Aug 18

The edge of suffrage

Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, August 14, 1920:

Women go after House votes in Tennessee for a final show down

Nashville, Tenn, Aug. 14 — “I do not believe that men of Tennessee will surrender honest convictions for political expediency or harmony,” Speaker Walker, of the Tennessee House of Representatives, declared in a telegram to President Wilson. He was replying to a message from the president last night urging the Tennessee house to concur in the action of the state senate in ratifying the suffrage amendment. …

“I do not attempt to express the view of other members of the lower house of Tennessee, but speak for myself alone, which on the Anthony amendment are contrary to yours.”

Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, August 17, 1920:

Tennessee House to decide fate of woman suffrage this P.M.

Resolution before representatives now

Each claims victory, while onlookers predict majority either way will be small

(By United Press)

Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 17 — The house adjourned late today without action on the suffrage amendment. The vote was 52 to 45.

The motion was made by Speaker Walker and was backed by anti ratificationists. The vote was interpreted as a point for the anti suffragists. However, several voted for adjournment who are considered friends to suffrage and pro ratificationists said the vote was without great significance.

Speaker Walker read a letter from Senator Harding in which the Republican nominee emphasized his devotion to suffrage, but believed in “the fidelity of legislators in the performance of duty.”

Walker also read President Wilson’s telegram asking the house to approve suffrage. This brought prolonged cheers. When Walker read his reply to Wilson pandemonium broke loose. It was very pointed and bitter.

“We want this to remain a white man’s country,” the speaker said in reference to the vote. … “Suffrage will be defeated,” declared Walker.

=============

The next day, by a vote of 50 to 46 in the Tennessee House, suffrage was not defeated, and the 19th Amendment was ratified.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The edge of suffrage
Aug 17

Some derecho pictures

Posted on Monday, August 17, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The worst part of the derecho that wreaked havoc on so much of Iowa its effects can be seen from space lasted about an hour and a half. Its effects will be felt for years.


August 12, 2020: MANY places with metal bins emptied before harvest look like these damaged at the Elberon elevator, with the west side punched in. That is, if the bin isn’t in a crumpled heap.

IF
August 12, 2020: Power lines damaged just south of Newhall. The main derecho corridor was between US 20 and I-80, with the worst along US 30. KCRG reported August 16 that Blairstown may not get electricity for another week.

IF
August 15, 2020: US 30 at V40 northeast of Belle Plaine. Eastbound signs along US 30 in Benton County look like this or have been ripped apart. More westbound signs tended to stay upright, for whatever reason. The bin seen on the IA 131 page has been destroyed. Across the road is a sunflower field that was utterly wiped out.

These pictures were taken closer to soybean fields than corn. As you drive south from Dysart to US 30, the corn goes from being at a small angle in scattered places to practically horizontal.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Some derecho pictures
Aug 14

Iowa’s 1920 highway system: Are you suggesting that highways migrate?

Posted on Friday, August 14, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


September 13, 2015: Of all the routes listed below, IA 93’s west end and IA 96’s east end are the only endpoints that retain both their number and location from 1920. Four other endpoints have the same location but different number.

The next batch of routes to get a look in the 1920 system have one thing at least partially in common: They were extended, sometimes significantly so, after their creation — or got gobbled up by another route’s extension.

  • IA 43, 85, and 98 are special in this regard: They were extended and then truncated, with their original routes superseded by other numbers.
  • IA 49, 55 (now 188), 71 (now 202), 75 (now 143), 78, 83, 93, 96, and 107 started as spurs but eventually had both ends at state-maintained routes. Of those nine, only four intersect(ed) another route on the way.
  • In the game of eat-or-be-eaten, with the IHC deciding which end a number was on:
    • IA 47 and 91 are now tiny parts of IA 175.
    • IA 32 and 33 were taken care of by a reroute of the highway between Cherokee and Le Mars, but not before 32 spent some time as 145.
    • IA 44 is the southernmost part of IA 15 and reached its full extent in 1934.
    • IA 45 nearly, but not quite, got gobbled up by 46, which started out as the only double spur in the 1920 system. They, along with 89 and 95, would eventually be rolled into IA 141, save for 45’s two miles north of Manilla.
    • IA 86 had a couple more turns than the typical state park route, but never left Council Bluffs. The route to Lake Manawa died in 1928, which technically ends its line. But the road was resurrected in 1931 as IA 241, was renumbered IA 192 a month later, became the “South Expressway,” was decommissioned, then was recommissioned again. Its lineage finally flickered out as Council Bluffs took over surface streets while I-29/80 was upgraded to a dual-divided freeway.
    • IA 100 got to be eaten twice. Its original north-south route was dropped in 1921 but became part of IA 48 in 1931. Its east-west route was usurped by IA 92 so that route wasn’t overlapping with US 6 for half of Pottawattamie County. Visit the page for the other, weirder parts of its history.
Posted in 1920 Highway Sytem | Comments Off on Iowa’s 1920 highway system: Are you suggesting that highways migrate?
Aug 13

Zearing school being demolished

Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Due to circumstances extremely beyond our control, blog posts will be limited to those previously scheduled for a while. — The Management

zearingdemo
Zearing school demolition. Photo credit: Laurie Yocumk

The three-story Zearing school building is being torn down this summer, leaving only the surrounding Colo-NESCO Elementary. (h/t Zac Abrams)

According to this notice to bidders, demolition is to be done by October 9.

