Coca-Cola Advertisement 1914

 

Coca-Cola was Iowa's drink of choice in 1914. And as we learn from the ad, it wasn't just for men or women. Coca-Cola was "Everybody's Drink." This advertisement was printed in the Des Moines Register on September 20, 1914.

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.

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.

7th Iowa Volunteer Infantry In The Civil War

 

Battle flags of the 7th Iowa infantry

The 7th Iowa Volunteer Infantry mustered into service in July 1861 at Burlington. The men came off farms, out of shops, off the river. Most had never been farther than the next county. They signed on thinking they’d be home before long. That idea didn’t last.

 

They were organized fast and pushed out just as fast. Colonel Jacob G. Lauman took command. He wasn’t a trained soldier, but he knew how to keep men together. Augustus J. H. Merritt served as lieutenant colonel. Elliott W. Rice came in as major. That was the core. Everything else would be learned in the field.

 

They moved south into Missouri almost at once. The job was simple on paper—secure the river, hold ground, keep Confederate forces from pushing north. The reality was marches over bad roads, long stretches without supplies, and constant uncertainty about where the enemy was.

 

Their first fight came at Belmont in November 1861. Grant’s force crossed the Mississippi and moved against Confederate camps opposite Columbus, Kentucky. The plan was to hit hard and pull back.

 

It didn’t stay that simple.

Davenport Man Witnesses Wilbur Wright Flying At Le Mans France

 

The Daily Times. February 1, 1909.

In February 1909, the Davenport Daily Times talked with Dr. A. L. Hageboeck, who’d seen something few Americans could imagine—an airplane in flight.

 

Hageboeck had spent three days in Le Mans, France, watching Wilbur Wright fly, and what he saw left him shaken.

 

He said the real secret of the Wright brothers’ success was simple, almost too simple. The canvas wings of the machine could be tilted up or down at either end, allowing the pilot to adjust to the wind—just like a bird shifting its wings in flight.

 

That one idea changed everything.

 

He said Wilbur Wright wasn’t polished or impressive in the usual sense. He was thirty-five years old, tall, awkward, and quiet. There was nothing graceful about him. He barely spoke.