This is a picture taken at Sam Smith Coal Mine back in 1895. The Sam Smith coal mine was located southwest of Oskaloosa College, which today is on the 1300 block of High Avenue West. Today, many buildings and facilities in Oskaloosa were once the…
This is a photograph taken of Samira Ann Hobbs Phillips, the first school teacher in Mahaska County, Iowa, in 1844. The first schoolhouse in Mahaska County was located approximately two miles east of Oskaloosa. Fighting the elements, heavy…
This is a photograph taken of Samuel H.M. Byers at the onset of the Civil War in 1861. Byers served in the Union Army during the Civil War and gained a great deal of inspiration for his poetic writing during the war. Byers's most famous work is a…
This is how the north side of High Avenue appeared between North 2nd and 3rd Streets in the 1930's, Oskaloosa, Iowa. Note the old cars situated in the photograph and the tire store in business there at the time.
On September 16, 1899, a horrific train wreck happened in Tioga, White Oak Township, Mahaska County, Iowa. This happened when a passenger train coming from Belle Plaine crashed directly into a freight train in Tioga. Four passenger train workers…
Scott Township falls on the western edge of Mahaska County, with the Des Moines river serving as the main portion of its southern border. The communities that once existed in this township included: Bellefountaine, Fishville, Olivet, and Rochester. …
This is a photograph taken of the Seeberger-Loring-Kilburn house, located at 509 High Avenue East. Many of the historic homes in Oskaloosa can be found along High Avenue, Market Street, and 1st Avenue East today.
Scene of the Skunk River dam in 1896. Along with the Des Moines River, these two rivers served as natural borders for the layout of Mahaska County in the 1840's.
The Skunk River as scene through the eyes of the beholder in 1896. The Skunk River was once known as the Chiquaqua River by Native Americans and pioneers residing in the area in the early 1840's. Because of the Des Moines and Skunk Rivers, Mahaska…
Socializing in and around the Oskaloosa town square was a very familiar sight in the early 1900's. What is fascinating about this photograph is not the two women mingling, but rather the display of various modes of transportation in it. On the left…
