Category Archives: Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Jasper County

February 3, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 37 Comments

A few weeks back, I loaded up into the car with my Mom and we drove around the enormous county that is Jasper County harvesting the signs that I was missing. It was a good trip that include the traditional breakfast from Hardee’s. If the TOWN SIGN PROJECT has a sponsor it would be Hardee’s breakfast. I’m waiting Hardee’s. Just open up the checkbook!

Here are some facts about Jasper County:

+ As of the 2010 census, the population was 36,842.
+ The county seat is Newton.
+ The county was organized in 1846 and is named after Sergeant William Jasper, a Revolutionary War hero.

Here is a look at the Jasper County Photo Map:

Boundaries are approximate at best.

Here is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PUPRLE=COMPLETED

12 counties completed. 12.1% of the Cyclone State conquered.

Here are the Jasper County Town Signs:

Newton, Iowa
Newton
Population: 15,254

Mitchellville, Iowa (Mostly in Polk County)
Welcome to Mitchellville
Population: 2,093

Colfax, Iowa
Colfax – Est. 1866
Population: 2,093

Monroe, Iowa
Welcome to Monroe – Home of the PCM Mustangs
Population: 1,830

Prairie City
Prairie City
Population: 1,680

Baxter, Iowa
Welcome to Baxter
Population: 1,101

Sully, Iowa
Welcome to Sully – Est. 1882 – Home of the Jasper County Freedom Rock
Population: 821

Kellogg, Iowa
Welcome to Kellogg – Founded 1865
Population: 591

Lynnville, Iowa
Lynnville – A great place to live
Population: 379

Mingo, Iowa
Mingo
Population: 302

Lambs Grove, Iowa
Lambs Grove
Population: 172

Oakland Acres, Iowa
Oakland Acres – West
Population: 156

Reasnor, Iowa
Welcome to Reasnor – Founded 1877 – Population 190
Population: 152

Valeria, Iowa
Valeria – Town of a Railroad Romance
Population: 57

Ira, Iowa
Ira – Est. 1883
Unincorporated Community

Jasper County covers a lot of space and has 14 communities and 1 unincorporated community that I stumbled across. Once again, I no longer pursue unincorporated communities. That being said, I think Ira is more of a town than Valeria. And Oakland Acres. I don’t think Oakland Acres is a town at all. I think it is a bunch of rich pricks that live around a golf course that probably founded a “town” to escape paying their fair share of taxes. I could be way off base on that one, but I mean, prove me wrong. There is no city hall even. They have their city council meetings in the maintenance shed of the golf course. I’m going to give Oakland Acres, dead last for the worst town sign in Jasper County.

Best in Show. Hmmmm… I really like the town sign for Lambs Grove. Although I’m not really sure Lambs Grove is an actual town or just a neighborhood in Newton that doesn’t want to admit it is part of Newton. Monroe has a really nice sign. For an expensive town sign, I actually like it. I also like Sully’s sign. I’m not sure what the word Sully is supposed to be on, but my guess it that the blob is supposed to represent the Freedom Rock. I’d give it more points if it actually looked like their Freedom Rock a little bit. Newton’s sign is okay. There is an alternate Newton sign that I would consider the best town sign in Jasper County, which would be the first ever win for the best town sign in a county to go to the biggest town in that county, but I’m not 100% sure it is a town sign. So I’m holding it back. Best in Show in Jasper County goes to…

Jasper County Best in Show – Lynnville, Iowa

Although, I could probably be talked into giving this award to Ira.

There were a couple of alternate town signs in Jasper County:

Oakland Acres – Alternate

Baxter – Alternate

Newton – Alternate

Kellogg Sign – Backside

Kellogg – Alternate

However, there was one sign that bothered me. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It was Valeria:

What is this “railroad romance”? The railroad has long since left Valeria. There is a trail nearby where the railroad used to be. There aren’t any historic markers in Valeria. There is nothing to indicate what this is all about. My mad Google searches found the story on what appears to be a now defunct website called Iowa Backroads:

This modest metal sign welcomes visitors to the Jasper County community of Valeria, highlighting the railroad romance that led to its establishment. In the early 1860s, the William H. Johnson family left the South to escape the atmosphere and attitudes of the Civil War, and settled at the present-day site of Valeria. William’s son Nicholas and his sister Edna Valeria would play key roles in the birth of the village.

Edna fell in love with a young civil engineer named McBride, who worked for the Chicago and Great Western Railroad. She and her beau convinced her father to allow the tracks to cross the Johnson land. An agreement was reached based on the condition that the community’s depot would be known as Valeria. The couple ultimately married, though McBride left the railroad to become a dentist.

I’ll assume it is true because I could find no other information on the story.

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Jasper County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Wright County

No change to the BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS:

#10. Scranton

#9. Ricketts

#8. Liscomb

#7. Dexter

#6. Templeton

#5. Haverhill

#4. Farnhamville

#3. Pilot Mound

#2. Moingona

#1. Coon Rapids

I’m not sure what county I will visit next. The last couple of weekends the weather has been rough, so I haven’t done any sign harvesting. The hopper is clear. Hopefully I get out on the open road this weekend!

Anders, Bill, Birthdays, Faust, Jay, Jesse, Jodie Cue, Mom, Road Trip, Teresa, Town Sign Project, Willy

Town Sign Project: Wright County

January 26, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 20 Comments

I need to start the day by wising Anders a happy birthday. Happy birthday Anders!

I hope your birthday is as amazing as you want it to be!

+++++++

A few weeks back I loaded up into the car with my Mom and Teresa as they joined me as I went around and harvested the town signs in Wright County.

