Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

Mar 09

When a daily isn’t

Posted on Wednesday, March 9, 2022, at 10:01 AM by Jeff

At any point in the previous century this would have been earth-shattering news: The Des Moines Register is not going to print Saturday editions. Its last physical Saturday paper was March 5. Given developments over the past two years in … Continue reading →

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Feb 28

Jeopardy contestants go 0-for-Iowa

Posted on Monday, February 28, 2022, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

Last Friday’s “Jeopardy!” had a collision of two of my favorite categories — college football and geography — with questions about the Big Ten Conference. (There was another college sports-related category just on Feb. 10, “Their Current College Conference.”) But … Continue reading →

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Feb 09

A ‘demonym’ we all need to know

Posted on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Clayton County Press-Journal, February 9, 1958: “Strawbareans” is a great word and I am fully in favor of bringing this term for the Clayton County town of Strawberry Point back into common use. (“Denonym” is the name of the word … Continue reading →

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Feb 04

COVID claims Old Creamery

Posted on Friday, February 4, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Old Creamery Theatre, which would have celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, is now another casualty of COVID-19 in the arts. Its website is now an obituary. Old Creamery started in Garrison and then moved to the Amanas, and … Continue reading →

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Jan 28

Hamburg Reporter got new owner

Posted on Friday, January 28, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

This happened four months ago, but worth a note: The Hamburg Reporter, in the southwest corner of Iowa, changed ownership. It had been a GateHouse paper, then a Gannett paper following the former’s purchase of the latter (but taking the … Continue reading →

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Jan 05

A missed tourism opportunity

Posted on Wednesday, January 5, 2022, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Council: Can’t build pig in Marengo city square (Cedar Rapids Gazette, January 4, 1966) MARENGO — Marengo isn’t going to have a pig in the city square park. In unanimous action, the city council Monday night favored construction of the … Continue reading →

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Dec 28

‘Nothing of much interest occurred to day’

Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

via Library of Congress It is true that President James K. Polk’s diary on December 28, 1846, ended with “Nothing of much interest occurred to day”. However, through the Library of Congress, we know that wasn’t the entire entry. Polk, … Continue reading →

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Dec 27

Visit939Iowa+

Posted on Monday, December 27, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I have both noted and ragged on the two guys from Nebraska who visited every incorporated place in Iowa this year and turned their travels into a book, “Visit 939 Iowa”. I am pleased and obligated to report that my … Continue reading →

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Nov 08

Eating your way down the Lincoln Highway

Posted on Monday, November 8, 2021, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

WHO’s Roger Riley drove Iowa’s eastern half of the Lincoln Highway for a feature story. This means he got PAID to eat prime rib at the Lighthouse Inn near Cedar Rapids, an omelet at the Lincoln Cafe in Belle Plaine, … Continue reading →

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Oct 20

Taking a run through every town

Posted on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For all the hubbub about the two Nebraska guys going to every BUT NOT EVERY town in Iowa, there’s another cross-state trekker out there, and he’s doing it the hard way. For the last six years, Tyler Sullivan of North … Continue reading →

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