Continuing my series of Iowa river towns at the end of the month, we’re visiting Burlington briefly as we head up the Mississippi. I’d already visited the city back in September of 2013, but I’d only really focused on downtown. This time I focused on residential neighborhoods on the steep hills north of downtown, and…
Tag: Iowa
An Abandoned Factory and a Prison, Fort Madison, Iowa
On the way out of town we saw two landmarks. The first was the old Sheaffer Pen Plant, built in three stages: an office in 1931, a pen manufacturing plant in 1952 and a shipping depot in 1976. It closed in 2008 and the pens are now made in China after being sold to Bic….
Avenue G, Part Two, Fort Madison, Iowa
We make it back down to Avenue G where we again see more Italianate storefronts ling the thoroughfare. And as we have seen before in places such as Macon, Missouri, a Modernist bank building has been inserted into the street wall. There are some more interesting buildings, such as this bank above and below. But…
Avenue F, Fort Madison, Iowa
We then cut down one block to Avenue F on 8th Street, where there are still a plethora of beautiful Nineteenth Century houses. In particular, there are many Second Empire and Italianate houses. Then there’s this massive church. Union Presbyterian Church was founded in 1838, and is one of the oldest of its kind in…
Avenue E, Fort Madison, Iowa
We walked up two blocks to Avenue E, past Central Park, where there is a miniature Statue of Liberty. They even got the little fort at the base correct. Below is the Fort Madison United Methodist; it seems to have had two earlier buildings before this and even purchased their bell from Montgomery Ward. This…
Avenue G, Part One, Fort Madison, Iowa
As part of our continued series of looking at Iowa river towns north up the Mississippi River from St. Louis at the end of the month this summer, we next head to Fort Madison, crossing over a massive bridge combining both rail and road. Fort Madison’s street grid is laid out with numbered streets starting…
Main Street, Downtown, Keokuk, Iowa
Main Street in downtown Keokuk is also U.S. Highway 218, which is usually not the best arrangement as it brings heavy traffic that does not want to stop at local businesses, but still brings the negative effects of automobiles, particularly tractor trailers and their pollution. Nonetheless, Main Street is overall in good condition and has…
Up The Hill from the Dam, Keokuk, Iowa
“Keokuk was easily recognizable. I lived there in 1857, an extraordinary year there in real-estate matters. The “boom” was something wonderful. Every-body bought, every-body sold-except widows and preachers; they always hold on; and when the tide ebbs, they get left. Any thing in the semblance of a town lot, no matter how situated, was salable,…
The Union Electric Hydroelectric Dam, Keokuk, Iowa
We’ll get started with the major landmark in Keokuk. The Cahokia Power Plant was just one cog in a much larger machine that Union Electric didn’t build but purchased shortly after its completion at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Keokuk and St. Louis have more than one link, and the first we will talk…
Iowa River Towns
Starting at the end of June, at the end of each month the rest of the summer, I will be featuring an Iowa river town north of St. Louis along the Mississippi. These cities, such as Keokuk, have a more direct link to St. Louis, as Union Electric built a hydroelectric dam here just over…