Here are some facts about Wright County:

+ Wright County is a county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,229.
+ The county seat is Clarion.
+ The county organization became effective in January 1851, and is believed to be named either after Silas Wright, a governor of New York, or Joseph Albert Wright, a governor of Indiana.

Here is a look at the Wright County Photo Map:

Boundaries approximate at best.

And with Wright County completed, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

11 counties completed. 11.1% of the state conquered.

Here are the Wright County Signs:

Eagle Grove, Iowa
Eagle Grove – Chamber of Commerce – Summerfest – June 18-20
Population: 3,583

Clarion, Iowa
Clarion Welcomes you
Population – 2,850

Belmond, Iowa
Belmond Welcomes You!
Population: 2,376

Goldfield, Iowa
Welcome to Goldfield
Population: 635

Dows, Iowa
Welcome to Dows – A Friendly Community
Population: 538

Woolstock, Iowa
Woolstock – “The Friendly Town” – Birthplace of George Reeves – Humanitarian, Veteran, Actor
Population: 168

Rowan, Iowa
Rowan
Population: 158

Galt, Iowa
Welcome to Galt – The Little Town That Won’t Give Up!

Holmes, Iowa
Holmes
Unincorporated Community

Wright County only has 8 communities, but it has a solid set of signs top to bottom. There isn’t any that I think are terrible, with maybe the exception of Eagle Grove. Their sign is more of an advertisement for the town festival. Which is fine, but the sign doesn’t even welcome you to town.

Dows and Woolstock must have a healthy rivalry. A friendly rivalry though. Cause one is a “Friendly Community” and the other is a “Friendly Town”. I also really like Galt’s sign. It is a little surprising that a town of 32 has such a nice sign. There must be some money in that town. There probably is, because they murderize a lot of chickens in that town. No joke, 15 million chickens in that town. Also lots of salmonella in that town. But you probably don’t want to talk about having to recall 380 million eggs due to salmonella on your town sign. However, their can only be one Best in Show and it goes to:

Wright County Best in Show – Woolstock, Iowa

We will discuss George Reeves when I publish the auxiliary images from this road trip. I can say though, thanks to Jodie Cue for the tip on Woolstock.

There are also a couple towns with alternate town signs:

Belmond – Alternate

Dows – Alternate

Galt – Back of Sign

Also, on the way back home to Boone, I discovered that Roland had updated their Gary Thompson sign:

The Roland Rocket

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Wright County

No change to the BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS:

#10. Scranton

#9. Ricketts

#8. Liscomb

#7. Dexter

#6. Templeton

#5. Haverhill

#4. Farnhamville

#3. Pilot Mound

#2. Moingona

#1. Coon Rapids

The next county we will visit is Jasper County.

Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Crawford County

January 20, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 17 Comments

A couple weeks back, on the same day that I harvested all the town signs I was missing for Carroll County, I continued west and also harvested all the signs I was missing in Crawford County. That ended up being less than I expected.

I didn’t find anything of real historical interest in Crawford County, so here are some facts about Crawford County:

+ Crawford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,096. Its county seat is Denison. The county was named for William Harris Crawford, U.S. senator from Georgia and United States Secretary of the Treasury.
+ In January 1851, the Iowa Legislature authorized the creation of 50 additional counties in the state. Due to its lack of inhabitants, the designated Crawford County area was attached to Shelby County for purposes of revenue, taxation, and judicial matters.
+ In 1855 there were sufficient settlers, who petitioned for separation from Shelby. This was granted, and a county governing structure was established. The county as then designated did not include its present western townships.
+ In 1865, four eastern townships of Monona County were separated from that county and incorporated into Crawford County’s boundary.
+ After several adjustments and reorganizations, the present arrangement of Crawford County townships was completed in June 1872.

Here is the Crawford County Photo Map (borders, not remotely accurate):

Crawford County Photo Map

And with Crawford County completed, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

10 counties completed. 10.1% of the state conquered.

Here are the Crawford County signs:

Denison, Iowa
City of Denison – “It’s a Wonderful Life”
Population: 8,298

Schleswig, Iowa
Schleswig – Est. 1899
Population: 882

Manilla, Iowa
Manilla
Population: 776

Dow City, Iowa
Dow City – Est.1869
Population: 510

Charter Oak, Iowa
Welcome to Charter Oak
Population – 502

Vail, Iowa
Welcome to Vail – A small town with a BIG heart
Population: 436

Westside, Iowa
Westside
Population: 299

Kiron, Iowa
Kiron – BLESSED WITH THE BEST
Population: 279

Deloit, Iowa
Welcome to DELOIT – Oldest Town In Crawford County
Population: 264

Ricketts, IOwa
Ricketts – “Middle of Nowhere”
Population: 145

Arion, Iowa
Welcome to Arion
Population: 108

Buck Grove, Iowa
Buck Grove
Population: 43

Aspinwall, Iowa
Aspinwall – Still A Little Slice of Paradise – Est. 1882
Population: 40

Boyer, Iowa
Boyer
Former City

Crawford County is not a hotbed of great signs, but at least almost all the signs are respectable. Last week, at least a couple people let me know that they thought that the Arcadia sign was very phallic. I’m sure the same people will feel the same way about the Dow City sign. Perhaps it is the worst in Crawford County. The Aspinwall sign is peculiar because they took all the time and energy to put a slogan on the sign, but they put it so small that a person would need to stop their car, get out their magnifying glass, and get up close to the sign to even figure out what it says.

