The Merry Brook School Museum sits near the edge of downtown Woodbine in Harrison County, Iowa. The iconic one-room school house dates to the 1870s, when it was located a mile east of Woodbine near the site of the present municipal airport. When improvements were made to the airport in 1958, the Merry Brook School was forced to relocate. It was moved into the city, placed near the elementary school, and used as a fifth grade classroom.
The school was relocated to its present location in 1991, when it was set upon a basement foundation. The basement is home to the Harrison County Genealogical Society, while the school itself is now a museum; it’s open to the public by appointment. To schedule an appointment, call (712) 647-2593.
A hand-painted raccoon adorns the front window of this small, brick Post Office in downtown Lime Springs in Howard County, Iowa. Located on the well-maintained Main Street, the Post Office serves the community’s 495 residents. Lime Springs is known in Northeast Iowa for its annual Sweet Corn Festival, held the third Saturday in August, along with the nearby Lidtke Mill, one of the few remaining examples of a working flour mill in the state. The mill is open to visitors between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The Malek Theatre in downtown Independence, Iowa, was considered state-of-the-art when it opened to patrons in October 1946. The exterior of the 863-seat theatre was constructed with stone, vitreolite and glass block in the Art Deco style. In an effort to create a more efficient operation and increase theatre traffic, the theatre was duplexed in the mid-1980s. The split was ultimately unsuccessful, and the theatre has now been vacant for nearly two decades.
Though there has been talk of restoring the theatre to its former glory, no concrete plans are in place. The recent opening of a modern two-screen cinema near the edge of town likely decreased demand for a renovated theatre.
The Carnegie Library building in Montezuma sits on the southwest corner of the square and is occupied by the Poweshiek County Historical and Genealogical Society. The Society took advantage of the opportunity to relocate the the historic building when the community’s Public Library moved to a new, modern facility in 2005. The library was the next-to-last to be granted by Carnegie in the state of Iowa. The library was dedicated in 1919.
The Iowa-Nebraksa Bank is one of a handful of businesses along Main Street in Hornick, a town of 253 residents in Woodbury County in northwest Iowa. The building, which dates to 1931, was originally home to State Savings Bank, established in Hornick in 1904. The present owners purchased the location in 1982. When the bank’s main offices were relocated to Onawa in 1984, the Hornick building was converted to a branch location.
The bank has undergone two name changes since 1984: first to Iowa State Bank in 1997, then Iowa-Nebraska State Bank in 2000 following a merger with Nebraska State Bank. The Hornick location has remained in place through the changes, with a drive through open six days each week. The lobby holds more limited hours, only open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
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