On August 1, 1968, the Muscatine Journal reported the post office in the unincorporated Muscatine County town of Moscow received a “temporary reprieve” from closure. Several weeks prior, postmaster Diane Henderson had received an announcement that the post office would close August 2. The Journal noted citizens did not remain idle:
The fighting citizens of Moscow… were busy gathering signatures on a petition demanding the post office remain open. Over a hundred signatures were gathered and copies were sent to congressmen, senators, the postmaster general and district and regional offices of the post office.
Under the closure plan, Moscow was set to become a rural route of nearby Wilton, causing a delay in service offered daily at the post office. Considered the social center of the rural Iowa town, more than anything residents feared “if the post office closed, Moscow would cease to exist as a town and be a name only.” In the end, the closure was averted – for at least 30 years.
During the winter of 1890, the Brethren Church of Udell was organized two-and-a-half miles east of the community. In 1903, the congregation moved to a new building constructed inside the city limits of Udell, near the community school. They relocated again in 1961, this time to the building previously occupied by the Udell Christian Church, which disbanded one year prior. Purchased at a cost of $200, the building served the congregation for 45 years.
Due to dwindling membership and attendance, regular services ceased in 2006. The church building and its contents were sold in 2009, and today the building is privately owned.
The first library in the Kossuth County of Bancroft began in 1961 in one room of the Bancroft Public School. The community came together to jumpstart the new organization by donating, cataloging and shelving books. The initial library staff was entirely made up of unpaid volunteers. The present library facility was constructed in 1969 from a combination of private and public funds.
The Clearfield Lions Club was organized in May 1952, and officially chartered in the Taylor County town in March 1953. Club projects over the group’s 60-year history have included sponsoring town baseball, coordinating a 4th of July celebration, and adding community walking trails. Their signature annual event may be shuttle bus service for the Iowa State Fair, which started in 1964. Popularity of the shuttle buses grew quickly, generating enough profits to construct the pictured Lions Club building in 1967.
The First National Bank of West Union was organized in 1934, taking over the assets of the defunct Fayette County National Bank, which closed following a bank moratorium declared by President Roosevelt in 1933. First National Bank moved to its present facility in 1935. An additional drive-through location was constructed in West Union in 1966, while a branch office was opened in nearby St. Lucas in 1978. The bank celebrated its 75th year of operation in 2009; at that time, deposits totaled $90 million.
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