The origins of the Rockwell Public Library can be traced to 1902, when the local Women’s Club began a book exchange program in 1902. By December 1913, the library had a permanent location and a growing collection of books donated by residents and provided through the State of Iowa Traveling Library. The library has moved twice since, first in 1964 to a new building adjacent to the original, and to the current location in 1995. The Main Street building was purchased and renovated through the fundraising efforts of the library’s Board of Trustees.
In 1900, a series of four brick buildings were constructed in the Keokuk County town of Kinross to form what was known locally as the “Brick Block.” Businesses operating in the block included a hardware store, druggist, general store, and local bank. In 1972, the Kinross Bank moved its grandiose two story location within the brick block to the modest building pictured which now serves as the City Hall.
Kinross has continued to lose businesses and population in the ensuing years; in 2010, the population was 73, down from a peak of 142 residents a hundred years prior.
The Leland Ted Brandstad VFW Post #6161 was organized in the Winnebago County community of Leland in February 1946 with four charter members. The Veterans of Foreign Wars post was named in honor of William T. (Ted) Brandstad, whose plane went missing during a bombing mission in New Guinea in March 1944. After initial family notification, his father received a letter twenty months later:
Since no information has been received which would support a presumption of your son’s continued survival, the War Department must now terminate his absence by a presumptive finding of death. Accordingly, an official filing of death has been recorded… However, no further report regarding your son, his crew members, or their plane has been received.
Ted was awarded an Air Medal, for Meritorious Achievements in bombing missions against enemy installations; the decoration was presented to his father. The VFW was formed shortly after his confirmed death. A VFW Auxiliary Post was organized twenty-one years later.
Postal service in the Humboldt County community of Ottosen dates to November 1895, when a post office was first opened within a local siding business near the railroad tracks. The Ottosen office became the first in Humboldt County to have rural routes attached to it, with the first created in 1902. A second was created in 1903, then consolidated in 1932 as delivery methods grew more efficient. Further consolidation has taken place since, with the route now split among several area post offices.
The Ottosen Post Office moved to its present location in February 1957. As of April 2011, the Fort Dodge Messenger is reporting the office may close.
A post office location was established in the Taylor County community of Sharpsburg, Iowa, in 1886, two years after the town was founded as a stop on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Though the railroad tracks have long been removed, the town’s 89 residents still have their own Post Office, for now. Located in a modest brick building and open four hours each weekday, the office is one of over 70 in Iowa being reviewed for closure.
Sharpsburg is also home to a community center, two churches, and a combo general store/restaurant.
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