The sign outside the Pocahontas County town of Palmer highlights the phenomenal success of the high school boys basketball team in the 1980s. A string of three consecutive championships began in 1986, with the 1988 team setting an Iowa all-time team scoring record, averaging 103.9 points per game during the season and tournament. The Palmer High School Panthers strung together a remarkable 103 wins before losing in the semifinals of the state tournament in 1989.
Like numerous small school districts in Iowa, Palmer merged with nearby Pomeroy in 1990. The combined Pomeroy-Palmer district brought home state championships in boys basketball in 1994, 2001, and 2002. The communities have since seen further consolidation; this year is their first as part of the Pocahontas Area school district based in the nearby county seat.
This welcome sign directing traffic to the Buena Vista town of Albert City highlights its Swedish heritage with the slogan, How Swede It Is! When the community was established in 1890, it was initially named Manthrop, after a town in Sweden. The U.S. Postal Service was concerned about potential confusion between Manthrop and nearby Marathon, so the name was changed to Albert City, after Albertina Anderson, the wife of the town’s founder.
The welcome sign outside the Sac County town of Nemaha features the slogan, It’s a “Mighty” Small Town. Few stories better demonstrate the community’s ability to come together than their effort to construct a community shelter and arboretum at the former site of the Nemaha school.
By the spring of 1990, the community received word the elementary school would close as part of the Crestland School District’s consolidation efforts. An auction was held at the 1922 school building in October 1990, and the demolition process began the following month. After sitting empty for nearly six years, organized meetings began to take place to discuss the construction of a shelter house and memorial tree arboretum on the former school lot.
Within just three months, the community received support from school alumni, residents, and former residents to raise the $25,000 needed for the project. The shelter house and memorial tree garden were completed entirely with volunteer labor. A flagpole was installed and dedicated at the shelter house site on Memorial Day 1998.
These welcome signs are located along State Highway 3 on the edge of the community of Meriden in Cherokee County. Now home to 184 residents, the community’s origins can be traced to December 1869 when railroad construction from Sioux City stopped there for the winter. A small grocery store business grew into a town, originally called Hazard, one of several area communities named for early settler John Blair. According to the WPA Guide to 1930s Iowa, “townspeople had no love for Mr. Blair” and the town was renamed Meriden in 1878. No evidence remains as to why the Meriden name was chosen.
In June 2004, Buena Vista County became the first county in the nation to honor veterans by placing a Blue Star Memorial Marker in every town in the county. Each sits within a community garden, including the above marker photographed in downtown Linn Grove. The Blue Star Memorial program is administered by the National Garden Clubs organization to honor all men and women who serve or have served in the armed services of the United States.
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