I think Best in Show is pretty much a no-brainer. I do like the Denison sign because I love Donna Reed and I love IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Absolutely one of the greatest movies ever made. Period. Here is her bio from the Internet Movie Database:

Donna Reed was born in the midwestern town of Denison, Iowa, on January 27, 1921, as Donna Belle Mullenger. A small town – a population of less than 3,000 people – Denison was located by the Boyer River, and was the county seat of Crawford County. Donna grew up as a farm girl, much like many young girls in western Iowa, except for one thing – Donna was very beautiful. That wasn’t to say that others weren’t as pretty, it’s just that Donna’s beauty stood out from all the other local girls, so much so that she won a beauty contest in Denison. Upon graduation from high school Donna left for college in Los Angeles, in the hopes of eventually entering movies.

While at Los Angeles City College, she pursued her dream by participating in several college stage productions. In addition to the plays, she also won the title of Campus Queen. At one of those stage plays Donna was spotted by an MGM talent scout and was signed to a contract. Her first film was a minor role in MGM’s The Getaway (1941). That was followed by a small part in Babes on Broadway (1941), with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland as a secretary. Afterwards, MGM began giving her better parts, in films such as The Bugle Sounds (1942), The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) and The Man from Down Under (1943). In 1944 she received second billing playing Carol Halliday in See Here, Private Hargrove (1944), a comedy about a reporter drafted into the army who eventually meets up with Donna’s character as a worker in the canteen. The following year Donna starred in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), her best role to date. It was a love story set in London in 1890. It got mixed critical reviews but did well at the box-office. Donna was now one of the leading ladies of Hollywood. In 1946 she starred in what is probably her best-known role, as the wife of James Stewart in the classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). This timeless story is a holiday staple to this day. The film also starred Lionel Barrymore and Thomas Mitchell. The next year Donna starred as Ann Daniels in Paramount’s Beyond Glory (1948) with Alan Ladd, which did well at the box-office. Her next role was the strongest she had had yet–Chicago Deadline (1949), again with Ladd. It was one of the best mystery dramas to come out of Hollywood in a long time, and did very well at the box office. As the 1940s faded out and the 1950s stormed in, Donna’s roles got bigger but were mainly of the wholesome, girl-next-door type. In 1953, however, she starred as the hostess Alma in the widely acclaimed From Here to Eternity (1953). She was so good in that film she was nominated for and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, beating out such veterans as Thelma Ritter and Marjorie Rambeau. The film itself won for Best Picture and remains a classic to this day. Later that year Donna starred in The Caddy (1953), a comedy with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. Three years later she landed the role of Sacajawea in The Far Horizons (1955), the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, starring Charlton Heston and Fred MacMurray. After finishing The Whole Truth (1958), Donna began her own TV series (produced by her husband), The Donna Reed Show (1958), a hit that ran for eight years. She was so effective in the show that she was nominated for TV’s prestigious Emmy Award as Best Actress every year from 1959-1962. She was far more popular in TV than on the screen. After the run of the program, Donna took some time away from show business before coming back in a couple of made-for-TV movies (in 1974, she had made a feature called Yellow-Headed Summer (1974), but it was never released)

She did get the role of Ellie Ewing Farlow in the hit TV series Dallas (1978) during the 1984-85 season. It was to be her final public performance. On January 14, 1986, less than two weeks before her 65th birthday, she died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, California. Grover Asmus, her husband, created the Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts in her hometown of Denison. The foundation helps others who desire a career in the arts. Donna never forgot her roots. She was still a farm girl at heart.

As much as I love Donna Reed and as much as I love IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, it just isn’t that great of a sign.

Kiron has an okay sign. Deloit’s is okay. I really like Manilla’s sign as well. But Best in Show for Crawford County is very obvious:

Crawford County Best in Show – Ricketts, Iowa

I took this picture in September of 2020. If you are wondering about the Ricketts Centennial 1999 part of the sign.

There were a couple of Crawford County towns that have town sign alternates, I need to share:

Denison Alternate

Manilla Alternate

The Denison alternate reminds me of Kansas. It seems a popular thing to do in central Kanas to put the name of your town up on the side of hill. I also really dig the Manilla alternate. I actually really dug Manilla. It had a pretty cool aesthetic in its downtown area.

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Carroll County

Best in Show – Crawford County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Webster County

Here is the updated BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS:

#10. Scranton

#9. Ricketts

#8. Liscomb

#7. Dexter

#6. Templeton

#5. Haverhill

#4. Farnhamville

#3. Pilot Mound

#2. Moingona

#1. Coon Rapids

The next county we will visit is Wright County.

Town Sign Project

TOWN SIGN PROJECT: CARROLL COUNTY

January 13, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 14 Comments

I recently drove through Carroll County to harvest all the signs in Carroll that I was missing. I didn’t run across any interesting historical markers in Carroll County, so might as well just get straight to it.

Here is a look at the Carroll County Photo Map. Once again, the boundaries of Carroll County are approximate at best:

Carroll County Photo Map

And with Carroll County completed, this is the updated Photography 139 Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

Here are the towns signs of Carroll County (Population Stats from 2010 Census):

Carroll, Iowa
Carroll
Population: 10,103

Manning, Iowa
Manning – It’s Refreshing!
Population: 1,500

Coon Rapids, Iowa
Coon Rapids – In the Heart of Corn Country
Population: 1,305

Glidden, Iowa
Glidden
Population: 1,146

Arcadia, Iowa
Arcadia
Population: 1,146

Breda, Iowa
Welcome To Breda
Population: 483

Templeton, Iowa
Welcome to Templeton – A Strong Community Spirit
Population: 362

Dedham, Iowa
Dedham Welcomes You
Population: 266

Halbur, Iowa
Welcome to Halbur
Population: 246

Lidderdale, Iowa
Lidderdale
Population: 180

Lanesboro, Iowa
Welcome to Lanesboro
Population: 121

Willey, Iowa
Willey
Population: 88

Ralston, Iowa
Ralston
Population: 79

Mt. Carmel, Iowa – I don’t even know what Mt. Carmel is, it isn’t listed as an unincorporated community, but it isn’t exactly a ghost town either, but it does exist.

