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Iron County Historical Society Newsletter

Fall 2015

Mailing Address P.O. Box 183 Ironton, MO 63650

E-Mail: ironcohissoc@hotmail.com

Iron County Historical Society

Founded 1974

Museum Address Whistle Junction Train Depot Highway 21, Arcadia, MO

Website: www.rootsweb.com/~moichs

Telephone: (573) 546-3513

Next Meeting (Special Date): 2 p.m., Sunday, October 25th

First Presbyterian Church, Corner of Knob & Reynolds, Ironton

~ Program ~

Jesse James: Missouri Outlaw presented by Randall Cox

~Refreshments by ~

John Abney

John Abney

Hello again, and I hope you are all enjoying this

wonderful fall season! It’s a busy time for your

historical society. We are once again sponsoring a booth

at this year’s Fall Mountain Music Festival and are

pushing back our regular quarterly meeting by one week

to October 25th so we won’t conflict with the event.

Randall Cox is presenting this quarter’s program on

Jesse James and I hope as many of our members as

possible will be able to attend.

I would ask that each of you look at the flyer and

message of page 2 of this newsletter. Our second annual

Trivia Contest and Silent Auction will take place on the

evening of Friday, November 6th. Last year’s event

netted enough funds to cover approximately one-quarter

of your historical society’s annual operating expenses.

Early next year, we will be embarking on an ambitious

project to publish a new pictorial history of Iron County.

I would like to have it ready for sale by this time next

year, but definitely before Iron County celebrates its

160th birthday in February 2017. We still need

volunteers willing to serve on the book’s publication

committee. You don’t even have to live locally to help.

If you are interested and would like more information,

just send me an email at johnmabney56@gmail.com and

I will get back with you.

Finally, as always, we need volunteers for the museum.

If you can help, please give Wilma Cofer a call.

.

President’s Message Museum Director’s Report

Wilma Cofer

New Accessions:

We have received WWII uniforms and miscellaneous

memorabilia donated by Mrs. Carolyn Funk. There are

several other items from others as yet not processed.

Donations / Memorials Received:

We have received a $50 memorial in memory of Wanda

Rayfield and a $50 memorial in memory of Bert

LaPlante from Carolyn Sheehy; plus an additional $300

in miscellaneous donations for this quarter to date.

Visitors:

July – 589 from 25 states + MO & Taiwan & UK;

Aug – 363 from 16 states + MO & Ontario & Canada;

Sept –336 from 23 states + MO & no other countries.

Membership Chairman’s Report

Wilma Cofer

We gained two members and lost 1 to death. We currently have 127 members and seven exchange members. We still have 11 on the overdue payment list.

New member(s):

Ira Ann Hawkins, Ironton, MO, and Ed Parker, Ironton, MO. Welcome to our Society!

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Don’t Forget to Save the Date!!! Friday, November 6th

We will be calling all of our local members. We will need donations for snacks and refreshments, items

for our silent auction, and volunteers to help with the event. If you aren’t local, please consider making a

donation to help defray the costs of the event. This event is our only fundraiser for the year and we need

everyone’s support to make it successful. Thank you, as always, for your support!

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Ironton’s Main Street Fifty and Sixty Years

Ago1

(Part 1 of 2) Transcribed by John Abney2

Many times I have thought that I would like to see how

my childish memories and impressions of Ironton's Main

Street would look on paper. Until I was six or seven

years of age my parents lived near the south end of the

street, therefore it is the south end which I remember

best. As we lived near Stout's Creek, where some of us

children frequently played, I will pretend to enter Main

Street over one of the numerous and different kinds of

bridges which spanned the stream at one time or another.

Freshets came oftener than they do now and after each

one a plank was put in place for temporary use, until the

old bridge could be repaired, or if washed away, a new

one put in. The old swinging bridge, the last before the

wagon bridge was built, if I remember correctly, was

fastened at the Ironton end by a chain to some support.

