Local News

Preservation promotes respect for those who came before us, and those who will come after. Preservation encourages citizen activity to become involved and fulfill their right and responsibility to create their community’s future.  On Saturday, Sept. 24, at 9 a.m., at Old Man River in downtown McGregor, an informative and enlightening event will explore the history of McGregor’s opera houses, successfully completed projects in other cities and the benefits of historic preservation in the community. 

Special guest and author, professor Richard Poole, will present “Tent Repertoire, Circle Stock, Airdomes and Opera Houses: Gone but not Forgotten,” an entertaining, illustrated talk detailing the incredible amount of theatre available to small-town Americans between 1870 and 1940.

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor

Author Linda McCann, best known for her “Lost Towns” book series that details communities that disappeared along the Cedar River, spoke at Murphy Helwig Library’s monthly coffee house Sept. 6, sharing about her latest book, “Prohibition in Eastern Iowa.”

McCann told those gathered she didn’t start as a writer, but rather as an RN.

“As my kids got older, I got into genealogy,” she said, noting that, when she and her husband moved to Shell Rock, she discovered she was a descendent of the town’s founder. Sometime over the years, that information had been lost. “I was determined my kids and grandkids would know about it.”

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor

The number of Quilts of Valor awarded to service members and veterans touched by war grew by two, to over 144,000, over the weekend, when father and son Gary and Tony Brooks received quilts. 

The quilts were awarded at the Brooks family reunion, held in McGregor’s Turner Park, by Lanny and Wendy Kuhse, of Garnavillo. Gary and Tony were nominated by Gary’s sister, Cheri Leachman, a veteran herself. 

Construction of the Monona City Park bandstand was completed in 1916 by Frank Montgomery at a cost of $140.  Improvements were done in 1928, consisting primarily of a brick raining, brick piers and a roof over the bandstand, along with some fountain work in the park, totaling nearly $500.  

Monona’s 1916 bandstand turned 100 years old this year, and it’s still going strong; however, it needs an overhaul of repair work in order to preserve it for many more generations to come.  Unfortunately, today’s construction materials and labor costs are 10-fold over costs a century ago. Community efforts are underway to help raise money for the needed repairs, and the public is asked for its help.