Carrollton, Iowa – Ghost Town

It is very obvious that Carroll has the worst town sign in Carroll County, and it isn’t even close. Although Breda’s sign is pretty terrible. As is the sign for Arcadia and Lidderdale.

There are some really good town signs in Carroll County though. Manning has a great sign, but I have no clue why Manning is refreshing. Templeton, also has a great and clever town sign, with the tie in to their local distillery. However, the best town sign in Carroll County is pretty obvious:

Coon Rapids – Carroll County Best in Show – The best part, that ear of corn spins!!!

Some of these towns did have alternate town signs I’d like to share:

Coon Rapids – Alternate

Lanesboro – Alternate #1

Lanesboro – Alternate #2

Templeton – Alternate

Also, while I was on this trip I found an alternate sign for the Greene County sign of Scranton:

Scranton – Alternate

Here is the current list of Best in Shows:

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Best in Show – Coon Rapids

Here is the updated BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS:

#10. Scranton

#9. Boone

#8. Liscomb

#7. Dexter

#6. Templeton

#5. Haverhill

#4. Farnhamville

#3. Pilot Mound

#2. Moingona

#1. Coon Rapids

The next county we will visit is Crawford County.

History, Railroad, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Marshall County

January 6, 2021 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I recently drove around Marshall County to harvest all the town signs there that I am missing. One of the things I like to do is visit any historical markers that are on my journey. If I know of a particularly interesting (or in this case tragic) historical marker that isn’t on my way, I will go out of my way to visit such a historical marker. One of these is in Marshall County. It is the site of the Green Mountain Train Wreck. The worst railroad tragedy in Iowa history. 52 people were killed and another 39 injured.

Here is the historical marker to mark the site of this tragedy:

Here is more information from Wikipedia on the tragedy:

The Green Mountain train wreck is the worst ever railroad accident in the state of Iowa, USA. It occurred between Green Mountain and Gladbrook on the morning of March 21, 1910, and killed 52 people.

A train wreck earlier that morning at Shellsburg meant that the Rock Island Line trains were being diverted from Cedar Rapids to Waterloo over Chicago Great Western tracks via Marshalltown. The trains concerned were the No. 21 St Louis-Twin Cities and No. 19 Chicago-Twin Cities; which had been combined into a ten car train with the two locomotives travelling backwards, tender first. The new combined train now had two wooden cars sandwiched between the locomotives, a steel Pullman car, and other steel cars.

Between Green Mountain and Gladbrook, just east of the Marshall County border, the lead engine left the tracks and hit a clay embankment coming to a sudden stop. The steel cars sliced through the two wooden coaches: a smoking car and a ladies’ day coach containing many children. There were no fatalities in the Pullman cars. One of the uninjured passengers said, “I saw women in the coach crushed into a bleeding mass, their bodies twisted out of human shape. I have seen what I shall see all my life when I dream.” A relief train arrived two hours after the accident. It was later reported, “The sight was one of horribly crushed, mutilated, and dismembered bodies.”

Here is a picture of the wreck I found on a website called Cardboard America:

The railroad tracks themselves no longer exist. My best research says that the tracks were abandoned in the 1980s. I haven’t seen any documentation on when the tracks were removed. But enough sadness. Here is a look at the Marshall County Photo Map:

Marshall County Photo Map

And with Marshall County completed, this is what the Photography 139 Conquest Map looks like:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

Here are the town signs of Marshall County:

Marshalltown, Iowa
Marshalltown Welcomes You
Population: 27,552

State Center, Iowa
Rose Capital of Iowa
Population: 1,468

Melbourne, Iowa
Welcome to the City of Melbourne – Established 1882
Population: 830

Le Grand, Iowa (Partially in Tama County)
Welcome to Le Grand
Population: 938

Gilman, Iowa
Welcome to Gilman – Established 1876
Population: 509

Albion, Iowa
Welcome to Albion – Established 1852
Population: 505

Rhodes, Iowa
Welcome to Rhodes – Established 1883
Population: 305

Liscomb, Iowa
Liscomb – Just a Little Street Where Old Friends Meet – Est. 1873
Population: 301

Laurel, Iowa
Laurel – A Place to Know. A Place to Grow
Population: 239

Haverhill, Iowa
Welcome to Haverhill – A good place to visit… A great place to call home!
Population: 173

Clemons, Iowa
Welcome to Clemons – Size of a dime – Heart of a dollar
Population: 148

Green Mountain, Iowa (Census Designated Place)
Green Mountain
Population: 126

Ferguson, Iowa
Ferguson
Population: 126

St. Anthony, Iowa
Welcome to St. Anthony – “Pinhook” Est. 1882 – Pride in Our Past. Faith in Our Future.
Population: 102

Marshall County is a very solid county for town signs. I don’t that they have any I necessarily hate. Towns like Ferguson really only had an old railroad depot sign hanging up to designate their town. A lot of towns had those old railroad depot signs hanging up. It was actually pretty impressive. That being said, since that is all Ferguson had and Green Mountain isn’t technically a town any longer, I’ll give Ferguson the worst town sign award. Although Le Grand really pushes for last place as well.

But who gets Best in Show. There are some strong contenders, I really like the signs in Laurel, Liscomb, and Rhodes. For a corporate looking sign, State Center’s sign is pretty okay. But Best in Show has to go to Haverhill:

Haverhill – Best in Show Marshall County

Time for the BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS.