When the bridge washed downstream from the Arcadia

side, workmen could pull it back into place and it would

be secure until the next freshet, which usually came in

the spring. So sudden were these rises that the spots

where we could cross on stepping stones and where

ladies could pass without dampening their long flowing

habits would, in a few hours, be a rolling, tumbling

torrent carrying trees and debris downstream.

At such a time I have seen the water back up to the

Emerson Place. On one occasion I remember that Mr.

and Mrs. Speck had to move out of their home until the

water subsided. They went to the home of their

neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Markham, whose place stood

on a rise across the road. (This mention of the Markham

family reminds me of the day that their house burned.

We school children heard the news after we left school

one afternoon. The older girls were so sorry to hear of

the burning of all of Miss Fanny's pretty clothes that they

decided to give her a warm dressing gown, the "hostess

gown" of today. They bought a dark red material, had

the gown made and presented it to Miss Fanny.) Mr.

Markham later built the house which is now standing.

Adjoining the Markham place on the north was the

Lindsay property, now called the Emerson place. The

1 “Ironton’s Main Street Fifty and Sixty Years Ago.” (Ironton,

Missouri), Iron County Register, 20 December 1934, p. 1 and

27 December 1934, p. 1 Note that the article appears as

written with the exception of punctuation and capitalization

edits.

2 1419 Woodfield Ct, Farmington, MO 63640;

johnmabney56@gmail.com

brick for this house was burned on the grounds. The

family occupied the house for a time and then sold it to

Judge Emerson, who finished it thru-out. The grounds

were beautified and this property became the show place

of this vicinity. It is here that the "Grant Oak" stands. It

is strange how certain historical facts become confused

and twisted. I have heard that families living in this

house in more recent years have had misinformed

strangers ask permission to go thru the house to look at

Grant's relics and furniture.

Emerson Park, on the property of Judge Emerson, Iron

County Historical Society

Across the road from Emerson's was the John Newman

vegetable garden, which supplied the valley with all

kinds of vegetables during the short summer season.

Now these vegetables are a necessity the year around to

supply the vitamins essential to health. How did people

live to the ripe old age in those days? As soon as the

gardener's bell was heard in the neighborhood, on went

the housewife's split bonnet and out she went, armed

with a basket, to buy the needed vegetables for dinner.

For years the wagon made two trips to Graniteville and

across to Iron Mountain, as the quarries and mines were

running full time then. One day Mr. Newman collected

about fifty dollars from his customers and started his

drive toward Ironton. Near Gum Springs a lone bandit,

at the point of a gun, demanded the cash and got it.

Hold-ups then were almost unheard of. The harrowing

story brought forth comments from many, who ventured

to say what they would have done under the

circumstances.

The boys in the neighborhood made their first money

picking beans and peas for Mr. Newman and they were

very proud of the jingling change in their pockets. When

my cousins and I were old enough, we were allowed to

pick goose-berries and red currants. We were delighted

with the remuneration because nickels were not plentiful

for us. The largest tree in this part of the country, an

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elm, stood in the Newman front yard. I also want to

make mention of the Lombardy poplars which grew

along a branch on the Newman home-place. I am sure

that they were the first in this part of the country and

they were the tallest I have ever seen. The Lombardy

poplar is short lived and these died many years ago.

John Newman home, Iron County Historical Society

I frequently went down to the Newman home, and one

day while I was in the attic searching for something I

heard the most weird music or noise that had ever struck

my young ears. I was frightened and hurried downstairs.

The hall door was open and there stood a hurdy-gurdy

man, grinding away on an old wheezy hand-organ, and a

little monkey sitting on the top dressed in a red coat and

cap. I ran thru the house and the monkey, holding out the

cap for pennies, came after me. The animal was fastened

by a long, fine chain to the organ and the master had to

follow us. When Mrs. Newman saw her strange visitors,

a brisk conversation ensued. Of course the man could

not understand what was being said but he knew that the

lady of the house was showing him the gate without the

donation of pennies.

