Here is another collection of images from my trip to New York City with Jesse back in 2011. These pictures were all taken around the Statue of Liberty.
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entries to their original glory:
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will still involve New York City.
A few weeks back after the semi-annual Howard Family Photo Shoot, I tooled around Bremer County harvesting their town signs. Here are some facts about Bremer County:
+ The population is 24,998 making it the 26th most populous county in Iowa. Below Benton County and above Washington County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Waverly.
+ Named after Fredrika Bremer, a Swedish feminist writer.
+ Home of Wartburg College.
+ Major highways are US-63, US-218, IA-3, IA-27, IA-93, and IA-188.
+ Adjacent counties are Chickasaw, Fayette, Floyd, Black Hawk, Buchanan, and Butler.
+ Is currently at its peak population. Previous high was 24,820 in 1980.
Bremer County has a fair looking courthouse:
The Bremer County Freedom Rock is located in Readlyn, Iowa:
With Bremer County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
47 counties completed. 47.5% of the Cyclone State conquered!
Here are the town signs of Bremer County:
Sumner, Iowa (Partially in Fayette County)
Welcome to Sumner
Population: 2,030 (+2)
Denver, Iowa
Welcome to DENVER
The Mile Wide City
Population: 1,919 (+139)
Tripoli, Iowa
TRIPOLI WELCOMES YOU
Population: 1,191 (-122)
Janesville, Iowa (Partially in Black Hawk County)
EST. 1849
JANESVILLE
WELCOME
The Oldest City in Bremer and Black Hawk County
Population: 1,034 (+104)
Readlyn, Iowa
READLYN
“857 friendly PEOPLE”
& one old GRUMP
WELCOME TO READLYN
Population: 845 (+37)
Plainfield, Iowa
PLAINFIELD
THE HEART OF A RURAL COMMUNITY
Population: 393 (-43)
Frederika, Iowa
Welcome to Frederika
Est. 1896
Gem of the Wapsie
Population: 204 (+21)
Horton, Iowa (Unincorporated)
HORTON
Est. 1856
Maxfield, Iowa – Ghost Town
“Welcome to Maxfield”
I actually don’t think there is a bad town sign in Bremer County. Even the corporate art types like Sumner manage to be interesting. So I’m not awarding a worst town sign in Bremer County award.
Best in Show is very obvious. But if towns like Plainfield and Denver and Frederika weren’t in the same county as Readlyn they could very easily win Best in Show.
There is only one town with an alternate town sign:
Readlyn – Alternate
Best in Show – Adams County
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Benton County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Bremer County
Best in Show – Butler County
Best in Show – Calhoun County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Cass County
Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Fremont County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Grundy County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hancock County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Humboldt County
Best in Show – Ida County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Lucas County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Mills County
Best in Show – Monona County
Best in Show – Montgomery County
Best in Show – Page County
Best in Show – Pocahontas County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Poweshiek County
Best in Show – Ringgold County
Best in Show – Sac County
Best in Show – Shelby County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Taylor County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Warren County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Worth County
Best in Show – Wright County
The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT we will end up in Kossuth County.
Here is another collection of images from my trip to New York City with Jesse back in 2011. Most of these pictures are taken around Ellis Island, but some are taken where all the white collar criminals hang out. It was scary hanging out in such a bad neighborhood, but we got in and out without anybody getting us involved in shorting stocks.
By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to its original glory:
Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will also involve New York City.
A few weeks back Jesse and I traveled up north to harvest the town signs of Cerro Gordo and Worth County. This trip included a stop at the Music Man Square in Mason City. Music Man Square is devoted to the history of famous composer. Wilson is most famous for writing the Iowa State pregame song “For I, For S”. Some people recognize the name because he wrote THE MUSIC MAN too. I think there is some little ditty you hear coming out of Iowa City now and again that he also wrote. A song that is based on another one of his hits, “It’s Begging to Look a Lot Like Christmas”. But he is definitely best known for “For I, For S”.
Here is the first collection of pictures from the road trip:
Mason City
The starts the T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!
If you think I was watching the inferior but still great Matthew Broderick version of THE MUSIC MAN that you can watch for free on YouTube while I was writing this post, well you would be right! One of the greatest musicals ever.
A few weeks back I made a solo town harvesting trip to Mills County.
Here are some facts about Mills County:
+ The population of Mills County is 14,484, making it the 54th most populous county in Iowa. Below Harrison County and above Butler County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Glenwood.
+ Was formed in 1851 and named for Major Frederick Mills of Burlington, Iowa who was killed at the Battle of Churubusco during the Mexican-American War.
+ The first settlement was founded in 1846 by persecuted members of The Church of Latter-day Saints.
+ Major highways are I-29, US-34, US-59, US-275, and IA-370.
+ Adjacent counties are: Pottawattamie, Montgomery, and Fremont.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 16,764.
