This is a drawing of the H.L. Spencer Memorial Chapel. Harry Lindley (H.L.) Spencer served in the Civil War in the 9th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. After the war, Spencer moved to Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he started a grocery business in 1867 with F.J.…
Pictured here in this photograph is work being done in order to pave Oskaloosa, Iowa's first modern day road for automobile use. Prior to this, the horse and buggy were the common method of transportation used in the community, as it was across all…
Pictured here is the southside of the Oskaloosa town square as it appeared around 1900. The southside of the square is bordered by 1st Avenue East, which runs perpendicular with South Market Street. As Oskaloosa entered the 20th Century, its roads…
Historically, The Hub serves as a wonderful example of American small business at the turn of the 20th Century. Location was the key to American small business success and The Hub definitely had this quality, as it was situated in downtown Oskaloosa…
This image captures children riding their bikes through the downtown square in Oskaloosa, Iowa, around 1915. The streets have brick pavement in this photograph, but there are no automobiles present, illustrating the fact that few residents in…
This photograph of a 1915 Ford Model T stuck in the middle of a flood in New Sharon, Iowa, depicts how vulnerable people are to the forces of nature. Even with advanced sewage systems and technology today, people just cannot compete with mother…
In this photograph sits long-time Rose Hill, Iowa veterinarian Archie Wymore with his wife and dog in one of the earliest automobiles ever manufactured; the Brush Runabout. Alanson P. Brush established his automobile company in 1907 after designing…
Pictured here are boys participating in a track event at the Oskaloosa Community Stadium in 1926. The ground for the stadium was originally broke in 1925, and the stadium was completely finished in 1929, although meets like this were able to be…
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…
Billiards was known as a gentleman's game throughout American and European society in the 19th Century, although the game became popular in Great Britain around 1770, eventually making its way to America predominantly in the early 19th Century. As…