North of the Newman garden was the Shepherd (or

perhaps Shepherd and Baldwin) Planing Mill. As I

remember the sound from the mill, I am sure that no

noise was more conducive to sleep than the humming

and droning on a warm afternoon. The mill was a source

of much pleasure to us girls because we could get

armloads of long yellow shavings and put them under

our head bands. We felt just as dressed up as Mary

Pickford looked when she wore curls. The fact that dark

hair might show under the artificial curls made no

difference to us.

North across the drive-way stood the blacksmith and

wagon shop run by Newman and Son. The planing mill

and the Newman shops long ago disappeared and the

lots where they stood are now vacant. A drive between

the mill and the shops led to the old Newman home,

which was on the site of the Valley Inn. Beside the front

steps were two huge lilac bushes, each a real bouquet

when in bloom.

I remember the fire-place in the sitting room was the

largest I have ever seen. I think it was long enough to

take a stick of cord wood. The mantel was so tall that

only grown-ups could reach it. The hearth was of flag

stones and many tears were shed over broken china dolls

and china ornaments which were dropped on that hearth.

There was every kind of fruit tree in the yard. The poor

grandmother, with all of her watching, could call very

little of the fruit her own because by the time, yes before,

the red June apples were ripe there were scarcely enough

for a pie.

Just north of the wagon shop was the home of Thomas

Newman, then a five room cottage. It was remodeled

some years later by William Newman, and still stands.

The children of the neighborhood derived much pleasure

from watching the trains of charcoal wagons which

passed thru the town on the way to Pilot Knob. These

great loads of charcoal were used then to fire the

furnaces which melted the ore. We could hear the

tinkling of bells before the procession crossed Stout's

Creek. I would climb the gate post and sit waiting for the

wonderful parade. The wagons had high beds flaring at

the top and each held many bushels of coal. A number of

wagons made up a train and each wagon was drawn by

four or six mules, the leads having bells on the harness.

My brother's ambition was to grow up to be driver of a

coal wagon so that he could pop a long whip just as

those men did. I have been told that a number of these

wagons travelled together because sometimes a latent

spark would break into flames and one driver would be

helpless in fighting the fire alone. A bucket with water

was always carried on each wagon.

Charcoal burning is an old art and very few old colliers

are living now. I wish that one of them could be

interviewed and the report published. I am sure that it

would be interesting and instructive. South of Arcadia I

have seen open spaces out on the hills where the soil was

very black and coarse, and I have been told that these

places were old "coalings," or places where charcoal had

been burned. Many loads of hoop poles were brought in

from the country to be exchanged for supplies. Hoop

pole shaving is also a thing of the past.

Other types of travelers and wagon trains crossed Stout's

Creek. It was not an uncommon sight to see gypsies in

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their brightly decorated wagons. One afternoon my

mother made several dolls for us out of towels, aprons,

night gowns, etc. When we were settled with our

playthings she slipped away to a neighbors, but we soon

missed her and followed. When we returned our dolls

were gone. A neighbor told mother that she had seen

gypsy girls enter the yard while we were away. That

news aroused mother's suspicions and she started out to

find the wanderers. She soon located them and

demanded the clothing, which of course they denied

taking. They whimpered and refused until they were

threatened with the law, and then they returned

everything. Mother made all of our clothing by hand

then (sewing machines were a luxury), and it would have

meant much extra stitching to replace the articles.

I now return to the subject of landmarks and cross the

street to the little cottage of "Granny" Griffin and her

devoted son Tommy. "Granny" was quite a character in

our part of town. We often visited her and she would fill

our apron pockets with dried apples and peaches. If she

was not in the best of humor, the children in the

neighborhood kept out of reach of her cane which had a

hook on the end of it. She could wield this stick with real

dexterity. "Granny" advised the mothers on raising their

children. One day she chased my brother and me home

as she said that we were out too soon after a siege of

measles. She started across the road, scolding as she

came, and followed us into the house. Mother received

one of her frequent lectures but after "Granny" had

expressed herself, invariably she would say, "Goodbye

and God bless you, Jane." She was a quaint little figure

and I can see her walking up and down the side walk.

