daily Times. October 18, 1909)
Joan Hammill, wife of John Hammill, who served as a state senator from 1909 to 1913, representing the 43rd district. The couple lived in Britt, Iowa.
John Hammill served as Lieutenant Governor from 1921 to 1925, and as Governor from 1925 to 1931. In 1913, Mrs. Hammill was elected associate grand conductress of the Order of the Eastern Star.
(Photograph from the Des Moines Register. October 26, 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.
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| Waveland Park Clubhouse in 1913 |
Waveland Park Golf Club had nearly 250 members
in 1913. Not bad for a club that started in 1907.
The present building went up in 1911 on ground
leased from the city. It was three stories and built to be used.
The main floor held dining rooms, reception rooms,
and a kitchen. Upstairs was a card room and a ladies’ locker room. The basement
had another locker room and bath equipment. You could play 18 holes, eat,
smoke, wash up, and sit down for cards without leaving the building.
The club met every week. There were smokers, card
parties, and dances. The smokers meant cigars, speeches, and stories that
improved with each telling. The card parties meant competition that lasted
longer than daylight. The dances brought in the rest of the membership and made
the place feel less like a sports club and more like a social one.
This 1913 cartoon from the Des Moines Register (September 7, 1913) shows that football was as big a part of Iowa life then as it is today.
The Davenport Democrat and Leader printed this picture of the newly built Columbia Theater and Hotel in 1913. The building at Third and Ripley Street in Davenport was built by T. J. Walsh at a cost of $150,000.
