MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS BUILDING The building trade began with the community, however there is very little information on Steamboat Rock’s earliest masters of the construction trade.    One of Steamboat Rock’s earliest builders was a gentleman by the name of John McConchie. He built the home for George […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS GYPSIES, TRAMPS, AND THIEVES A few of our oldest citizens will remember the days of tramps, gypsies and horse traders. In the days after the turn of the century and especially during the depression years, it was not uncommon to have a tramp stop by […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS THE AUTOMOBILE Nothing since the train did so much to change things as the automobile. Now people were able to go wherever they wanted whenever they wanted. They were no longer restrained by the schedule of the train. Because it was so important it would […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS MOVING There was a great deal of moving from place to place as people sought to better themselves. Before the railroad it was a difficult process.  After the railroad arrived it became a bit easier but not a lot. After the railroad was in place, […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS 1913 TRAIN WRECK The worst train wreck in Steamboat Rock’s history took place not quite two years later, on March 14, 1913. This one left two stockmen dead and one seriously injured.    The accident was the result of a rear-end collision on the Minneapolis […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS TRAIN WRECKS A serious train derailment caused a freight to plunge through the railroad bridge spanning the Iowa River at Steamboat Rock on the afternoon of April 26, 1911.    According to the trainmen the derailment of a refrigerator car, the first car after the […]

MOVING BEYOND THE OLD LIMITS THE RAILROAD The Iowa Central was operated in conjunction with the Minneapolis & St. Louis railroad beginning in 1900 and became the property of the M&StL in 1912.    Until the advent of automobiles in the 1900’s the railroad depot was a very busy and […]

NEW BEGINNINGS RAINSBARGERS FREED “After being imprisoned for 28 years, the last 25 in the Anamosa penitentiary, Frank and Nate stepped into the light of freedom on August 25, 1915. Nathan was then 62 years of age and Frank 55. By then they were Iowa’s oldest inmates.”    “They had […]

NEW BEGINNINGS DETECTIVE WATERMAN “So with two dead and two imprisoned for life, the plan of the vigilantes to make Hardin and Marshall counties a no-man’s-land for the five Rainsbarger brothers seemed to be succeeding. The counterfeiters were never charged or indicted. However, the battle to secure freedom for Frank […]

NEW BEGINNINGS THE RAINSBARGERS RELIVED Mildred Janssens story of the Rainsbargers continued right up to the present day, covering the eventual pardon of Frank and Nate Rainsbarger. This however did not come about without a fight.    At the beginning of the 20th Century, some of the truth began to […]