Most of the year she wore brogan shoes and heavy yarn

stockings, a very full short skirt, quilted petticoat, a

loose waist, and apron. Over all this she wore a circular

cape which reached almost to the bottom of her dress. A

dark quilted hood finished her costume. She was a very

friendly person and stopped everyone for a chat. One of

her great favorites was William A. Fletcher, for he was

Irish too.

Just north of the Griffin place still stands a small frame

house but I cannot remember who lived there. Next

came the Whitworth home, the outside of which is but

little changed. Across the road was a low rambling

house occupied by Judge Call and relatives named

Broadwell. A boy there entertained himself most of the

time by humming and beating on a tin lid. I must

mention the dog "Bulger" whose disposition was far

from pleasant. I am sure that the boys of the

neighborhood were partly to blame, for it was their

delight to run by, pulling a stick along the picket fence,

just to hear "Bulger" growl and snarl. The Call home is

now replaced by other dwellings.

As I seem to be zigzagging back and forth across the

street, I will cross again and climb Whitworth hill on the

west side. At the top stood a long frame building used as

a tin shop and owned by Mr. Wonderly. We used to go

in and ask for trimmings of tin to make rings and

bracelets. The older girls, my sister among them, would

cover pieces of tin with paper and roll their bangs on

them. One day my father brought home from Mr.

Wonderly's store three bananas, the first that any of us

had ever seen. I think they were green and I am sure that

none of us liked them. He told us of the big bunch

hanging out in front of the tin shop and insisted that we

go to see it. It was a strange place to be selling bananas I

must admit, but the man had the right idea in helping to

educate the community. Following the display of the

first bunch of bananas, others were brought to town

occasionally, but it was years later, when "Banana John"

made his regular trips to Ironton, that the fruit became

popular. The old tin shop which housed the first bananas

burned some years ago and is now replaced by a brick

store building.

East of the tin shop and across a vacant lot stood the

flour mill. It was a huge frame structure built by some of

the Russell family about eighty years ago. It remained

one of the oldest landmarks and was torn down only last

autumn (1933). When looking toward the mill one often

saw Mr. David Meyers, the miller, whose white hair was

a striking feature. As a child I thought that this very

white hair was caused by the flour. I played around the

mill with Mr. Meyers’ daughter and we frequently

slipped in to be weighed and we were just as often

"shooed" out because there was danger of our clothes

catching in the machinery.

Ironton Manufacturing Company, Iron County Historical

Society

From the mill there was a short climb to reach the

Whitworth store, a large brick building used for general

merchandise. People came from miles around to trade

here and the old camp house back of the store was

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always filled. The women traded while the men sat

around and talked. A short time ago I saw an old split

bottom chair used at that time. There were round knobs

on the top and the back half of each knob was worn off

and was quite smooth. The occupants had tilted the chair

back against the counter or wall and that constant

rubbing had worn away the back half of each knob. Mr.

I. G. Whitworth was a pioneer merchant of the valley.

He lived to be very old and was a familiar figure around

that corner. The building is still owned by members of

the Whitworth family and the business is run by a

grandson. (To be continued…)

Opposite: Whitworth’s Store located on the northeast

corner of Main and Russell Streets, now the site of First

State Community Bank. Iron County Historical Society.

In Memoriam, Remembering Bertha “Bert” LaPlante By Carolyn, Sheehy

On August 14, 2015, Bertha “Bert” LaPlante, peacefully

passed away at her residence in Ironton, Missouri, after a

courageous fight with cancer. She was a life-long resident of

the Valley and was well known and loved by many people.

