While the Winneshiek County Courthouse is technically on Main Street in Decorah, otherwise there’s nothing main about it. The real main street of the city is one more block north, on West Water Street, which while running into the water to the west and east (remember, the river sweeps around in a big bend around…
Tag: Iowa
West Broadway Street, Decorah, Iowa
Following the high ground up above the river that forms the boundary of Decorah on three sides, West Broadway commands a prominent location in the civic space of the city. As expected, the latest revival styles are represented in the seven blocks of the National Register Historic District. While there are lavish Italianate villas on…
Churches Around the Courthouse Square, Decorah, Iowa
The ensemble of buildings around the Winneshiek Courthouse in Decorah is extraordinary in that churches fill a full two dies of the square, and the remaining two are partially filled with civic buildings. Starting on the west side and working in a counter-clockwise direction, we see St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Church. As is common with…
Winneshiek County Courthouse, Decorah, Iowa
One of the more spectacular courthouses I’ve seen lately is the Winneshiek County Courthouse in Decorah, Iowa, located in the northeastern reaches of the state. Replacing the first permanent courthouse on the site, and costing $125,000 to build, it was designed by A.C. Kinney of Minneapolis and completed in 1904. I suppose I would describe…
Fort Atkinson, Iowa
At the same time Adam Lemp was founding his brewery in St. Louis, the US government was busy in Iowa removing Native Americans from their homelands and forcing them to live in new territory. Fort Atkinson was built in 1840 to supervise the government’s efforts as different Native American nations who were oftentimes traditional enemies….
Various Small Towns, Northeastern Iowa
Heading north of West Union, Iowa, there are a series of small towns with surprising large churches. It’s a testament to just how many more people used to live in the countryside, when agriculture was so much more labor intensive. Eldorado is first up, with the soaring St. Peter Lutheran Church, complete with an interesting…
Sinclair Dinosaur Sighting, Hazleton, Iowa
This Sinclair Dinosaur looks like it had been getting its party on before we spotted it in Hazleton, Iowa. This is now the second sighting in about a month, and about a year after we saw another one in Northeast Iowa. The earliest and last time in St. Louis that we spotted one was way…
St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, Independence, Iowa
I visited St. John the Evangelist of Independence, Iowa way back in 2011, and then didn’t even get around to posting the photographs until 2018 (third and fourth pictures down). Interestingly, the transepts have double lancet windows, as opposed to a rose window. The front façade is even more impressive when it’s not cloudy, like…
Independence Mental Health Institute, Revisited
I thought the photos of the impressive Second Empire expanse of the Independence State Hospital were too cloudy, so we went back on a bright sunny day to get better photos. See the original post from July of 2021 for more original historical photos and plans on this Kirkbride plan institution.
Sinclair Dinosaur Sighting
Update: I spotted another original dinosaur in Fair Play, Missouri in June of 2023. It has been over a decade since I last spotted the rare Sinclair Dinosaur, brontosaurus sinclairensus, in its natural habitat of a gas station. This one is in Iowa, in an undisclosed location. Note that the owner has chained it to…