Author Archives: Jeff

Jul 31

The private bracket and the not-quite-public bracket

For the second time in two school years, 2020-related asterisks notwithstanding, a state tournament for Iowa’s smallest class has involved five private schools. An entire side in the Class 1A baseball tournament was a private playoff, with Mason City Newman … Continue reading

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Jul 29

2010s state travel recap, a town view

Originally written shortly after Christmas 2019, then fell down the line. You will see why that’s important. — Ed. July 26, 2016: Joice is 11 miles from the state line and half an hour from the nearest Wal-Mart (Albert Lea and … Continue reading

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous, Trip Reports | Comments Off on 2010s state travel recap, a town view
Jul 27

The ‘last’ of the astronaut wives

Rene Carpenter, the wife of Mercury 7 astronaut Scott Carpenter during the Space Age, died Friday (obit: Washington Post). (She was born in Iowa, hence the very tenuous hook for this blog post.) I say “during the Space Age” because, … Continue reading

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Jul 26

Iowa’s 1920 highway system: The smallest routes

I used an unscientific formula to “rank” the primary routes from 1920, from the least to the most important. That will be a framework for blog posts about the system. The smallest spurs to the smallest towns, not surprisingly, fill … Continue reading

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Jul 23

A cure worse than the disease?

Spanish Influenza yields to old-fashioned remedy Recent research tells us that the Spanish influenza germ and the Grippe germ are much alike. The sneezing, the racking cough and the inflammation in chest and throat of Spanish influenza is swiftly relieved … Continue reading

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Jul 22

Iowa’s 1920 highway system: What ISN’T here?

In 1920, Iowa was the 16th-largest state in the country by population. That population was as distributed as it was ever going to be, as many rural counties had peaked in population 20 years earlier and were already starting to … Continue reading

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Jul 21

The genealogy of a highway

As you saw in the glossary post, this stuff can get into the weeds. I admit that some of the things I’m researching, I’ve done over a longer time span than the roads in question officially existed. Here I want to … Continue reading

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Jul 20

Iowa’s 1920 highway system: Your guide to the guide

This is an explainer for pages about the routes that made up Iowa’s 1920 highway system. It’s designed to augment, but definitely not replace, Jason Hancock’s and my websites. “In 1920, they knew it as”: Did the highway follow, or … Continue reading

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Jul 17

Iowa Highway Ends: A glossary

With my upcoming exploration of the 1920 highway system, I thought it might be a good idea to explain certain terms and concepts that will come up often. This can double for explanation of the website in general. I’ve done … Continue reading

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Jul 16

Iowa’s 1920 highway system: A series

It’s a project 100 years in the making. Or 20. Or five. Since the fall of 2001 I have been chronicling the endpoints of current highways in Iowa. It’s something that has both reached backwards in time (for older ends … Continue reading

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