Her love of Arcadia Valley and desire to see it prosper

prompted her to open and operate for 12 years, Bert’s Corner, a

gift shop on Main Street in Ironton. She also worked in

community service groups, even sponsoring a float in the

Christmas Parade for several years.

Therefore, Bert was many things to many people but to the Iron County Historical Society, she was a

member who was content to work diligently behind the scenes to make things happen. Needless to say,

Bert’s hands and mind were never idle. Known for her listening ears; sharp business mind; and wise but

frank opinion, she became an excellent person to consult when advice was needed for a fundraiser;

researching or writing historical accounts; or preparation of solicitation letters for upcoming events.

In 2013, the Society published an account of the 100th Anniversary of Iron County. Bert offered to sell the

books at her shop, and record book sales resulted from this offer. She donated items for the silent auction

and organized a “Bert’s Corner” team for the Society’s Trivia Night in November 2014 even though her

health was not the best.

So, thank you, Bert, for all you did to make things happen. We miss you already.

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Illinois Watch Company 21 Jewel Railroad Pocket

Watch

If you take the time to listen, every item in our collection

has a story to tell. Such is the case with the Illinois

Watch Company 21 jewel railroad pocket watch located

in our railroad collection display case. The history of

railroad pocket watch begins with a disaster.

Great Kipton Train Disaster

Kipton, Ohio is a small town located some 40 miles

southwest of Cleveland. On April 19, 1891 the fast mail

train, the No.4, was coming east on the Lake Shore &

Michigan Southern Railroad. At Elyria, Ohio,

approximately 15 miles from Kipton, the engineer and

the conductor of the westbound Toledo Express, the No.

21, were given orders to let the No. 4 pass them at

Kipton.

As the investigation would later reveal, the conductor of

the No. 21 did not check his watch, thinking that the

engineer would be looking for the approaching No. 4.

From the time the train left Elyria until it collided with

the Fast Mail at Kipton, the conductor, as he admitted

afterward, did not take his watch out of his pocket. He

said that he supposed the engineer would look out for

No.4. Unknown to both the conductor and engineer of

the westbound train, the engineer’s watch had stopped

for some four minutes before restarting again, lulling the

engineer into a false sense of security that made him

believe he had more time than he did to get his train

safely on to the siding. Approaching Kipton, the

engineer of the westbound No. 21 must have been

horrified upon seeing the No. 4 fast mail train

approaching him at full speed. The ensuing head-on

collision killed the engineers of both trains as well as six

postal clerks on the No. 4 mail train.

Kipton Train Wreck, Image Courtesy of the Smithsonian

National Postal Museum

The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, as the

result of the accident, hired well known Cleveland

jeweler, Webb C. Ball, to investigate timekeeping issues

along its line. Ball’s investigation resulted in the

creation, in 1893, of a standardized set of watch

performance and inspection standards. Among these

new standards, railroad pocket watches had to be

accurate to within 30 seconds per week (4 seconds per

day), had to have at least a 15 jewel movement, have a

white face with black Arabic numbers and have

markings for each minute. The jewels used were rubies

and these jewel-bearings helped to cut down on friction

inside the watch allowing for smoother running and

more precise timekeeping. Eventually, the number of

jewels in a “fully jeweled watch” would increase to 23.

The watches also had to allow for adjustment so that

they would operate accurately under a wide range of

temperatures.

From the Collection By John Abney

Illinois Watch

Company

“Sangamo

Special”

Railroad Watch

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Ball’s inspection standards were just as exact as those

related to performance of the watch itself.

