Digging for Our Roots, Part 2: Waterloo and Des Moines, Iowa

12 August 2013

On our way to Waterloo, we made a stop at the “Little Brown Church in the Vale”. It is painted brown because white paint was very expensive and hard to come by when the church was finished in 1864. They claim that 73,000 couples have been married there. Of course, being the analytical people that we are, we view this claim with skepticism since that would mean, on average, over 400 weddings would have occurred each year – more than one a day. The place didn’t look that busy or used. Perhaps they do mass weddings like in Japan?

Waterloo is an industrial city with a very nice large complex of museums. We spent one morning at the Sullivan Brother’s Iowa Veterans Museum. This building is dedicated to the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo who died in the same ship disaster during World War II. The exhibits are on the U.S. wars and Iowa’s involvement in them, starting with the Civil War. Though small, the museum had great, interactive exhibits, providing some interesting interpretations from the Iowa soldier’s and their families’ perspectives. I got some new insights into the personal sacrifices people made during war times.

We had to leave the museum a little earlier than I would have liked so that we could get to Vinton which is a small town partway between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids (actually not far from the campgrounds we were at.) Vinton is the home of the Iowa School for the Blind, best known to most folks through the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura’s older sister, Mary, became blind because of an illness and the books talk about how the family worked hard to get the money together to send her to the school. Mary lived at the school for 8 years during the 1870s. On a personal basis, one of my granduncles also went to the school and graduated in 1919. I was able to contact a representative at the school, who found my granduncle’s school records and allowed us to see the originals as well as giving me a copy of the records. We also got a personal tour of the facilities and saw some of the original records for Mary Ingalls! This person, Pat Barr, was amazing; she was so giving of her time! The school no longer has a residential program for the blind, but is used as an Americorp and FEMA training center. Their teachers go out into the field to work with the blind students.

We spent an extra day in the area because there were no campground spaces available in the Des Moines area due to the State Fair. That was ok because I got the opportunity to go to a very nice quilt shop in Independence.

We got into a Des Moines campground on Sunday and went to the State Fair bright and early on Monday. We started out with the critters. They actually have separate stone barns for each major type (sheep, cattle, horses, pigs.) It was fun to watch the young kids showing their animals; we saw a pig competition and a sheep competition and the tail end of a horse competition (haha.) There were so many animals everywhere! In the cattle barn, the people were busy washing and drying their cows, turning them into huge plush toys. I have never seen so many good smelling and good looking cows! I have only been to one other state fair, Alaska, and so I don’t have a lot to compare against, but it sure seemed like this Iowa State Fair is absolutely huge! I mean a whole big barn just for pigs – there were hundreds of pigs there.

Russ had lots of fun sitting in all the different tractors, taking his turn with the other boys (big and small.) We puzzled at all the attachments and what they were used for. It reinforced for me just how clueless we are with this part of our world.

We stood in a short line to see the world famous butter cow. It wasn’t until we got home and watched the news that I found out that the cow had been attacked by vegan activists and had been covered with red paint with a protest sign painted on the glass on Sunday. That was all cleaned up by the time we got to the Fair.

After all that, we were hungry and went to sample Fair food. We had delicious smoked roast beef sandwiches. Then it was on to the Fabrics and Thread displays where I saw amazing quilts and knitted/crocheted clothing. I found out that Patrick Lose, a well-known quilt fabric designer, was going to do a trunk show in the afternoon, so that went on my must do list. We actually won t-shirts at that show because we came the longest distance to go to the fair. Pretty cool!

Having covered our “must-see” things, we poked around the rest of the fair, looking at industrial exhibits, antique tractors, and a display of Iowan fishes. We saw part of a Veteran’s parade and, while we were having dinner, we were treated to a parade of Belgian drawn wagons; all decked out with their braided manes, silver harnesses and spit polished wagons. Those horses are huge!

We finished the fair off by having funnel cakes for dessert, walking through the midway and seeing a little of the stock car races in the grandstand. Those races were a little too up close and personal for me since there was only a chain link fence separating the cars and me. Boy, are they noisy!

