More of my photos dug up from September 2011 reveal the beautiful Old Main Hall at Augustana University, built in 1883 in what I would describe in an Italianate/proto-Beaux-Arts style. It is most certainly not Beaux-Arts in the purest sense as popularized by Cass Gilbert or McKim, Meade and White, but is not purely Italianate…
Month: November 2018
From the Vault: Family Farm, Maynard, Iowa
Update: The house was removed in 2019. Back in September 2011, when I photographed my family’s farm northwest of Maynard, Iowa, the corn was just about ready to start turning a golden brown, ready for harvest. There is a pale yellow Sears four-square house still on the farm, though the barns are now all gone…
From the Vault: Dyersville, Iowa
I found some more photos from the vault of my September 2011 trip to northeastern Iowa, and this time it was the town of Dyersville, with a well-preserved main street of Italianate storefronts, many with their original second story turrets intact. As is typical around the United States, however, when the Twentieth Century rolled around,…
From the Vault: Independence, Iowa
Update: I went back and checked out Independence in July of 2021. See photos of the Mental Health Institution from that trip here. I also revisited First Street East, which you can see here. In the far distance in the picture above, you can see the Wapsipinicon Mill, which I also visited in July of…
Lancaster, Wisconsin
On my way from the Effigy Mounds to Dubuque, I missed a turn and ended up heading into Lancaster, Wisconsin. I passed by a sign announcing that it was the “City of the Dome,” and as I rounded a bend into town, I spotted a rich red and orange building peeking through the greenery of…
The Exquisite Cornice, Postville, Iowa
This is officially the skinniest photo I have ever posted on this website. There is something magnificent about the details of this cornice: the broken pediment, the compound brackets, the arched central bay. It would look better without the white paint and the plywood, though.
Hope Cemetery, Maynard, Iowa
It was an overcast day, but the din of combines harvesting corn was in the air. It was a beautiful sight to behold out in the countryside.
Effigy Mounds National Monument
Drive up a narrow road with steep bluffs on one side and a busy railroad on the other, and you reach the visitors’ center for the Effigy Mounds National Monument. After an epic hike up the bluffs, you reach a prairie, and then after a little while more, you reach the effigy mounds, where an…
Clermont, Iowa
Update: See Montauk, the estate of former Governor William Larrabee. Also updated with new and improved and additional photography in July of 2024. As I came over a high hill in the rugged northeastern corner of Iowa on U.S. Route 18, I looked down into the valley below and I could have sworn I was…
West Union, Iowa
West Union is the county seat of Fayette County, and thus has a abundance of stately houses due to the various professionals attracted by the government in town. Many are well-preserved or restored, including this rare shingle-style house below. The main square sits high up on a hill, and the buildings line it are well-preserved…