#10. Badger

#9. Granger

#8. Scranton

#7. Boone

#6. Liscomb

#5. Dexter

#4. Haverhill

#3. Farnhamville

#2. Pilot Mound

#1. Moingona

I’ve also decided to reconsider how I do Best in Show for each county. I’ve decide that a town is only eligible for Best in Show for a county if they are either mostly in that county or if they are evenly split among more than one county. Therefore, these are the altered BEST IN SHOW winners:

Best in Show – Boone County

Best in Show – Greene County

Best in Show – Story County

Best in Show – Hamilton County

Best in Show – Webster County

Best in Show – Dallas County

Best in Show – Polk County

Best in Show – Marshall County

Next time we visit THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Carroll County.

Christianity, Drone, Nature, Panorama, Road Trip, Town Sign Project

TOWN SIGN PROJECT: POLK COUNTY

December 30, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 12 Comments

The November image of the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar is actually a combination of 3 panoramic images taken with Rodan139. Something that was rekindled in 2020 was a love for panoramic photos. However, it is hard to include such an image in a calendar, so I combined 3 of them to fill up a page. I don’t know if it works, but at least one person told me that this was their favorite month in the calendar. So, that is something at least.

The top image is of Horseshoe Bluff in Mines of Spain. The middle image is of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in northeast Boone County. The bottom image is of the Loess Hills, taken in Monona County.

+++++++

When I looked the map for the TOWN SIGN PROJECT and knew that getting the town signs in Polk County was going to be next, I wasn’t overly excited. My excursion to West Des Moines to complete Dallas County was less than enjoyable and I anticipated finding town signs in places like Windsor Heights and and Pleasant Hill was going to be equally horrible. And it was. Only, I actually found decent signs for Windsor Heights and actually like the sign for Pleasant Hill. Now it took some time with Google Maps Street View before I even left on the trip to find those signs. Strike that, before I left on my second trip. I ran out of time and couldn’t find signs for Altoona, Pleasant Hill, Des Moines, and Windsor Heights on my first trip. I had to research it at home before I made a second trip, that doubled as a calendar delivery trip for Baier, Russell, Dre, and Sara. I don’t like doing that much research ahead of time. I like being surprised by what I find, but there is no way around it in Suburbia. Besides, this really is more of a small town project.

I will concede, I never really found a Des Moines “sign”. So I’m throwing in a downtown Des Moines Mural. I’m not going to consider it for Best in Show for Polk County though. Even though it is a pretty sweet mural. Think there is a fair chance that this spring I’m going to spend sometime photographing the murals in downtown Des Moines, cause there are some pretty cool ones.

If you don’t know Polk County, here is a look at it on the TOWN SIGNS PROJECT PHOTO MAP:

POLK COUNTY

Polk County is the 7th County I have completed:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

Here is a look at the town signs of Polk County. Population Data is from 2010, so it is probably not remotely correct for Polk County:

Des Moines, Iowa
Greater Des Moines – Better Together – Better Forever
Population: 203.433

West Des Moines, Iowa
The City of West Des Moines
Population: 56,609

Ankeny, Iowa
Ankeny
Population: 45,582

Urbandale, Iowa
Welcome to… Urbandale – Uniquely Urbandale

Johnston, Iowa
Johnston
Population: 17,278

Clive, Iowa
Clive – District by Nature
Population: 15,447

Altoona, Iowa
Altoona
Population: 14,541

Norwalk, Iowa
Norwalk Welcomes You
Population: 8,945

Pleasant Hill, Iowa
Welcome to Pleasant Hill
Population: 8,785

Grimes, Iowa
Grimes
Population: 8,246

Windsor Heights, Iowa
Welcome to Windsor Heights – the heart of it all
Population: 4,860

Carlisle, Iowa
Carlisle – The Natural Choice – Established 1851
Population: 3,876

Bondurant, Iowa
Bondurant
Population: 3,860

Polk City, Iowa
Welcome to Polk City – A City for All Season
Population: 3,418

Mitchellville, Iowa
Welcome to Mitchellville
Population: 2,254

Granger, Iowa
Welcome to Granger
Population: 1,244

Elkhart, Iowa
Welcome to Elkhart – Est. 1902
Population: 683

Runnells, Iowa
Runnells Welcomes You
Population: 507

Alleman, Iowa
Welcome to Alleman
Population: 432

Sheldahl, Iowa
The People of Sheldahl Welcome You – Biggest Little Town in Three Counties
Population: 319

So what is Best in Show for Polk County. Normally the no-brainer would be Sheldahl or Granger. There are 21 town in Polk County or partially in Polk County. It is amazing that most of them are below average. My biggest disappointment is Mitchellville. There is a prison in Mitchellville! How does a town that has a prison not have a cool sign?

However, since Granger is really almost entirely in Dallas County, I’m going to put it aside. Sheldahl is fairly evenly split amongst Polk County, Story County, and Boone County. However, while I was driving home from Polk County, I made the most alarming discovery cruising through Sheldahl. They took down their town sign! It doesn’t exist any more. I’m going to assume that it was a victim of the derecho and the good people of Sheldahl will make amends for this and get it back up in the very near future.

Putting those aside, I’m going to give Best in Show to Bondurant:

Best in Show – Polk County

I know it definitely isn’t my style of Best in Show, but while it has no art or a snappy town slogan, it is original and cool looking. I give the highest marks for originality and I have never seen a sign like it.

The worst signs in Polk County? Take your pick from Urbandale or West Des Moines or Norwalk. Although Grimes and Johnston are literally on the opposites sides of the same brick wall, so maybe they should share last place.

