Carbonado was a community whose sole purpose was to extract coal. It was founded in on May 6, 1890 by the Excelsior Coal Company. The coal was exhausted by 1898. The mine had self-dumping cages and quick methods of loading box cars. The Iowa…
The town of Cedar was founded after it was forced to pick a town name by the postmaster, R.W. Moore. So, in 1869, after Moore was already appointed postmaster, he chose the name Cedar because it hadn't been picked yet after he perused the postal…
Central Holiness University was responsible for creating the town known as University Park. It was the dream of W.R. and Eloise Gilmore to create an institution for religious studies. With the help of the Iowa Holiness Association, which the…
This is an 1896 photograph taken of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad depot in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Oskaloosa serviced a number of railroad companies in the middle to late 19th Centuries, causing a influx of people to migrate to not only…
The concept of small business was very prevalent throughout Oskaloosa, Iowa, at the turn of the 20th Century. In this photograph, staff from a chocolate store in town posed for the camera. What stands out significantly in the photograph is the…
This image captures Oskaloosa, Iowa at a point before the automobile came full circle to the community and after the horse and buggy started becoming a thing of the past. The trolley served as the halfway point in between these two methods of…
This is a photo of a Civil War soldier at an encampment during the Fall or Winter during the Conflict. It was common for a soldier to bring his family and belongings with him to camp during the war. Here you can see the soldier's dog alongside him,…
In this photograph poses an unknown non-commissioned Union soldier from Mahaska County, Iowa. Taken around 1861, the Civil War was the first American War in which much of the conflict was documented through photography. Officers and…
This is a photograph of an unknown Union soldier during the Civil War. It was common for soldiers to get their picture taken in full uniform before leaving for the battlefield. It also served as a memento for loved ones in case the soldier did not…