A bond vote that included demolition failed in October 2017 but a new one passed March 3. I presume votes taken on this date were the last election event in Iowa before the plague.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Zearing school being demolished
Aug 10

IA 141 flyover nearly complete

Posted on Monday, August 10, 2020, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

The flyover ramp from northbound I-35/80 to IA 141 in Urbandale should be open by the end of this month, KCCI reported recently. (Like too many TV stations nowadays, unfortunately, I am unable to embed the video.) Lanes will be added to 141 too, but no intersections will be closed between I-35/80 and IA 44.

The interchange area is known as the Rider Corner but has been subjected to a rebranding effort whose main achievement appears to be no one remembers how to spell “Rider”. The plans were finalized in October 2016.

The project overall includes a half-exit to Meredith Drive (northbound off, southbound on). The 100th Street exit opened in October 2018. That will result in 3½ interchanges between Douglas Avenue and Merle Hay Road when the late-1950s construction had only one (IA 141).

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on IA 141 flyover nearly complete
Aug 07

Iowa’s oldest active four-lane has refreshment plans

Posted on Friday, August 7, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

US 75 between the north side of Sioux City and Merrill is the oldest four-lane road in the state system, in use for 70 years. But, as a road from 1949, it was not built to anything resembling expressway standards of today.

That is going to change with an upcoming project between Hinton and Merrill. The road is going to be leveled out, removing the large differences in roadbed height between the northbound (oldest) and southbound lanes. The only places in Iowa with similar situations, where you can easily tell which was the old road and which is the newer, are US 30 between Clinton and Z24 and US 63 between the north end of the Denver bypass and IA 3.

According to the plans on the DOT’s website, this will also remove traces of the “Old Highway 75” four-lane on the south side of Merrill, turning the intersection into a regular T. The road into Merrill is billed as secret IA 470 on the DOT’s city map but its existence is a mystery considering it was bypassed in 1957 and this designation did not appear until around 2011.

The four-lane 75 between Merrill and the south end of the Le Mars bypass was leveled out in the late 2010s. The Le Mars Sentinel pegs a construction date of 2023.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Iowa’s oldest active four-lane has refreshment plans
Aug 06

I-74 bridge update: Illinois bridge begins

Posted on Thursday, August 6, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Story from WQAD.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on I-74 bridge update: Illinois bridge begins
Aug 05

Southwest Arterial has a month to go

Posted on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The long-awaited, long-under-construction Southwest Arterial in Dubuque County is nearing the finish line. KCRG reports the city is intending to open it around September 1, which would slightly beat the Labor Day expectation issued at the beginning of the year.

Ironically, US 52 traffic is already on the non-arterial part of its rerouted segment: The road east of Luxemburg is under construction, and traffic for US 52/IA 3 is detoured on IA 136 and US 20. But at the end of this season, IA 3 will be restored to the route through Rickardsville and Sageville, and US 52 will not.

When the arterial opens, Dubuque will take over its part of old 52, removing all state maintenance from downtown surface streets, and IA 32 will also be decommissioned. However, IA 136 will not be truncated, instead keeping its end at Luxemburg.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Southwest Arterial has a month to go
Aug 03

Old Dubuque Road intersection closes permanently

Posted on Monday, August 3, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Old Dubuque Road will have its north end at its intersection with four-lane 151 blocked off permanently today, reports the Anamosa Journal-Eureka. This will sever a link (or modern version of a link) in the path of 1920’s IA 28.

This intersection is noted in the story as being one of the most dangerous in Iowa, and got extra warning lights in May 2019. Left turns from southbound 151 to 130th Street will still be allowed. For the time being, the “Road Closed” signs are of a temporary nature but they won’t be going anywhere.

The story mentions plans for an overpass over 151 to the north. The bridge, presumably replacing the 130th intersection altogether, would join a to-be-constructed frontage road-style connector between Old Dubuque Road and Circle Drive. Circle Drive is an older part of 151, bypassed when or slightly before the Anamosa bypass was built. Aerial photos show northbound 151 turning due east before a Y intersection with County Home Road, and a scrap of old County Home remains south of its present intersection with 151.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Old Dubuque Road intersection closes permanently
Jul 31

The private bracket and the not-quite-public bracket

Posted on Friday, July 31, 2020, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

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 coming out of there in its 12th straight season of state baseball in search of a fourth title in a row. Don Bosco upset one team and took advantage of an upset on the other side of the bracket in its fourth state appearance in five years.

Now, we have an all-private title game, evening the score at 29-29 for private-public Class 1A championship participants since the end of Norway baseball. The IHSAA does not consider this to be a problem.

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on The private bracket and the not-quite-public bracket