Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

Jan 17

Caucus reporting from Reinbeck

I reported on a precinct caucus in Grundy County for my Substack (and the Sun-Courier newspaper). This was the first presidential caucus in my adult life where I wasn’t working for an Iowa newspaper. It came 200 days after being … Continue reading

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Jan 15

Politico vs. Pizza Ranch

We were close to getting out of the 2024 caucuses without major broadsides on Iowa for being Iowa, but then the Associated Press went for it: Iowa’s winter blast could make an unrepresentative way of picking presidential nominees even more … Continue reading

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Jan 12

Southern Benton County lost its newspaper

Publication of a newspaper dedicated to the interests of Belle Plaine and southern Benton County ceased at the end of 2023. The Belle Plaine Union had that name for the overwhelming majority of its life. The Blairstown Press and the Benton … Continue reading

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Jan 10

Update on Preston’s Station restoration

Last year, Preston’s Station in Belle Plaine marked its 100th year of existence and 95th year at its current location. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. In the past few years, a concentrated … Continue reading

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Jan 08

Cedar Rapids turns 175

Cedar Rapids is officially the fourth-oldest incorporated community in Iowa, behind Farmington, Burlington, and Keokuk. (Note that incorporation is different from founding.) This week, the city is marking its 175th birthday with a ceremony and a time capsule. The city’s … Continue reading

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Dec 11

The last link in the Transcontinental Railroad

Did you know that when the (first) Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, there was no connection between Omaha and Council Bluffs? A bridge wouldn’t be built for three years. The story of that bridge, and how it took a … Continue reading

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Dec 08

Cedar Rapids annexes one house

In September, the state’s City Development Board approved Cedar Rapids’ annexation of 3241 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE. One property, singular. Screencap via Linn County GIS website The long driveway in the middle goes to First Assembly of God Church, which … Continue reading

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Nov 22

Belle Plaine, Reinbeck churches in second wave of UMC disaffiliations

On New Year’s Day 2023, Grundy County had four United Methodist Churches. On New Year’s Eve 2023, it will have one. Two of the churches, in Conrad and Grundy Center, disaffiliated from the UMC in May (officially June 30) in … Continue reading

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Nov 13

Election Day and ballot silliness

My Substack post with a Tama County Election Day hook, that also took a look at the ballot structures for combined city/school elections, made Saturday’s display at the Iowa Capital Dispatch. If you like, please subscribe! (Better yet, chip in … Continue reading

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Nov 01

Earliest history of Iowa college football on TV

The first part of in-depth research into the real first time football teams from Iowa showed up on television — if not necessarily in Iowa — is live on my Substack.

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