Time for the BENNETT TOWN SIGN POWER RANKINGS.

#10. Collins

#9. Sheldahl

#8. Badger

#7. Granger

#6. Scranton

#5. Boone

#4. Dexter

#3. Farnhamville

#2. Pilot Mound

#1. Moingona

Nothing has changed. However, I’m putting Sheldahl on notice. If the sign doesn’t return, I’m going to have to drop them from the power rankings. They’ll still make a book, but with several demerits.

The next time we visit THE TOWN SIGN PROJECT, we will visit Marshall County, the site of the deadliest train crash in Iowa history.

Blogging, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Dallas County

December 23, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 21 Comments

The April image for the 2021 Photography 139 Calendar is a butterfly perched on a zinnia in my Mom’s yard. It was taken on August 16, 2020.

Here are some details of the photo:

DETAILS

CAMERA: Sony ILCE-7M2
LENS: FE 50mm f/2.8 Macro
FOCAL LENGTH: 50mm
APERTURE: f/5
EXPOSURE: 1/80
ISO: 100
LATITUDE: 42.05623
LONGITUDE: -93.87505

+++++++

I recently added a photo map to my THE TOWN SIGNS PROJECT album. It looks like this:

This map shows the physical locations of where the town signs I have photographed. In the album, you can scroll in and out and click on the markers to see the pictures.

If you want to see it in the flesh, so to speak, click on the link below:

TOWN SIGN PROJECT

I also recently made a trip around Dallas County to get pictures of the few towns out there that I didn’t have a sign to represent. Unfortunately, most of my time was spent looking around suburbs looking for a sign of some kind. I tried to put as little effort into the suburbs as possible, because I view this as a small town project. That being said, it took a little time to even find anything. I know the signs I have here that represent Urbandale and Waukee are not the best they have to offer, but at the same time, do I lose any sleep about it? Nope, half a bottle of Nyquil takes care of that.

Here is the updated Iowa Conquest Map:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

Here are the town signs of Dallas County (population data from 2010, so probably extremely inaccurate for this county):

West Des Moines, Iowa
The City of West Des Moines
Population: 56,609

Urbandale, Iowa
Welcome to… Uniquely Urbandale… Urbandale
Population: 39,463

Clive, Iowa
District by Nature
Population: 15,447

Waukee, Iowa
The Key to Good Living
Population:13,790

Grimes, Iowa
Grimes
Population: 8,246

Perry, Iowa
Make Yourself at Home!
Population 7,702

Adel, Iowa
Growing with Pride – Home of United Brick & Tile
Population 3,682

Dallas Center, Iowa
Est. 1869
Population: 3,682

Granger, Iowa
Welcome to Granger
Population: 1,244

De Soto, Iowa
Welcome to De Soto, Iowa
Population: 1,050

Woodward, Iowa
Welcome to Woodward
Population: 1,024

Van Meter, Iowa
tradition with a vision
Population: 1,016

Redfield, Iowa
Redfield
Population: 835

Dexter, Iowa
The Original One Horse Town
Population: 611

Minburn, Iowa
A Small Town with a Big Heart
Population: 365

Linden, Iowa
Pride of (Some Cat) Country
Population: 199

Dawson, Iowa
Welcome to Dawson
Population: 131

Bouton, Iowa
Est. 1881
Population: 129

So which town sign wins Best in Show, for Dallas County? I think this one is a no-brainer. It is Dexter:

Dexter, even has a couple of other great town signs as well:

Either one by themselves would be a strong contender for Best in Show for Dallas County. I’d also give surprisingly good marks to Redfield and Linden and Minburn. Minburn, mostly because of the weird bench that is behind their sign, but isn’t pictured. But runner-up in Dallas County is very clearly Granger for the use of the “hot” and “cold” water towers in their sign.

Which one is the worst? I’m going to put aside the suburbs for a moment, because I believe they probably have a better sign out there that I just didn’t care to spend hours in suburban hell looking for them. Maybe some day in the future. But the second worst is the blandness of Dallas Center, but the worst is Adel for putting an advertisement for a business on their town sign. I’m guessing that business probably built that sign, but still… gross.

So 6 counties in, I’m going to up the Bennett Power Rankings to a Top Ten.

Bennett Town Sign Power Rankings

#10. Collins

#9. Sheldahl

#8. Badger

#7. Granger

#6. Scranton

#5. Boone

#4. Dexter

#3. Farnhamville

#2. Pilot Mound

#1. Moingona

These are how I feel at this time, but it is possible that 5 minutes from now, I would rank these completely differently.

The good news is that I have a couple of volunteers for certain counties. So in the future, these road trips won’t be solo. I mean many of them will, but not all of them. Polk County should be next, but I really need a pep talk to head back in to suburbia.

Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Webster County

December 16, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 10 Comments

I’m not going to go hard on history with Webster County. When I covered Hamilton County, I covered how notoriously awful the people of Webster County are. How they killed the poor town of Homer, Iowa in a vicious power grab and created two counties.

Webster County is the 5th county that I have completed in the project:

PURPLE=COMPLETED

Now I just need to complete Dallas County and Polk County to finish off the counties that surround Boone County. I’m not looking forward to Polk County, cause it is mostly suburbs. Suburbs aren’t real towns. They are where rich people that like to pretend they live in a city move because they don’t want to be around poor people. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Here are the town signs of Webster County (Population from 2010 Census):

Fort Dodge – 25,206

Gowrie – 1,037

Dayton – 837

Stratford – 743

Badger – 561

Otho – 542

Lehigh – 416

Duncombe – 410

Callender – 376

Farnhamville – 371

Harcourt – 303

Barnum – 191

Vincent – 174

Clare – 146

The only town in Webster County that didn’t have a sign was Moorland. It only had one of those green and white DOT signs and I’m no longer documenting those. Moorland has a 2010 population of 169. There are two unincorporated towns in Webster County. Burnside and Lanyon. I did not check out either of those. Although I have been to Burnside before and when I was there, they only had the lame green and white DOT sign.