Mills County has a pretty ugly courthouse:
The Mills County Freedom Rock is located in Emerson, Iowa:
With Shelby County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
46 counties completed. 46.5% of the Cyclone State conquered.
Here are the town signs of Mills County:
Malvern, Iowa
MALVERN
Population: 1,046 (-96)
Emerson, Iowa
Emerson
NEXT LEFT
EMERSON DAYS SEP 11
Population: 403 (-35)
Silver City, Iowa
Welcome to Silver City
ESTABLISHED 1879
Where “This is Home”
Population: 245 (0)
Mineola, Iowa (Unincorporated)
MINEOLA
EST. 1880
Population: 154 (-12)
Hastings, Iowa
THE CITY OF HASTINGS WELCOMES YOU
EST. 1877
FOUNDED 1869
Population: 152 (0)
Henderson, Iowa
WELCOME TO HENDERSON
Population: 144 (-41)
Pacific Junction, Iowa
Welcome to Pacific Junction
Rise Above the Water
Population: 96 (-375)
Mills County has a pretty solid set of signs. There isn’t really a bad sign in the county. But if I had to pick the worst, I would go with Glenwood. Just boring corporate art.
I might actually surprise some people (even persons that might have to begrudgingly admit that I’m pretty much always right about the town sign each week) with my pick for my favorite town sign in Mills County. It is a little more corporate art looking than I usually pick and if the sign was standalone, I wouldn’t even give it a second look. However, they augment the sign with an incredible tree sculpture and that puts it over the top for me.
There is one alternate town sign in Mills County:
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Adams County
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Benton County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Butler County
Best in Show – Calhoun County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Cass County
Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Fremont County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Grundy County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hancock County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Humboldt County
Best in Show – Ida County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Lucas County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Mills County
Best in Show – Monona County
Best in Show – Montgomery County
Best in Show – Page County
Best in Show – Pocahontas County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Poweshiek County
Best in Show – Ringgold County
Best in Show – Sac County
Best in Show – Shelby County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Taylor County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Warren County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Worth County
Best in Show – Wright County
The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT that open road will take us all the way to Bremer County.
This the second and final collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Pocahontas County. Although almost half of these images were taken in Buena Vista County.
Albert City
Pocahontas
I wonder if this is the same Bob from Bob’s Bench?
Don’t get me wrong. I hope the Pocahontas statue stands for a thousand years. I hope that when the apes inevitably taken over the planet from our failed species, that it is the head of this statue that Charlton Heston finds washed up on a beach before he damns humanity to hell. But man is it one ugly statue.
Several weeks back I cruised around Pocahontas County harvesting their town signs. Pocahontas County is the home of the most awesome statue in Iowa. It is also home to one of the worst statues in Iowa. In this collection you will see the most awesome statue in Iowa.
Plover
Havelock
Laurens
I want to meet Bob.
There is one more collection of images from Pocahontas County still left to be shared.
A few weeks back I made a solo town harvesting trip to Shelby County.
Here are some facts about Shelby County:
+ Population is 11,746. Making it the 65th most populous county in Iowa. Below Lyon County and above Cherokee County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Harlan.
+ Formed in 1851.
+ Named after Revolutionary War hero Isaac Shelby.
+ Major highways are: US-59, IA-37, IA-44, IA-173, and IA-191.
+ Adjacent counties are: Crawford, Audubon, Cass, Pottawattamie, and Harrison.
+ Population peaked in 1900 at 17.932.
The Shelby County Courthouse is pretty:
The Shelby County Courthouse is located in Earling, Iowa:
With Shelby County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
45 counties completed. 45.5% of the Cyclone State conquered.
Here are the town signs of Shelby County:
Shelby, Iowa
WELCOME TO SHELBY
Population: 727 (+76)
Elk Horn, Iowa
Welcome to ELK HORN
Population: 601 (+65)
Earling, Iowa
WELCOME TO EARLING
Population: 397 (+27)
Irwin, Iowa
Welcome to… IRWIN
Home of the…. STATE CHAMPS
Population: 319 (-25)
Defiance, Iowa
welcome to DEFIANCE
Population: 245 (+41)
Panama, Iowa
RIDE-WALK-RUN PANAMA
EST 1882
Population: 235 (+31)
Portsmouth, Iowa
WELCOME TO PORTSMOUTH
BIGGEST LITTLE TOWN IN THE U.S.
Population: 182 (+56)
Portsmouth back of sign.
Westphalia, Iowa
WELCOME TO WESTPHALIA IOWA
FOUNDED 1872
Population: 123 (-23)
Tennant, Iowa
WELCOME TO TENNANT
EST. 1903
Population: 78 (+8)
Kirkman, Iowa
WELCOME TO KIRKMAN
Population: 56 (-12)
Shelby County has a solid but maybe not spectacular collection of signs. I don’t know that there is a bad sign, but if I have to give a worst sign out, I’d give it to Westphalia. Looks like the cornerstone to a bank.
