The Washburn, Iowa, post office closed just six days after the above photo was taken, on July 31, 2009. Residents of the unincorporated community, located just south of Waterloo, lamented the loss of the small post office, one of the last remaining places to bear the Washburn town name. The Washburn Post Office was open two hours daily and had less than 20 rented post office boxes.
Published October 29, 2010 |
Post Offices |
Black Hawk County
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The Capri Theatre is a community-owned and volunteer-operated movie theatre located on the west side of the square in downtown Lake City in Calhoun County, Iowa. The Capri opened in 1966, over eight years after the previous Lake City theatre burned to the ground. The new theatre was constructed entirely from community funds, and operated by Bob Fridley’s theatre chain. At the time of opening, the Des Moines Register called the theatre “Iowa’s most modern and luxurious.”
As multi-screen cinemas debuted in nearby Carroll and Fort Dodge, the Capri had difficulties obtaining the latest movies. Combined with the nationwide rural farm crisis, business significantly dropped in the 1980s, causing Fridley to close the theatre. Community members persuaded him to reopen (and remodel) the theatre in the following decade, but the Fridley-operated Capri closed for good in 2001.
Following the closure, a group of Lake City citizens banded together (again) and were able to convince Bob Fridley to donate the theatre to the community. Since, a nonprofit corporation has been established and volunteers have operated the Capri continuously since 2003. The theatre, which only charges patrons $2 to see any show, has built an operational reserve while improving the facilities and distributing scholarships to area high school seniors.
Published October 28, 2010 |
Movie Theatres |
Calhoun County
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The Public Library in Bedford, Iowa, sits one block west of the previously featured Taylor County Courthouse. Bedford was one of 99 communities in the state to receive a grant for a public library from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The library was dedicated and opened in 1915 at a cost of $10,000. Its exterior remains much the same today as it was at time of construction, featuring stucco with a red brick trim and red clay roof. Visitors will find two fireplaces and dark pine woodwork inside the library, which is open daily except Sundays.
Published October 27, 2010 |
Carnegie Libraries, Public Libraries |
Taylor County
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Located in the southeastern corner of Grundy County, Iowa, the community of Beaman is home to 210 residents. As noted on the welcome sign, visitors aren’t “dreamin’” when they travel through the quaint town of Beaman, which features a number of businesses and community facilities, including a library, heritage center, and large memorial hall. Local students attend elementary and high school in nearby Conrad and middle school in Union. Beaman is part of the BCLUW School District along with the communities of Conrad, Liscomb, Union and Whitten.
Published October 26, 2010 |
Town Signs |
Grundy County
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The public school building in Hillsboro in Henry County, Iowa, has sat vacant since 1986. The red brick building was constructed fifty years prior and originally used as the high school for Hillsboro area students. When Hillsboro aligned with Bonaparte and Farmington to form the Harmony School District, the school became a K-6 elementary school for students in the immediate area, before being used for all third and fourth grade students across the district.
Proposals to close the school surfaced as early as 1979, as part of a bond proposal to relocate all students to Farmington, the largest community in the district. The proposal was soundly defeated, largely due to voters from Bonaparte and Hillsboro, where older buildings would have been closed if the bonding plan passed. The defeat provided a reprieve for the Hillsboro school, though closure of either the Bonaparte or Hillsboro school buildings quickly became imminent. The State Department of Public Instruction recommended the Hillsboro location be closed, and the Harmony school board voted to do so following the 1985-86 school year.
Citizens in Hillsboro were unhappy about the closure, but threats to change districts or take legal action against the Harmony school board never materialized. Fourteen years later, the Harmony School District presented a bond proposal to renovate the elementary school in Bonaparte as part of a district-wide facility improvement plan. Hillsboro residents, possibly still unhappy about losing the closure of their school building, overwhelmingly voted against the proposal 83-7.
Published October 25, 2010 |
Schools |
Henry County
| Map
