Author Archives: Jeff

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

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on A cure worse than the disease?
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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Jul 15

Roundabout plan renewed for Urbana corner

In late 2016, after a multi-fatality crash at the IA 150 curve west of Urbana, the DOT started looking at ways to change the intersection. The first was a simple, obvious intersection. Traffic to and from Urbana (old IA 363) … Continue reading

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Jul 14

Tama County Fair cancelled

The Tama County Fair in Gladbrook stood a slightly better chance of not being called off, compared to other county fairs, because it is so small, pretty much 4H/FFA exclusive. But then both the softball and baseball teams at North … Continue reading

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Jul 13

The Gone-der-burger, 13 months too late

Gunder is a map dot in Clayton County with one establishment to its unincorporated name: The Irish Shanti, home of the Gunderburger, a whole pound (post-cooked!) of delicious cow packaged between two slices of bread, served with crinkle fries or … Continue reading

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