Location: Springbrook State Park, Iowa
This is Ned signing in. Debi has now turned the blog over to me for the duration of our retrace of my Dad's family's move from Missouri to Washington State in July, 1929. My dad, Oak was 11 years old at the time, while my Aunt Laurie was 20. She wrote the journal which we are now using as our reference for this trip, and titled it the same as today blog. The other siblings were Ellen (17), Robert (15), Clara (Kay) (13), and Danny (8). My Grandpa Dan and Grandma Lula were both 44. Laurie relates in her journal that the family had decided to leave Mound City, MO and move to Washington State. Therefore our first stop today was Mound City, population 1159.
Debi had located a Historical Society in Mound City, but we discovered that they are only open on Wednesdays. We inquired next door with the friendly Insurance Broker, Charlie Clodfelter, and he immediately made some calls to the right people, while we went and ate a second breakfast across the street! On returning from breakfast, he let us know that Liz Burnside, secretary of the Society, was on her way to open up the office for us. You gotta love small towns!
Liz was excited to take on the challenge of finding some information about my Dad's family, and we were soon pouring over books and binders galore.
Quite quickly we found newspaper clippings describing my Grandpa Dan accepting the job of manager at the Farmer's Exchange on March 15, 1928, and then resigning the position on April 5, 1929. We asked if that building still existed in town, and Liz informed us that it was only 2 blocks away. Here's a shot of Liz and me. Liz also writes an article for the local paper called "What Do You Remember?" She's going to do one featuring us and asking if anyone remembers any further details about the D.H. Russell Family in 1928.
In fact, we had almost parked directly in front of it when we first got to town. We went and visited the graphic design business that currently operates from there, and marvelled at what a well preserved brick building it still is. It still says "Farmers Exchange" on top of the building.
Laurie's journal describes the family having a sale of all their household goods at 4 p.m. on July 27, and then at 8 p.m. the same night they "left Mound City--forever" (!?) They camped in Clarinda, Iowa that first night, which is about 57 miles from Mound City. Therefore, our next stop was also Clarinda, famed for being the home town of Big Band Leader, Glenn Miller. We visited the Glenn Miller Museum and his original home, which were both really sweet. Here's Debi leading the band.
Here's the house where Glenn was born. It''s been painstakingly restored to the state it was when Glenn lived there.
Our last stop was Bagley, Iowa, which my Dad cosidered his home town. We had visited here before, so we weren't surprised to find the place looking extremely tired, but we were a little shocked to see that the roof of the old abandoned high school had caved in since the last time we were here. In 1929, the Russells had stayed in Bagley for several days getting their truck ready for the big trip.
Here's "Downtown" Bagley. There seemed to be only one operating business and that was the U.S. Post Office, and that is only opened from 9 to 12. My sister Nancy and I also retraced this trip in 1999. It will be interesting to see how many things have changed in those 16 years. (Nancy, can you believe it was that long ago?!)
We also visited the Russell Family plot at the Dodge Center Cemetery. This is where my great grandparents, Mahomet Henry and Sarah Russell are buried. We were very impressed to see how well this cemetery is maintained.
Our final destination for today is nearby Springbrook State Park. We have a delightful spot next to a babbling brook. I have fond memories of my family canoeing with my Uncle Bob in this park, probably 50 years ago.
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