This well-worn town sign welcomes visitors to the unincorporated community of Knoke, located in the northwest corner of Calhoun County. The sign, erected in 2001 to celebrate the community’s 100-year anniversary, proudly highlights the three town cross-streets, along with the elevation of 1,022 feet above sea level. Knoke’s population dropped from 52 residents in 1955 to 21 in 2001.
With a population of just 132, Oyens is the smallest community in Plymouth County in northwestern Iowa to have an active post office. The part-time office sits on the west side of Main Street, open mornings six days a week. Postal service was first established in Oyens in 1878, more than three decades before the town was officially incorporated in 1909.
Problems with electrical wiring and sanitary sewage caused the community-owned Traer Theatre to close its doors in 2002. The closing sparked a well-organized grassroots effort to repair, restore, and reopen the theatre, located in an 1895 building in downtown Traer in Tama County. Along with hundreds of hours of volunteer labor, local businesses and residents contributed over $150,000 over a four-year period, allowing the renovated theatre to reopen to the public in August 2006.
Today, the Traer Theatre continues to show first-run movies four days each week for just $2.00 per ticket. The 144-seat, volunteer-run theatre has received additional upgrades since the initial renovation, including a state-of-the-art sound system donated by a local bank. For current showtimes, check out the theatre’s website or call the movie line at (319) 478-2094.
The Public Library in Ocheyedan dates to 1912, when the community’s first library was opened by a local women’s group in a room within a local general store. In 1937, the city council agreed to provide some library funding, and by 1941, the library relocated to a small room in the newly constructed city hall. The current-day standalone library location was dedicated in 1970.
Built in 1877 at a cost of $45,201, the Davis County courthouse is an outstanding example of Second Empire architecture with its distinctive mansard roof and dormer windows. The structure measures approximately 97 x 87 feet with walls made of red brick covered by a sandstone veneer. The design was the work of architect T.J. Tolan of Indiana, considered at the time to be the most successful in this style of courthouse.
In continuous use since its construction, the large courtroom seats nearly 300 people on the original walnut chairs and benches. The basement still contains the cells that were the county and city jails until 1973. A fence was originally constructed around the courtyard square of the same type that still surrounds the jailhouse windows. The courthouse has grown to become a familiar symbol of Davis County and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Text from the historical marker in the Davis County courthouse lawn.