As for Best in Show in Shelby County, I love the sign in Portsmouth and I don’t usually count murals as town signs, but this mural is definitely the first thing you see when you pull into Panama, but Best in Show clearly goes to Elk Horn:
There are a few alternate town signs in Shelby County:
Portsmouth Alternate
Portsmouth Alternate Back
Panama Alternate
Earling Alternate
Best in Show – Adams County
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Benton County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Butler County
Best in Show – Calhoun County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Cass County
Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Fremont County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Grundy County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hancock County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Humboldt County
Best in Show – Ida County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Lucas County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Monona County
Best in Show – Montgomery County
Best in Show – Page County
Best in Show – Pocahontas County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Poweshiek County
Best in Show – Ringgold Count
Best in Show – Sac County
Best in Show – Shelby County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Taylor County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Warren County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Worth County
Best in Show – Wright County
The next time we hit the open road for THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT it will take us all the way to Mills County.
Here is the final collection of auxiliary images I took while harvesting the town signs of Hancock County. Although I would say about 50% of these pictures were taken in other counties. Like Winnebago County or Cerro Gordo County or Worth County.
Pilot Knob State Park
Fertile
Thornton
Dows
The next county I need to share auxiliary images from is Pocahontas County.
A few weeks back I cruised around Monona County on a solo town sign harvesting trip.
Here are some facts about Monona County:
+ Population is 8,751, making it the 84th most populous county in Iowa. Below Greene County and above Lucas County.
+ The largest town and county seat is Onawa.
+ Was a stopping point in 1804 for Lewis and Clark.
+ Where the Turin Man was discovered.
+ Formed in 1851.
+ Possibly names for an “Indian” word meaning beautiful valley.
+ Major highways are I-29, IA-37, IA-141, IA-175, and IA-183.
+ Adjacent counties are Woodbury, Crawford, and Harrison.
+ Population peaked in 18,238 in 1940.
The Monona County Courthouse is fair:
The Monona County Freedom Rock is located in Onawa, Iowa:
With Monona County conquered, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:
44 counties completed. 44.4% of the Cyclone State conquered.
Here are the town signs of Monona County:
Mapleton, Iowa
Mapleton
Population: 1,165 (-59)
Whiting, Iowa
welcome to WHITING
Population: 745 (-17)
Ute, Iowa
UTE
Population: 338(-36)
Blencoe, Iowa
Welcome To Blencoe
“You Are Among Friends”
Populatoin: 233 (+9)
Moorhead, Iowa
MOORHEAD
Population: 199 (-27)
Soldier, Iowa
SOLDIER
Population: 184 (+10)
Castana, Iowa
Welcome To Castana
Established 1886
Population: 107 (-40)
Turin, Iowa
WELCOME TO TURIN
HEART OF THE LOESS HILLS
Population: 72 (+4)
Rodney, Iowa
RODNEY
“ON THE GROW”
Population: 45 (-15)
Grant Center, Iowa – Unincorporated
GRANT CENTER
ESTABLISHED 1881
LITTLE SIOUX VALLEY
I don’t think there is a bad town sign in Monona County, so I’m not going to single one out for having the worst.
Despite there being some really solid town signs, I think the best is pretty obvious. It goes to Onawa. The rare triple crown winner. County Seat, Home of the Freedom Rock, and Home of the Best Town Sign.
And yes, their main street is very wide. I think 8 lanes wide. There are no alternate town signs in Monona County.
Here is the current list of Best in Shows:
Best in Show – Adams County
Best in Show – Audubon County
Best in Show – Benton County
Best in Show – Boone County
Best in Show – Butler County
Best in Show – Calhoun County
Best in Show – Carroll County
Best in Show – Cass County
Best in Show – Cerro Gordo County
Best in Show – Clarke County
Best in Show – Crawford County
Best in Show – Dallas County
Best in Show – Franklin County
Best in Show – Fremont County
Best in Show – Greene County
Best in Show – Grundy County
Best in Show – Guthrie County
Best in Show – Hamilton County
Best in Show – Hancock County
Best in Show – Hardin County
Best in Show – Humboldt County
Best in Show – Ida County
Best in Show – Jasper County
Best in Show – Lucas County
Best in Show – Madison County
Best in Show – Marion County
Best in Show – Marshall County
Best in Show – Monona County
Best in Show – Montgomery County
Best in Show – Page County
Best in Show – Pocahontas County
Best in Show – Polk County
Best in Show – Poweshiek County
Best in Show – Ringgold Count
Best in Show – Sac County
Best in Show – Story County
Best in Show – Tama County
Best in Show – Taylor County
Best in Show – Union County
Best in Show – Warren County
Best in Show – Webster County
Best in Show – Worth County
Best in Show – Wright County
Next time we visit THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Shelby County.
