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As we continue to enjoy warm days and football, who can forget fun at the Barrel Drive-In on Highway 18 West? Whether it was car-hops delivering food to your car or dining inside this was a great place to hang out and listen to the tunes from 1490 – KRIB radio...
Carp are not native to North America. In fact, they have a long history in Europe and Asia, as described in the “History of Carp (Cyprinus Carpio) in North America” posted on the America Carp Society website (https://americancarpsociety.com/us-carp-history). Carp...
This history of Clear Lake newspapers is based on articles written by John Perkins for the Globe Gazette and Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter. John Perkins (1912-2011) was a lifelong Clear Lake resident and the city’s ‘unofficial historian”. John spoke to many groups about...
Etzel Brothers John Etzel and his brother George were prominent businessmen during the development of Clear Lake from 1875 to 1935. John Etzel was born on December 23, 1857, in Newark, New York. His parents, Leonhart and Anna Etzel, emigrated to the United...
This week our series on Clear Lake dairies continues. Farmer Co-op Dairy was one of the five dairies to serve Clear Lake. First a little background on the concept of cooperatives in Iowa. Co-ops in Iowa began as early as the late 19th century, Farmer’s Cooperative of...
As promised, this week for Throwback Thursday we will learn a bit about one of Clear Lake's Dairies and the Clear Lake "Milkman" who operated it. Enter August "Gus" Folkmann, born August 11, 1902 in Iowa County, Iowa. Mr. Folkmann grew up working on his father's farm....
This week we are going to investigate the growing of hemp around Clear Lake. I'll first share a quick memory from my teaching days at Clear Lake High School when I mentioned that hemp was grown and processed around Clear Lake for its use during WW II. One of my...
An Interview with Louise Allen Iowa is a wonderful place to live usually but, sometimes, along in January, even the most loyal Iowan does entertain daydreams of places where temperatures are warm and flowers are blooming; of cruising on blue waters and playing on warm...
Today for our Throwback Thursday journey, let's take a ride on the trolley of the MC and CL Railroad. Attached you will find a photo taken by local photographer, Phil Mench, about 1905 on Main looking east. The location is at the 1300 block of Main between S 13th St...
Let's take a trip down memory lane and revisit some cherished moments from our community's history! Each week, on Thursday, we are going to "throw it back" and share a piece of our community history with you. This week our series on Clear Lake dairies continues....
This week our series on well-known Clear Lake dairies concludes. As we wrap up this topic there are a complete of interesting facts. In the early 20th century edition of The History of Cerro Gordo County, it was recorded that by 1905, there were 13,846 dairy cows...
Clear Lake’s Main Street has changed over the years as businesses come and go. Some of those business changes have been the result of changing times and/or changing needs. As you may know, the first permanent settlers in Clear Lake were Joseph Hewitt and James...
