Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

II
Friends and Neighbors Arrive
In Retrospect
The history ofa given community reflects the people
that have lived in it through the years, and each
community has its own characteristics. depending on
the era through which it is passing. Buildings and
projects do not develop or grow by themselves, but by
the foresight. planning. daring and ambition of those
that have been here before us. It is only in looking back
and reflecting on the labor. disappointments and joys of
those daring, ambitious planners, that we can really
appreciate their accomplishments.
A small town is many things. It is a place where
friends and neighbors meet at a grass flre. A place
where, when someone dies, a stranger might be
included with the friends and neighbors, who bring
food and solace. It is where the local newspaper lists the
new books available at the library. It is where small
clubs and organizations appoint the editor of the local
newspaper to an office, with the hope of getting free
publicity for their projects. It is pot-lucks, where
everyone knows which ones are the best cooks. It is
volunteer ambulance attendants: volunteer firemen
and noon whistles. It is high school homecoming
parades and Memorial Day Ceremonies at local
cemeteries. It is ice cream socials and church suppers.
It is carnival rides for three days in the summer. It is
little league baseball and band concerts in the park. It is
another ‘Peyton Place‘.
Changes take place gradually. and in 150 years there
have been the culmination of many. We like to think
that change means progressing. While most of the time
this is true, there are some changes that we don't miss
very much. Such as: quarantine signs, kerosene lamps.
hitching posts, wooden sidewalks, dirt streets. back
yard privies, run-a-way teams and carriages.
swimming holes in the Wapsi River, parking meters
and the city dump. Progress has eliminated these
things and we can be thankful.
Technology has altered many conditions and has
enhanced our standard of living, but some of the things
which are missed are: people walking to work, old ink
pens. good handwriting, quiet Sunday afternoons,
mercurochrome and iodine. good singing and
whistling, threshing machines. bob sleds. red and
green Christmas colors, pinochle parties, house dances
and barn dances, sand-lot baseball. milk in bottles.
good ice cream. old-fashioned family doctors. housecalls,
three-generation-family owned busineses, homemade
valentines. running boards, country school
programs, business peoples‘ home-talent shows.
Colliers and Look magizines, Amos 'n Andy and Jack
Armstrong radio programs. Big Chief tablets and
indelible pencils, barber poles, heel plates, hi-cut boots.
front porches. aprons with strings-attached. caring
about ‘what the neighbors will think’, Ella Cinders.
Katzenjammer Kids, Major Hoople and Joe Palooka.
party lines and general rings, big Fourth of July
parades and picnics, ice skating parties and wiener
by Mildred Brown
roasts. hayrides, curtains blowing out of the windows
by a summer breeze, Main Street popcorn stands, the
public drinking fountains, family night at the movies.
summer kitchens, hard coal cooking stoves, the
mincemeat the Baptist ladies used to make, a room at
home for Grandma. attics with old trunks. when teens
meant young people instead of a category, when the
word ‘promotions’ were not openly mentioned, town
‘characters’, ‘No, sir.‘ and ‘Yes, sir‘, and ‘Thank you‘.
the ‘Jitney'. autograph books, feather beds. soap
stones.
Admittedly. technology has brought about many
things for which we can be thankful such as: scotch
tape. jumper cables, power mowers, snow-blowers.
chain saws, can openers, paper plates. in-door
bathrooms, deodorants, electricity, refrigeration. air
conditioning, television, micro-wave ovens, four-wheel
drives, drive-up windows and garage sales.
Conversely, there are things of which we could
maybe do without such as: window envelopes. Lee Nail
commercials, admission fees to parks. milking parlors,
instant coffee, wind-chill reports, foam coffee cups, the
terms ‘in-put’. ‘bottom-line‘, ‘senior citizen’, ‘have a
good day‘ and "meaningful';lip gloss, pay toilets, t-
shirts with messages, digital watches, and almost
anything sealed in plastic.
The following are questionable ‘necessities’: selfservice.
the National Enquirer magazine and its
contemporaries, supermarkets, credit cards, the Dr.
Ruth television show. and hard-rock music.
In 1940 Thomas Wolfe wrote, ‘You Can't Go Home
Again‘, and as the years pass and everything changes.
his statement seems to be more of a fact than the title of
a novel. We all feel it in some way. Places, things, and
faces change until only memories remain. For us, who
have always lived in the community, the change is so
gradual that at the time it is scarcely noticed: but for
those persons who have left, and after many years
retum, they experience an emotional shock. They find
that the town is not the big ‘city' that they remembered
as a youngster, and even the size of their childhood
home has diminished. Neither the streets, nor the
Wapsipinicon River, are as wide as they remembered.
Strange faces greet the visitor, as businesses have
changed hands, moved or disappeared entirely. There
are more familiar names on headstones in the
cemeteries than on Main Street.
January 6, 1960, the stores in Anamosa chose to
close on Saturday nights. It was the passing of an era;
again brought on by change, and the switch to Friday
night openings was never the same. The popularity of
television and the country's rush to recreation-fllled
weekends. made the Friday night openings less
profitable. Shopping malls and mobility have changed
our shopping habits, but the people in small towns do
not give up easily. They always have ‘hope’ to prod the
spirit and the will. Anamosa, like small towns all over