But what sign was my favorite sign from Webster County. Last week Shannon told me she likes to guess what my favorite sign is. I don’t think she’ll have a hard time guessing this week. So I’ll start with who has the worst sign. The worst signs are Barnum and Vincent.

I’ll give a shoutout to Badger. I had high hopes for them and they did deliver. Beaver, take note, this is what your sign should look like. I also really like the signs in Gowrie and Otho. It is a county of solid signs.

I’ll also give props to the people of Duncombe for putting their sign on top of an old garage door. At least I’m pretty sure that is what going on there. I almost missed their town sign and went with a pretty sweet mural they have in their town:

I would love to know what the squiggly line going across the state of Iowa is supposed to represent. My first theory is the historic route of Highway 20. Another theory is the rout of the railroad tracks that go through town. My last theory is that it is a RAGBRAI route that once went through Duncombe.

But the obvious winner is clearly Farhamville. But they don’t have just one great sign. They have 3.

Here is the sign I picked to represent Farhamville:

This is the other side of that sign:

But the first sign I saw when I came into the town from the north was this one:

Now, I was very curious about what the heck was in that circle on the state of Iowa, so I took a close-up image:

Now that I’ve seen it, it answers no questions and creates even more questions. It almost looks like a cult symbol to me. But maybe I just have cults on the mind after just watching the NXIVM cult documentary on Starz recently.

Then as I was leaving Farhamville, heading towards Jefferson for cheese curds, I came across this stone town sign.

I’m sure you’ve picked up that I don’t like stone or granite town signs. However, this one is quite the exception. If you are going to do a town sign, this is how it is done friends.

Farmhamville is mostly in Calhoun County. Only a small sliver of it is in Webster County. So maybe it isn’t fair for it to be Best in Show for Webster County cause I’m not sure how some town in Calhoun County beats this one. But hopefully some town comes strong from Calhoun County. I guess we’ll see when I get there.

But maybe Farhamville is my Ohio State. I have one set of rules for them and an entirely different set of rules for the University of Indiana.

Here is my current Town Sign Top 5:

Christopher D. Bennett Iowa Sign Power Rankings

#5. Scranton, Iowa

#4. Boone, Iowa

#3 Farhamville, Iowa

#2. Pilot Mound, Iowa

#1. Moingona, Iowa

These are the Top 5 as I see them at this second. But that could change any moment. It is a very fluid situation.

I believe that Dallas County will be next, but I also have my sites on Polk County, Wright County, Carroll County, Marshall County, and Crawford County in the coming months. Weather and life permitting.

History, Town Sign Project

Town Sign Project: Hamilton County

December 9, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 21 Comments

A couple weeks back I made a trip around Hamilton County to grab a few town signs I was missing in the county. There were a few interesting discoveries.

Hamilton is the 4th county that I’ve knocked off.

Purple = Completed

Hopefully when we get through the pandemic, I can open these little trips to other people. Particularly when I come to visit your county.

Also, any tips on some small town treasures could move a county up in the pecking order. In fact, on Saturday I got a good tip on Woolstock, Iowa that moved Wright County up in the pecking order. Maybe passing Marshall and Carroll counties.

It is kind of a well documented fact that people from Webster County are a little bit untrustworthy. There is a reason I can refer to a town as “The Dirty” and everybody instantly knows I’m talking about Fort Dodge. A town known for having a liquor store in its slums that will sell alcohol to 4 year-olds.

I bring this up because there really shouldn’t be a Hamilton County. There should just be one big Webster County, with a County Seat in Homer. Haven’t heard of Homer, Iowa? Yeah, that is because it doesn’t really exist any longer. Why? Because people from Fort Dodge aren’t trustworthy. In fact, at a time when Homer was bigger than Fort Dodge and Webster City (then called Newcastle) combined the thugs from Fort Dodge stole an election from Homer. Legitimately stole an election. Homer didn’t get their butt kicked by Joe Biden and then sat in their office whining about it and spreading disinformation via social media while trying to undermine our democracy. The election was legitimately stolen from them.

Here is the tale from the Hamilton County History website:

Prepared by Martin E. Nass

Granville Burkley was successful in carrying his petition to the legislature in 1851 and they created the new county, Webster County, by taking all of Yell, all of Risley, and the lower half of Humboldt (then called Bancroft) Counties. The new county was assigned to Boone County for administration. Two commissioners, Elisha Anderson and Samuel McCall came to meet with Burkley to locate a county seat. Burkley persuaded them to select his site for the town and to name it Homer, for the epic Greek poet. They selected Secion 6-87-26. The new county obtained title to the land on October 14, 1854. Judge Pierce entered a warrant for $114.00 for the town plat.

Burkley built himself a cabin, then got himself appointed as postmaster. He kept the mail under his bed in a tin box. He constructed the first school in Homer, and then promptly padlocked it until the residents would pay him what he wanted. R. W. Alcon was first school teacher at this school. Burkley then arranged for the new state road, which came from Des Moines through Boonesboro (Montana) in Boone County, then through Mineral Ridge, entering our county and passing through Hook’s Point. The road then went to Homer before turning west through Border Plains, Brushy, and on to Fort Dodge.

