July and August are county fair months in Iowa, with the majority of the counties under consideration (Harrison, Shelby, Audubon, Guthrie, Dallas, Polk, Jasper, Poweshiek, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar) organizing their fairs just prior to the Iowa State Fair, which is held annually in mid-August in the state’s capital, Des Moines (Polk).
Serving both as the county seat and the state capital, Des Moines is the home of the exquisite Beaux-Arts Polk County Courthouse (1906) and the imposing Renaissance Revival-style Iowa State Capitol (1871-1886). The Governor’s official residence, the Second Empire-style Terrace Hill (1866–1869), formerly the Hubbell Mansion or Benjamin F. Allen House, is also in Des Moines.
The original capital of Iowa was, of course, Iowa City in Johnson County, which served as the capital of both the Iowa Territory and the State of Iowa (1841-1857). Evolved out of an 1838 settlement named Napoleon, the subject of my upcoming book, “Thirteen Notes from Napoleon, Iowa: Musings on the Edge of the French Empire,” Iowa City became the official capital after the completion of Iowa’s first capitol, today the central building on the University of Iowa campus, founded in 1847. Executed in Greek Revival style and known as Iowa’s Old Capitol (1842), it forms, along with Plum Grow (1844), the historical core of the state of Iowa, with Plum Grove having served as the residence of Robert Lucas (1781-1853), governor of the State of Ohio (1832-1836) and Iowa’s first territorial governor (1838-1841).
With the state capital moving to Des Moines in 1857, Iowa City became Iowa’s cultural center with the University of Iowa’s 12 colleges offering degrees in 200 areas of study. Home of the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the International Writing Program, in 2008 Iowa City was designated as the first UNESCO City of Literature in the U.S.
Johnson County’s neighboring Cedar County is the home of Iowa’s only presidential library, with the annual Hoover’s Hometown Days celebrating Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964), the 31st U.S. president, born on Aug. 10. The presidential complex includes a museum and research library, as well as Hoover’s childhood home and several buildings (schoolhouse, blacksmith shop). President Hoover’s wife, Lou Henry Hoover (1874-1944), also an Iowa native, was born in Waterloo (Black Hawk), with Boone (Boone) the birthplace of another first lady, Mary Geneva “Mamie” Eisenhower (1896-1979), wife of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th U.S. president.
Elk Horn (in Shelby County) is the home of Iowa’s Museum of Danish America with the annual Tivoli Fest taking place during Memorial Day weekend. The highlights include a parade and the World Aebleskiver Eating Championship, which I am tempted to enter at some point, having learned how to make Aebleskiver, a fluffy spherical pancake, from my Danish mother-in-law, Ethel Barker.
Other notable summer festivals include the Jesse James Chuck Wagon Days in Adair (Guthrie) and Good Egg Days in Stuart (Guthrie), the Adel (Dallas) Sweet Corn Festival, and the annual NASCAR and IndyCar races at the Iowa Speedway in Newton (Jasper). Grinnell College, founded in 1846 in Poweshiek County, will be the focus of my September column.
Named after the French-American naturalist John James Audubon (1785-1851), Audubon (Audubon) features bird mosaics lining the sidewalks along the main square. The statue of the self-trained ornithologist and artist with his inseparable dog Fidele attracted Watson’s attention, who sniffed it first with enthusiastic curiosity, then with disappointed detachment.
As I was driving out of Logan (Harrison) along the Western Skies Scenic Byway stretch of the Lincoln Highway late at night, I chanced upon the most cheerful bright yellow and orange mural confidently stating “You are sooo Beautiful” – the last two words executed in exquisite light blue chunky cursive. Having driven along the highways and byways and dusty country roads of 71 Iowa counties, often without makeup, in crumpled clothes, with disheveled hair concealed under my signature French beret and tired eyes shaded by large sunglasses, in a car littered with empty coffee cups and Diet Coke cans – that’s EXACTLY the message I wanted to hear.
Twenty-eight counties to go!
Professor Anna Barker teaches in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Russian Program and in the Ul Tippie College of Business Marketing. Her 2024-2025 Substack commentary focuses on the works of Dostoevsky, Dumas, and Jókai Mór. Her past tutorials exploring the intersection of history, art, and literature in works such as Gilgamesh, Paradise Lost, Les Misérables, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Brothers Karamazov can be found at Anna Barker’s Classics Reading Series (Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature).
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Iowa’s 99: From Harrison County to Cedar County | Column
Reporting by Anna Barker / Iowa City Press-Citizen
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