We had a terrific day at the fair. The weather could not have been nicer – clear with temps in the low 80s. The crowds were manageable (I can’t imagine how jammed it was on Sunday.) And everyone was so nice. It is clear that most of the people are repeat attendees with some wearing t-shirts about camping at the Fair. I looked into staying at the fair campgrounds, but gave it up when I saw that it takes up to 10 years to get a reservation.

Tomorrow, we head east and continue seeing the sights of Iowa. We will be getting into some Amish country and I am looking forward to the quilt shops.

Russ was like a kid in the candy shop when he saw all the tractors he could climb up into.

The Little Brown Church in the Vale.

The church has a very simple but beautiful interior.

There is a very nice garden in the back of the church property.

A bronze sculpture of the Sullivan brothers, based on a newspaper photo.

Russ just loves climbing into things.

The Iowa School for the Blind. The roof is being replaced - it was torn off by some sheer winds a couple of years ago. This is the administration building, built in the 1860s.

The auditorium. The organ is contemporary with the time period that my granduncle attended in the early 1900s.

This is a horse net. In the Little House books, it is said that Mary made these, but I never knew what they were. Our tour guide took us up to the 3rd floor and pulled one out of a storage room. This was made in the late 1800s and was used to help keep flies off the horse.

This is Mary's room (of course with new furniture.) I couldn't help thinking that Chris would have been envious - his dorm rooms in Dillon were pathetically small compared to this one.

The dining room in the Administration Building. Still in use by the Americorp students.

This bell was used to tell the blind students when it was time for meals and when it was time to return to classes.

There is a large sensory room available nowadays which helps blind students understand what various situations feel like. I particularly liked this wall - how do you explain to a blind student what a triangle or circle or square is? Having them go through the shapes and feel them in comparison to each other must be a big help.

There were several of these "painted ladies" in Vinton. I was impressed with their ornateness. I have only seen this level of decoration in San Francisco and Eureka.

One of several vignettes at our campground near Vinton. The builder is very creative. This was made from milk cans and 55 gallon drums as well as some springs and miscellaneous hardware.

The kids get rides on Saturdays in this ginormous shopping cart. There were squeals of laughter when they went over the speed bumps in the campground.

Boy, the cornstalks must be terrified when this big guy comes bearing down on them!

Russ was sure having fun!

They start them young on competitions.

This poor guy was trying so hard to get a bite out of this ball and not having any luck.

Lots of cowboy gear for sale at the fair.

These were young Belgian horses, just back from their competition.

Each major critter category had their own barn.

This boar, Otis, weighed over 1100 pounds.

This kids were using little switches to move their pigs around. Looked like Brownian motion to me. The pigs are definitely not trained!

Just sitting around, waiting for show time.

Say Whaaaa?

These guys were all fluffed up and ready to go.

The kids were taking their cattle out for a walk.

The infamous butter cow.

This pumpkin isn't as large as some I have heard about, but it was still impressive.

Along with the butter cow, there were ice sculptures on display.

Part of the Veteran's Parade.

Veterans from Oskaloosa, the hometown of my brother-in-law.

This is the sweepstakes winner for the fair. It was amazing to view up close.

One of the blue ribbon winners.

This quilt had appliques of all the state birds.

Just a few of the many beautiful quilts on display.

The main thoroughfare of the fair. It was laid out in a similar fashion to the Los Angeles County Fair, although on a much larger basis.

A restored Allis Chalmers tractor. There is a family story that my grandmother greatly embarrassed herself one Sunday afternoon when she burst into the living room from the kitchen after hearing her husband go on and on about seeing Allis Chalmers that Saturday in town and how great looking she was. Grandma thought he was talking about a girl and yelled at him in front of friends. She left the room very red faced.

There were several fancied up wagons with their Belgian horses that paraded when we were having dinner (or supper, if you are from the midwest.) Very majestic!