100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE There are bridges to the future for Steamboat Rock. A new ethanol plant north of town offers new employment opportunities. Highway 20 offers easy access to the community. New homes have sprung up showing faith in the communities growth.  How to build for […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 NEW BRIDGE OPENS A new bridge was constructed over the Iowa River in 1999. The old bridge was closed for widening and strengthening purposes. It seemed to take for ever for the construction to be completed. It had been hoped that it would be complete before […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 LOOKING BACK James Potgeter As the twenty-first century dawned there was great anticipation of the future for everyone.  Looking back on Steamboat Rock’s rich history there were many successes that took place in this small community. doctors, lawyers, successful business persons, ministers, and teachers all graduated from […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 1999 SCHOOL REUNION Perhaps the most important event at 1999 Rainsbarger Daze celebration was the all-school reunion of the Steamboat Rock School District on Saturday June 19. The reunion stood out above the rest of the events because that spring marked the final year that students […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 RAINSBARGER DAZE After the release of the video on the Rainsbargers there was a great deal of renewed interest in the story and it’s connection to Steamboat Rock. It was decided to frame a yearly celebration for the town around the Rainsbarger story. Rainsbarger Daze were […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 RAINSBARGERS – AFTERTHOUGHT he most recent scenario of the Rainsbarger story came in 1997 when a video, The Rainsbargers: A Lynching in Hardin County, was produced by the Iowa River Greenbelt Resource Trust. This documentary by Joe E. Heitland puts many of the myths of the […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 WHAT DOES IT TAKE? One of the greatest downfalls of our small towns in the 80’s and 90’s is the fact that people no longer have confidence to establish and build businesses in them. Everyone believes they have to build a business in a large town […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 SOLAR BUSINESS In early 1977 Darrell Bleeker formed a company in partnership with Bob Havens called United Solar.  They set up shop in the former Burns Grocery building that had burned earlier.  They wanted to make people aware of the fact that solar heating had been around for […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 POTGETER PLANT BURNED Potgeter’s Elevator and Lumber was continued after George Potgeter passed away with his sons Jim and Ed at the helm. Three generations were now involved with the business. Jim ran the plant in Wellsburg, and Ed ran grain and lumber business in Steamboat.  At […]

100 YEARS OLDCENTENNIAL 1855-1955 OTHER BUSINESSES The post office remained where it had been since 1949 and where it still remains today.  Next door was the cafe owned by the Daleske’s.  Around town successful businesses were still being operated in and out of homes.  Struck’s Service and Welding, opened in April 1971, when […]