Homer grew and prospered until it reached a population of about 600. Fort Dodge had about 200 and Newcastle about 100. It seemed that Homer’s future was secure.

Two men came upon the scene to change things. John F. Duncombe of Fort Dodge got together with Walter C. Willson of Newcastle and plans were made to “get” the county seat. They arranged for an election to be held to divide the huge county into two again, each to have a county seat. Since the population of Homer exceeded the combined population of Fort Dodge and Newcastle, Homer felt secure. Willson had arranged earlier to have the Western Stage Company run its line from Dubuque to Alden, Newcastle, and Fort Dodge. Fort Dodge had secured the federal land office in 1855. To ensure a legal election, Burkley stayed in Newcastle to supervise the balloting. He loved to argue politics and he loved to drink. The Newcastle people kept him busy with both, and he did not detect that stage passengers were alighting to vote and then get on the stage for a run to Fort Dodge and vote again. The results went against Homer. They complained and carried their case to the Iowa Supreme Court who ruled that there was evidence widespead cheating on both sides so the election results were upheld.

Duncombe helped Willson get elected to the state legislature to carry the petition for the split of the county. He rode a mule to Marengo and then took the stagecoach to Iowa City, the state’s capital. He planned to arrange for the west half to retain the name Webster and designate Fort Dodge as the county seat. He also had planned for the east half to take the name Sharon and have as the county seat, Newcastle, which was to be renamed Webster City. When he arrived at the state house he quickly realized that he needed some help to get his bill passed. William W. Hamilton, of Cascade, Iowa, was president of the senate. Willson changed the act to give the name Hamilton County to the east half to honor and recognize Hamilton’s help. This act was passed on December 22, 1856 to take effect on Jan 1, 1857.

Thus the name of Webster County was replaced by Hamilton County. Due to a mistake in the numbering of sections in the act, not all of Bancroft County was passed back to Humboldt County. The bottom tier of townships were left in Webster County, which accounts for the fact that the two county north lines do not align. Another act of the legislature required that any further adjusting of county lines would require a majority vote of citizens on both sides of the line. Hence, Webster County never gave back their townships, and never will.

The people of Webster County are so terrible they even stole land from Bancroft County. Never heard of Bancroft County? Yeah, cause it doesn’t exist any more either. That isn’t all the fault of the terrible people of Webster County. The terrible people of Kossuth County also had a hand in that. But we’ll get to that at a later date, I’m sure.

Here is a collection of the town signs of Hamilton County. (Population numbers are from 2010 census.)

Webster City – 8,070

Jewell – 1,215

Stratford – 743

Ellsworth – 531

Stanhope – 422

Williams – 344

Blairsburg – 215

Kamrar – 199

Randall – 173

Homer – Ghost Town

Christy Town – Ghost Town, but yeah sure 46

If you are wondering about the history of Christy Town, I thought it might be the site of a religious cult, because there is a Lutheran Camp there (apologies to Lutherans) and the word “Christ” in the name, but turns out just a woman named Christy lived there. Not even for that long. Yeah, boring!

In Hamilton County, I would rank Stanhope as having the best sign and give Jewell the second best. Blairsburg and Ellsworth have the worst.

There were a couple towns that could have really upped their town sign game. For example, Stratford is named after the town that Shakespeare was from. Almost all the streets are named after famous English authors, like Milton Street, Shakespeare Avenue, Tennyson Avenue, and Dryden Street.

There is a lot to play with there. For example, this sign advertising their business district is way better than the town sign that greets you when you enter the town on 175:

Randall’s sign isn’t bad. As far as nice signs go, it is nice. But they have this sign in their park that is better:

Although, as far as I know, Randall has no peach history. No burgeoning peach industry. Maybe there used to be a peach tree where that sign stands. Randall is pretty far north to grow peaches. Even Reliance or Polly peaches.

If you can’t tell what I like in a sign. It is the following. I like something with artwork on it. It should have a good town slogan. Preferably something that relates to the name of the town. I also like signs that look like they weren’t put together by a professional. I also like signs that reference an athletic accomplishment of a local high school from a long time ago or reference to a (minor) celebrity that was born in that town. I also like signs that are somewhat weathered. Brick signs that just say a town name are the worst. The absolute worst.

Although there are a couple signs in Hamilton County that I like. My Top 5 remains unchanged. After the next county, I might open this up to Top 10.

Christopher D. Bennett Iowa Sign Power Rankings

#5. Scranton, Iowa

#4. Collins, Iowa

#3. Boone, Iowa

#2. Pilot Mound, Iowa

#1. Moingona, Iowa

Now, that is how I feel today. I’m sure if asked tomorrow, I would rank a different Top 5. But I think the Top 3 is pretty solid.

The next county I’m going to knock off is Webster County. Visiting The Dirty! No Taco Tico though!

Ruins, Town Sign Project, WPC - Reminder

Town Sign Project: Greene County & Story County

November 27, 2020 Christopher D. Bennett 4 Comments

I stated in a blog post on Sunday (that has some interesting information in the comments section – Click on this link: Town Sign Project: Boone County) that I’m going to start breaking these signs down by county. When I looked into it, I had already taken a picture of every incorporated town in Greene County. I was only missing two signs from Story County.

While I was snooping around Story County looking at the Unincorporated Communities of Fernald and Shipley, I made another decision to not seek out unincorporated communities in future searches. Not because I have a disdain for Unincorporated communities, but because basically they don’t have signs. If they do, it is only the DOT sign that points out that a community exists here. Moingona has really been the only exception here. So, unless I just happen to stumble across an unincorporated community or get a tip, they are out.

Here are the the town signs of Greene County (Population is based on 2010 Census):