5 thoughts on “Town Sign Project: Hardin County”

1. Alden would be my #1 if it weren’t for Ackley. That’s pretty amazing.

   Garden City’s is depressing, but I’m going to (with literally no research put into this, so I’m probably wrong) guessing the school left the town, so why bother keeping up the sign? Owasa’s is a little weak, but at least it’s not a corporate sign.

2. Alden’s sign is really good.

   The more I think about it, the Garden City sign isn’t even really a town sign. It more represents the school district.

   It has lots of things I love though. It has clearly been forgotten. It tributes high school sports accomplishments from a long time. It has a cartoonish figure on it. Unfortunately that cartoonish figure looks to be a Confederate soldier, so that erases everything else I love about it.

   A town as small as Owasa, I was surprised they even had a town sign at all. Especially cause it is literally on Highway 20. There is a church and a bar in that town, so they do have the essentials. But I didn’t see a town hall or post office. But I possibly missed them. The roads in that town were not in very good shape. This is where a RAV4 would have been handy.

   But overall, I really like Hardin County. Lots of cool small towns.

   There is a giant quarry next to Gifford that I’d like to photograph with Rodan139 at some point.

3. Ah, if they are/were the Rebels, I bet that IS a Confederate soldier. I hadn’t made that out originally.

   I think I tried to stop in Owasa once for a bathroom break once on my way to Waterloo to visit my bio dad before he passed. I did not find a bathroom in which I can stop. I don’t know that there was even a gas station – I think they might have had one of those waystation things where you can go pay by card at the machine, but there’s no attendant or anything?

   A quarry would be really interesting with a drone! A unique subject, for sure.

4. Glade to see Moingona remains best of show. But the more I see the Kate Shelley part of the sign, the more embarrassed I am. That sign needs to be cleaned up. Do I hear the early sounds of a fundraiser? The sign would have to improve its appearance just to be called pitifull.
   Alden the best town by a dam sight. You go man.
   Richettes, a town or a health problem. Possibly both. Can’t say for sure cause I’m not familiar with either.
   Question. When you look quickly at the bull sign, does it look like a hunchback man with his arms out stretched possibly in a stockade with his back to us? Or it could be just the medication I’m taking.
   As one of the journalists I admire Linda Ellerbe would say, “And so it goes”.

5. Angie,

   I had an issue where I kept trying to spell Owasa, Osawa. But either way, there isn’t much there. But still more there than there is in Beaver. I can imagine somebody pulling of 20 being disappointed.

   The quarry doesn’t look that impressive from Google Maps, but it is deep enough from the road you can’t see the bottom. There are actually a few places in Hardin County that I’d like to visit again. Eldora, Alden, and Ackley are all cool towns. So is Iowa Falls. The Iowa Falls river valley looks to be beautiful. I might look into renting a cabin at Pine Lake State Park this summer or fall.

   Kio,

   Don’t be badmouthing the Ackley bull. It is one of the greatest pieces of art in this state. Well, better than anything we have in Boone anyways..

   It will be exciting when we get through this pandemic and you can join me on one of these town sign hunting trips.

   If you think the Kate Shelley sign looks bad… don’t even think about going down to the actual depot. It is very sad.

   Alden would clearly be the winner if they weren’t in the same county as Ackley, but it is awful close to breaking the Top 10.

   Ricketts isn’t much of a town, but they do have a great sign.

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