He also required that railroad engineers have their

watches inspected regularly, upon which they were

issued a certificate that guaranteed the watches’

reliability. If an engineer’s watch was faulty, he had

to pay for the repair himself, and while it was being

repaired, he borrowed a loaner watch from the

jeweler. Having an accurate watch was a requirement

for his job. It was vitally important for everyone’s

watch to show the correct time since most railroad

lines had only one track for trains traveling in both

directions. The Kipton disaster proved that even if an

engineer’s watch was off just a few minutes, the

result could be deadly. Ball’s promptness and

accuracy was the origin of today’s well-known

phrase, "On the ball."1

While the railroad pocket watch may have had no frills

with just a simple and plain look, the exacting

performance standards that they had to meet made them

very expensive. It could take a railroad worker up to

two years to pay off their watch. According to the 1900

U. S. Census the average worker in the United States

earned $449.80 at the turn of the 20th century, yet a

railroad pocket watch of that period could cost as much

as $50 to $100.2

Several companies made railroad pocket watches.

Among the more well known were the Ball Watch

Company (yes, this is the company owned by Webb C.

Ball), the Elgin Watch Company, the Hamilton Watch

Company, the Waltham Watch Company, and the

Illinois Watch Company.

The maker of our watch, the Illinois Watch Company,

was founded in 1869 in Springfield, Illinois. Originally

known as the Springfield Watch Company, the company

was reorganized as the Illinois Watch Company in 1873.

During the company’s most productive years from 1900

to 1928, the firm employed some 1,300 workers and

turned out nearly 800 watches per day at its factory

located in Springfield, IL.

1 “The Origin of the Railroad Watch,” Bowers Watch and

Clock Repair website (http:www.bowerswatchandclock

repair.com : accessed on 1 September 2015). 2 Ibid.

A typical Illinois Watch took anywhere from eight to

twelve months from the time work began on it until it

was ready to leave the factory. The company’s

railroad watches, among them the Sangamo, the

Sangamo Special, the Bunn, the Bunn Special and the

A. Lincoln, were guaranteed to be accurate within 30

seconds a week whether they were lying on their

backs or their faces, standing upright or upside down

and at temperatures from nearly freezing to almost

100 degrees Fahrenheit — one reason polar explorer

Roald Amundsen carried an Illinois watch on one of

his expeditions to the Arctic.

In about 1914, the company stopped producing

anything but high-quality watches, watches with a

minimum of 17 jeweled bearings. Of the 11 watch

models from several factories that passed an accuracy

test posed by the National Naval Observatory in

Washington, D.C., 10 were from the Illinois Watch

Factory. One historian of the firm noted that these

timepieces were as high-tech as computers are today

and indeed the Illinois Watch Company works

resembled today’s meticulously clean and well-lit

computer assembly plants.3

The Illinois Watch Company was sold to the

Hamilton Watch Company in 1928. Railroad

watches like ours are prized among collectors and

we are proud to have it in our railroad collection.

3 “Illinois Watch Company,” Sangamon Link: History of

Sangamon County, Illinois website

(http://sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/?p=595 : accessed on

22 September 2015).

Lithograph of the Illinois Watch Company Factory

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IRON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS

P. O. Box 183, Ironton, MO 63650

(order from above address)

Title / Author Publication Details / Cost

A Celebration Worth Remembering Cookbook (Reprint of Centennial

Cookbook with additional materials and photographs)

Soft cover, coil bound.

192 pgs. $15.00 plus $4.00 S&H

CENTENNIAL: Ironton, Missouri, May 30 – June 2, 1957

Reprint, soft cover, comb bound. 58 pgs. $6.00

plus $2.50 S & H

Dorothy Reese: Ironton/Arcadia Valley’s Cheerleader, Historical, Civic

Leader, And Teacher: A Tribute, by Randall Cox

Soft cover, comb bound. 19 pgs. $2.00 plus

$1.50 S & H

Early History of Arcadia Valley, by C. S. Russell, edited by Robert Pollock Soft cover, comb bound. 33 pgs. $5.00 plus

$2.50 S & H

History of the 33rd Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry in the

Civil War

Excerpts, 21 pgs. $3.00 plus $1.00 S & H

In the Arcadia Valley

Reprint from Iron County Register Supp ;/1800s.

