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The following is an excerpt from
The History of Stacyville, Iowa: 1856-2006.*
No part may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission
of the author. Contact her at
cherylmu@netins.net
Stacyville residents entered the new decade
with memories of the First World War fading. They welcomed a return to
peacetime activities. The Opera House, baseball games, school and church
activities replaced life in the trenches for returning veterans. Family and
friends welcomed their veterans home and life settled down to normal.
The Opera House continued to offer Stacyville
residents a source of entertainment. The stockholders elected officers and
directors to deal with the business end of the enterprise. In 1921 J.P.
Weber was president; H.H. Stehn, secretary; and Charles Gerbig, treasurer.
Directors were Ed Tyler, W.F. Hartnell and George Kinney.
Two businesses issued their annual reports in
early 1921. The Stacyville Creamery Company held annual meetings at the City
Hall. In 1921 Math Hemann was president; Fred Pitzen, vice president; Wm. A.
Schrandt, secretary. Directors were Nick Theobald, J.P. Durben, and Nick
Krebsbach. The sale of buttermilk took place and sold for about 40 cents a
barrel to the following: Albert Mayer, Fred Pitzen, Mike Mauer, Sr., and
Thomas Theobald. The secretary’s report showed a gain of 7,000 pounds of
butter manufactured over the previous year.
Early in 1921 one of Stacyville’s pioneer
settlers died. Phillip Blake, who had come to Mitchell County in 1855, was
one of the first settlers in Stacyville. He farmed north of Stacyville until
1886. Before the Illinois Central Railroad built the branch to Stacyville,
Blake carried the U.S. mail between Stacyville and Adams. Pallbearers at his
funeral were six grandsons—Carl Blake, Albert Blake, Fred Blake, William
Blake, Albert Mauer, and William Hemann.
Farmers in the Stacyville area continued to
make improvements on their farms. Peter Halbach erected a new chicken house
built according to the new model given out by the Iowa State College
Agricultural Experiment Station. Peter was interested in raising purebred
White Rocks. Anton Halbach, a "progressive farmer residing east of town,"
erected a "commodious residence" on the farm. Joseph Brumm, also residing
east of town, reshingled his barn.
Visitation Church was the scene in May of
1921 of First Communion for 21 children. Some of the students included
Adrian Brown, Wilfred Halbach, Edwin Schrandt, Irvin Mullenbach, Marvin
Heimer, Cornelius Halbach, Alfred Pitzen, Dorothy Halbach, Leona Mayer,
Evelyn Weber, Martha Brumm, Stella Theobald, Angela Krebsbach and Evangeline
Heimer. Acolytes were Wilfred Theobald, Gervin Pitzen, Lawrence Schrandt,
Lawrence Pitzen, Joseph Hofmeister, Leon Green, Delphin Brown, Vero Wolf,
Leander Schrandt, Delphin Hemann, Sylvan Heimer, Gilbert Weber and Raymond
Mauer.
A new ball park was built under the
supervision of Gerald Ganser and "his famous Fordson tractor." It was
located in Matt Loecher’s field at the south edge of town. Joe Frein and Ren
Anderson had rented about five acres of hay land and they sublet three acres
to the ball team for the park.
In June 1921 the Monitor reported that
an "immense throng" attended the funeral services for Corporal Hale P.
Fuller, the Stacyville boy who died while serving in France during World War
I. He died October 15, 1918 at a base hospital in Hericourt, France from
influenza-pneumonia. He was buried in France at the time of his death. But
three years later, on June 4, his remains arrived in Stacyville. The funeral
was held the next day on the lawn of the Thomas Fuller residence with "a
thousand" people in attendance. To the music of the Stacyville band, the
procession led by the Legion formed about a mile in length and proceeded to
the Stacyville cemetery. The Rev. H.W. Cannon, pastor of the Methodist
Church, recited the burial service. Taps was sounded and the strains of the
Star Spangled Banner concluded the services. The grave was covered
with a "profusion of beautiful flowers."
In September of 1921 the body of Peter
Gartner arrived in Stacyville from France. He had served with the Rainbow
Division, was wounded at Chateau Thierry on July 15, 1918, and died July 18.
A military funeral was held at the City Park in Stacyville on September 11.
The paper reported that the American Legion, the city band and the
pallbearers met at the City Hall and marched to the Catholic Church where
they met the remains as they were carried from the church to the hearse.
Then the Legion and the band accompanied the body to the park. On the way
the band played several musical selections. Peter’s body was interred at St.
Mary’s Cemetery next to that of his soldier brother, Frank Gartner. Mr. and
Mrs. Gartner were given the flag that draped Peter’s coffin.
In early spring 1923 Jack’s Colts, the
Stacyville baseball team, defeated Meyer 6 to 5. "Practically the entire
Meyer team" was made up of left-handers. The game was tied up to the start
of the ninth inning. Reports were that the Colts "fought like tigers." The
visitors reportedly kept the Colts in a "quandary." According to a statement
published in the Monitor, the Meyer boys were "a set of real
gentlemen."
The new school was a two-story building built
"along modern lines" and 68 by 68 feet in size. There were six "large, light
and airy rooms" on each floor, with a "spacious corridor running through the
building from east to west." A full basement with a 12-foot ceiling ran
underneath the structure. The cost for building the school was $45,000.
