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Newspaper
Pella Chronicle
Location
Pella, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Aug 11, 1955
Page
5
A quotation from Daniel Webster extols shaping men’s immortal minds with high principles and piety instead of marble or brass. It suggests leaders who influence public opinion should engrave enduring truths, noting Webster’s fame endures for what he engraved on early American history.
A Des Moines Tribune piece recalls Polly the parrot owned by grocer Leland Faulkner enjoying a hot Iowa summer. Polly, perched outdoors, recovered from near death, her 90th summer noted as the heat wave rages. The column also covers soil conservation politics and the need to keep the U S Soil Conservation Service strong amid debates over watershed programs.
Park officials and city crews lit West Market Park improving its evening appeal. Trees and plantings no longer cast a dark, uninviting mood and picnic parties now linger near tables and fireplaces. The lighting is praised as a public service encouraging enjoyment for locals and visitors alike.
The article recalls Eisenhower’s Geneva speech broadcast by Soviet radio. It contrasts his call for peace with past denouncements as a cold war shift. Russian interest in U S England visits and Iowa tours suggest a possible thaw, though caution warns against overoptimism regarding a changed Moscow mindset.
The Sheldon Sun argues readers should focus on the majority of honest people and discourage pessimism. It praises hard work and personal incentive in Western life versus Soviet shortages, urging recognition that industrious effort underpins a successful free enterprise system and national prosperity.
A nostalgic column previews notable items from The Chronicle’s archives across ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty years. It recaps people, events, and themes that shaped the paper’s past while hinting at echoes in today’s community memory.
Front page highlights a Canada life description and a Gesman & Warren excursion ad from Des Moines. Land sales range 12 to 15 dollars per acre with crops valued 20 to 30 dollars per acre, plus notes on an upcoming industrial history edition, missionary festival plans, local incidents, and community updates including schools, livery threats, and a baseball game recap.
Forty years ago telephone service was disrupted when a workman digging beside the Fowler Exchange building weakened the wall. The floor settled and part of the wall fell, affecting nearby facilities and lines.
A four team baseball tournament with Newton Milo Prairie City and the Pella Meteors was planned for Tuesday August 24 with prize money of 320 dollars. The Pella Meteors beat Colfax 12 to 3 as Sack hit a home run and the pitcher known as The Owl earned wins. A benefit program at the college auditorium features Dorothy Hornung Baitsell and George Sadler presenting Rosalind and The Twelve Pound Look. Other items mention a Mississippi boat trip from Keokuk to St Paul, auto sales by Star Auto Company, a bicycle accident injuring Fred Lautenbach, a lightning strike destroying a barn near Pella, and Central College fall attendance. An aviator Art Smith is praised as The Fearless Air Navigator. The Electric Palace advertises theater music, Maude Vander Meulen Nicholson’s Hollywood auto accident death, and two Knoxville ads for Marion County’s American Legion five million endowment fundraising. Vandals damaged landscaping at the high school curb. A Camp Dodge military review interests veterans.
The obituary recalls B H Langerak who died at the University of Iowa hospital from a brain tumor after two months of ill health. He previously owned and operated a drug store in Pella. Separately, the South Pella Improvement Association reports cleanup and beautification of the grounds between the Rock Island railroad depots.
A 20 years ago cartoon by Ed Le e Cocq critiqued a city pool water tank padlock, recalling Pella boys caught bathing there. The issue includes a historical sketch on Marion County coal, noting first deposits in 1835 and regular coal shipments from Coalport dock since 1841.
References to Coalport as a key coaling station between Des Moines and Eddyville in 1851, Flagler's first mine at 1874 producing 160 tons daily, and the start of catsup at Grimes canning plant. Drought slows tomato growth. Milo Reno to speak at Farmers Union picnic in Grandman’s Grove with Dr. I J Lubbers of Pella. The Pella Theatre shows actors Will Rogers and Mae West. Local buildings receive new shingles and fronts. Rev. Connie De Bruin and wife prepare to return to India after furlough coding.
The war nears its end with the atomic bomb dropped from a super fortress on Hiroshima at 6 20 Sunday August 6 1945. Uncle Sam warned Japanese to leave the city while noting the atom's use. The piece highlights uranium as key and imagines a new world for chemists. Sergeant Neal Kuiper pictured in France with four others, as he plans to study modern history in Scotland. J Gilbert Boat buys Burkens plant to keep wagon and box production while exploring other options. Gerald M Van Zante and Lawrence Den Besten, connected with radio work, were shown in sailor uniforms. Corporal Anna Mae Ver Beek, a WAC, heads home from service in Brisbane Dutch New Guinea Leyte and Manila. Screen Company of Pella Sand supplied windows for war projects tied to atomic work. Paul Van Houweling, son of Merion Van Houweling, earns the air medal cited by General Kenney for bravery in the South Pacific.
A National Education Association panel warns juvenile delinquency tops public school problems. Judges Elijah Adlon and Irving Ben Cooper, plus boxer Jersey Joe Walcott, urge firm discipline, community responsibility, and restoring traditional family values to curb youth crime.
Men of the Kiwanis Club listened to Professor T. H. Liggett, a chemist from Central College, discuss the atomic bomb, noting it dominated conversations everywhere.
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