50 pgs $10.00 plus $2.50 S & H

Iron County Family, Business, and Organization Stories: A Supplement

to Past and Present

Soft cover, comb bound, photos, 195 pgs. $20.00

plus $3.50 S & H

Iron County, Missouri, Year By Year, by Clarence R. Keathley Soft cover, comb bound, maps, photos, Ca 1984.

16 pgs. $3.00 plus $1.50 S & H

John Albert Undertaking Business, 1878 – 1921

Manuscript, indexed, comb bound. 76 pgs. $6.00

plus $2.50 S & H

My Perfect Life, by Robert Pollock Indexed. 147 pgs. $10.00 plus $3.50 S & H

Past and Present – A History of Iron County 1857 – 1994

Topical/biographical history of Iron County, Missouri

Hard Bound, indexed. 434 pgs. $49.95 plus $4.50

media rate or $10 1st class priority S & H

Perpetual Diary of Capt. P. Ake Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, Ironton,

MO (A Civil War Diary covering the year 1865)

7 pgs. $2.00 plus $1.00 S & H

Readin’, ‘Ritin’ and ‘Rithmetic, A History of Schools in Iron County,

MO., 1840 – 1981, by Clarence R. Keathley

Soft cover, photos, etc. Ca. 1981. 136 pgs. $8.00

each or 2/$10.00 plus $3.50 S & H

Russell Cemetery Association Soft cover, comb bound. 33 pgs. $5.00 plus

$2.00 S & H

United States Post Offices in Iron County, Missouri, Then and Now,

by Clarence R. Keathley

Soft cover, photos, maps, Ca. 1984. 17 pgs. $3.00

plus $1.50 S & H

W. J. Hinchey Diaries, Portrait of a community during the Civil War,

edited by John and Elizabeth Holloman

Soft cover, comb bound. 73 pgs. $10.00 plus

$2.50 S & H

White Funeral Home Register, Caledonia, Missouri, 1907 – 1934

Manuscript, comb bound, indexed. 34 pgs. $6.00

plus $2.50 S & H

Witnesses to History – Stories from Park View Cemetery, by John Abney Comb bound. 101 pgs. $10.00 plus $3.00 S & H

OTHER HISTORICAL SOCIETY ITEMS FOR SALE

(Same address as above)

Educational Civil War Playing Cards $10.00 per deck plus S/ H if mailed

Explore Missouri Playing Cards $5.00 per deck plus S /H if mailed

10

Iron County Historical Society Membership Application

Date________________ New_____ Renewal____

Name______________________ Spouse____________________

Address________________________ County_______________

City____________________ State_____ Zip Code____________

Phone__________________ Email____________________

Signature____________________ Received by_______________

Please complete form and return with membership dues of $10.00 to: Iron County Historical

Society, P.O. Box 183, Ironton, MO 63650. For information please call (573) 546-3513

Iron County 160 Years:

A Pictorial History (1857 – 2017)

Presented by the Iron County Historical Society

Your invitation to be part of this historical event

In February 2017, Iron County will celebrate the 160th anniversary of its founding. To mark this occasion,

we’re putting together a pictorial history of Iron County’s first 160 years. The book will include up to 1,100

B&W photographs documenting the county’s communities, families, churches, schools, businesses,

industries, farms, organizations and so much more.

Work hasn’t officially started just yet, but now’s the time to start looking through those albums, shoe boxes,

etc., and see what photographs you might have that you will want to share. Don’t send them in just yet. An

article will appear in the next newsletter with all the details of the project.

Also, we’re still looking for volunteers to assist with the project. We will need help with design, photograph

selection, proof-reading, research, the sale of special pages related to businesses, organizations / clubs,

churches, schools, as well as personal memorials / tributes, and everything else related to the book’s

publication. You don’t have to live locally to lend a hand.

If you want to be part of this historic project, contact John Abney at johnmabney56@gmail.com or give him a

call at (573) 915-5446.