Sunday in Iowa...


A interesting building on Barnes Street in What Cheer, Iowa. 
My husband's parents and his mother's parents and extended family lived in What Cheer over many years.
His aunt and her husband had a grocery there, one of his cousins was a mayor during the 90's.

11 comments:

  1. Do you know what the original purpose of the building was? It's a beautiful building - especially those rounded corner bay windows.

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    1. My husband thought it may have been a bank at one time...he may be correct, as it looks like an old-time bank alarm above the door on the very far right. The beautiful round bay turret is what caught our eye too.
      No one seems to want to put that kind of pride of workmanship into buildings today.

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  2. I shared this photo with my mom. She responded, "I know exactly where that building is!" It's obviously memorable. Is the Opera House across the street from this building? She also mentioned the flea markets What Cheer is known for.

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    1. Yes, it across the street from the restored opera house. The flea market there twice a year is one of the biggest in the midwest...filling the county fairgrounds and harness racing track with vendors selling every kind of collectible...we try to go every year.

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    2. Thank you, Sue. If I were able to attend the flea market, I'd be on the hunt for cookbooks!

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    3. It's actually a good place to get them...also lots of old kitchenware, nice dishes, table linens, etc. They have that kind of stuff in the fair buildings so they are protected from the weather.

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  3. Great looking building and yes, back in the day it was a bank

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    1. Was a former coal town, and from the 1870s to the early 1900s was one of the major coal-producing centers of Iowa. Its greatest recorded population was 3,246, in the 1890 census. Since the 1910s, the population has fallen to 646 in the 2010 census.
      Can read more about the town here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Cheer,_Iowa

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  4. I hope that the building can be restored to its former glory. Even if it were to be made into an apartments at least it would be inhabited and loved.

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  5. What a lovely structure. They don't make'em like that anymore!

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