In March 1924 a Mitchell County landmark was
moved into town. The Penneyville schoolhouse, which was located
a-mile-and-a-half southeast of town, was moved to Stacyville and located
"one block east of the John Lorbeski garage, known by many as the Scheu
property." The building was built in 1875 and plans were to remodel it as
living quarters.
In the spring of 1924 a city band was being
formed again. In addition to the regular group, a "beginner’s band" was
proposed. Former bandmaster, M. Clarence Arsers, met with citizens and
proposed the formation of a band for young boys in the community. At the
first meeting of the boys’ band, 40 youths signed up. Clarence Adams,
representative of the senior band, called the meeting to order. Some of the
boys who signed up were E.P. Adams, Leon Green, Carl Adams, Vernon Brown,
W.J. Schumacher, Reinhart Adams, Walter Weber, John May, Leo Simon, Elmer
Clausen, N.J. Adams, Isidore Freund, Arthur A. Halbach and Paul Kinney.
In April 1925 the American Savings Bank
caught fire. Minor damage was contained to the roof. Citizens were assured
that had the vault caught fire, the contents would have been safe as it was
"absolutely fire-proof."
In September 1925 The Stacyville Monitor
featured an article about the Stacyville Grain & Coal Company. The
"strong and well-conducted institution" dealt in the shipment of grain,
livestock, flour, feeds and coal. The cooperative corporation listed 169
stockholders and 270 patrons. In the fiscal year ending in June 1925 the
total amount of business transacted grossed $316,752.08. Shipments of
livestock ran to over 100 freight cars. The company owned "two complete
elevators with a total capacity of 35,000 bushels; stockyards capable of
caring for 10 carloads of stock at a time"; a warehouse which held three
carloads of flour and feed; and bins of a capacity of 15 carloads of coal at
a time. The management of the company was in the hands of two brothers: W.M.
Pitzen, who was in charge of the elevator and retail, and Joe Pitzen, who
conducted the livestock department.
The Literary Society of the Visitation
Academy gave a debate "Never give money to a beggar" on January 29, 1926.
The affirmative speakers were Delphin Brown, Stella Theobald, and Helen
Falk. Taking the negative side were Sylvan Heimer, Christina Bawek and
Olivia Diedrich. The negatives won by one point according to the newspaper
report.
Visitation High School reported an enrollment
of 37 students in the high school and 221 in grade school in 1926. The
public school opened in September with the following teachers: Miss Gaffey,
primary; Miss Anna Salz, intermediate; Miss Lee, principal. Five Stacyville
men were enrolled in Columbia College in Dubuque for the 1926-27 term:
Arthur Halbach, Leon Green, Vero Wolf, Paul Kinney and Gervin Pitzen.
Some of the babies born in 1927 included: Mr.
and Mrs. Art Wolf, a boy; Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Mayer, a son; Mr. and Mrs.
Frank Falk, a boy on Easter Sunday; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Heimer, a girl; Mr.
and Mrs. Joe Michels, a girl; and Mr. and Mrs. Ben Adams, a girl.
A special election was held in 1928 granting
Peter Halbach a 25-year franchise to "construct, operate, maintain and
extend a telephone exchange in town." Only 24 votes were cast.
In November 1928 Dr. Fillenwarth sold his
practice and dental equipment to Dr. Carl Staudt of Marble Rock.
Early in 1929 the American Savings Bank
changed its name to the Stacyville Savings Bank. The reasons for the name
change were stated as: 1) "Our bank is strictly a Stacyville institution so
the name of the town should appear in the bank’s name." 2) "The name is a
combination of the names of the old Stacyville State Bank and the American
Savings Bank." Total liabilities were listed at $281,590.06.
In early 1930 a new organization was formed.
A group of 38 met at the Green’s Café to organize the Better Stacyville
Association. Officers were C.E. Rex, president; George Kinney, vice
president; A.J. Heimerman, secretary and treasurer. One of the first orders
of business took place when the group pledged to revive the local band which
had been defunct for two years. With a donation of $365 from members, the
future of the band was assured for the upcoming summer. The band was
described as a musical organization that "gave Stacyville a certain cultural
prestige"—something the Association must have hoped to encourage.
According to the 1930 census, Mitchell
County’s population dropped in the previous decade. However, Stacyville’s
population showed a gain of 16, for a total of 529. Mitchell County’s total
population was 12,844 at the time.
Stacyville’s new street lighting system was
installed in June 1930. Twelve light posts, six to a block, were placed in
two business blocks. Although citizens must have been delighted with the
system, the work interfered with the weekly band concert. Parking of cars on
the west side of the two business blocks was difficult due to the trenches
dug for the installation of the lights. But it must have been considered a
temporary inconvenience that was well-worth the trouble. Residents were
hopeful that before long "every block on Broad Street" would be lighted.
As 1930 drew to a close, Stacyville was a
busy little community. Hard economic times had hit the entire country and
Stacyville was not immune. But many of the businesses and surrounding farms
managed to survive. Both the public and Catholic schools were active, as
well as the Methodist and Catholic churches. Ball games were still a popular
form of entertainment. The Opera House continued its popularity by providing
plays and dances. A good day of fishing could still be had down at the
river.
**The History of Stacyville, Iowa: 1856-2006
is available for purchase:
http://www.stacyville.com/order_form.htm |
