Postal service in the Ringgold County community of Benton can be traced to March 1875, when a post office location was setup in Bloomington. Despite a dwindling population, the pictured Benton Post Office is open four hours daily to serve the town’s 40 residents. The post office occupies the first floor of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows hall at the southern edge of downtown Benton. The I.O.O.F. chapter is the last remaining in Ringgold County; as of 2005, the organization had eight members.
The downtown in the Pocahontas County of Laurens was seen in the 1999 Disney film The Straight Story, which chronicled the six-week, 240-mile lawnmower trip taken by resident Alvin Straight to visit his brother in Mount Zion, Wisconsin in the summer of 1994. The film, which was shot in sequential order along the actual route taken by the Laurens resident, was generally praised by critics and received a number of awards and nominations, including a Best Actor Oscar nomination for lead actor Richard Farnsworth.
Following his tractor trip to Wisconsin, Straight attempted a longer trip to Idaho in July 1996. After 400 miles of riding, near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in western South Dakota, Straight was found in his tractor suffering from dehydration and severe sunburn. He never fully recovered, later suffering a stroke and ultimately passing away in November 1996.
On February 15, 1939, members of the Page County community of Essex met in the city hall with the goal of establishing a city library. A library board was created, and in their next meeting determined to make a house-to-house canvass of the town seeking donations and books. Their efforts were quickly rewarded, and a library opened within the city hall building in April 1939. By 1956, the library moved from its city hall space to a portion of a local bank building. The most recent move was a decade ago, when the library moved to a new 5,000-square-foot facility in downtown Essex. The design features ample natural lighting, exposed wood trusses, and the ability to expand by up to 30% within the new building.
Further Reading: Read more about the Lied Foundation, which provided significant funding for the library project, in this article from the Lawrence (Kansas) World-Journal.
A sign directs visitors to the “gas, grocery, and beer” sold at the general store in the Clay County community of Rossie. Now home to 70 residents, Rossie was originally established as a stop along the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad in 1900, apparently named after a wife of an important railroad employee. A centennial celebration, which included a historical program, lunch, souvenirs for sale, and a parade, was held August 5, 2000.
The Monona County Courthouse in Onawa in western Iowa dates to 1892, when construction was completed on the brick building with stone trim. The Richardson Romanesque building was designed by S.E. Maxon, who also designed the courthouse in Greenfield in Adair. The building saw additions in 1967 and 1973, along with the construction of an annex in 1981 for additional court and human services facilities. The Monona County Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
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