Fall, 2020 Newsletter
The Society Board made the decision to close Calliope Village and the Historical House for the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic and the complications for safety associated with it. The quarterly meetings have also all been canceled. We hope to open again in 2021.
These continue to be trying times but the Hawarden Historical Society is still going forward. Since June the following activities have happened. With the $10,000 grant we received from the Hawarden Community Foundation, Gerritson Construction replaced the roof on the back portion of the Suckow House and put a new metal roof on the Carlson House. Tim Kurth has been working on replacing the floor in the northwest bedroom in the Calliope Store. Next up is new roofs for the Barn and the Chatsworth building (currently used for storage).
We continue to maintain the grounds at Calliope Village even though we did not open this year. Thanks to Marsha Eilers, Cornie Schelling, and all of the other volunteers.
The Old City Hall was sold by the City on June 1 to Jared Vloto for $25,000. The Historical Society is very proud of the work we have done on the building to get it to this point. Check out the Old City Hall page on our website to see the transformation that has been done to the building since the Society took on this project. The Society’s main objective has always been to save and restore the Old City Hall. This we have done with donations, local funding, grants, and help from the many volunteers who worked on the demolition and restoration. Thanks to all who have been a part of this project. It is time for the next step – putting the building back to use in the community.
Angela Stanford, Curator and Registrar of the Museum for Danish America met with Carol Frerichs, Tim Kurth, Taylor Flynn, and Dave Pusey in June concerning the Stuart Flynn World War II Home Front Collection. She was impressed with the collection and gave us some ideas concerning record keeping, storage and display. One key factor was to have the collection in a temperature controlled environment. She thought displaying a certain number of items at a time was the best way. The Society is researching alternatives for storing and displaying the collection. In the meantime, we are working on cataloging the collection.
Keep checking back to our website as we continue to make updates. All oral histories have now been added, including an Oral History Guide, which gives you more information about each of the histories. New pictures are being added to the Calliope Village and Gallery pages.
Congratulations to Cynthia Farley and Phil Loven on their marriage October 3rd, 2020 at Calliope Village. The venue was perfect for a small wedding, family only. The church looked beautiful! A perfect day! See pictures on Facebook and our website.
The third annual Siouxland Big Give is October 6, 2020. Big Give is a 24-hour day of giving where Siouxland community members are encouraged to donate to their favorite local charities. The Big Give will run from midnight to midnight on Tuesday, October 6, 2020. To find out more about Big Give go to https://www.siouxlandbiggive.org/
To donate online, follow any one of the links below. Donate anytime between now and midnight on Oct 6th.
- Go to the Hawarden Historical Society Facebook page and click on the Big Give link
- Copy and paste following address in your browser
You can also send donations directly to the Hawarden Historical Society, PO Box 68, Hawarden, Iowa 51023. If we receive your donation by October 7th, it will count toward this giving event. Thank you so much for considering this. Donations at any time are so much appreciated as all help to preserve the history of Calliope and Hawarden.
Of course Calliope and Hawarden have so many stories to tell. One interesting resource is the old yearbooks. I thought I’d add a “Did You Know” section to this newsletter. The Hawarden Public Library has a copy of all yearbooks, the Society has just a select few.
Did You Know
Who was in Calliope High School’s graduating class of 1891? Kate Kennedy-Warner, Allie Smith-Garfield, Gary West, Frank McUmber
Who was in the Hawarden High School’s graduating class of 1891? Fred Moore, Elizabeth Beaumont-Bader, Edith Morris-Grady, Rose Washburn-Schneider, LillianHutchinson-Platt
Sincerely, Dave Pusey, President
Reference The TRAX, 1909-1910 Yearbook
