Unveiling of Iowa Building Historical Marker set for June 14
The Iowa Building Open House (file photo)
OSKALOOSA – The unveiling ceremony for the Iowa Building Historical Marker is set for Thursday June 14 at Noon and will be located at the building on the corner of Market and High Avenue on the town square. The public is invited to attend.
This is the third historical marker to be placed as part of the volunteer, community-based Historical Building Marker project. The first was at the Oskaloosa Fire Station and the second was at the Mahaska County Courthouse.
According to Ann Brouwer, Historical Marker Committee member, the project is made possible by the volunteer efforts of many people and businesses throughout the community. Initially, eight downtown buildings and the fire station have been targeted by the group for historical markers. Each historical marker includes the year the building was built, pictures of the building through the years and a few interesting and fun facts to appeal to community members and visitors.
“For the Iowa Building Historical Marker, Julie Hansen was our researcher. She uncovered fascinating historical facts about the building,” Brouwer said. “John Jacobs also provided an amazing piece of history that I know people will be surprised to learn about!”
According to Julie’s research, Mahaska County’s first courthouse was erected on this site in 1845. In 1876, Mahaska State Savings Bank purchased the “old courthouse corner” and constructed a two-story brick building considered at the time to be a “real beauty” that had encaustic floor tile from England, Italian marble deposit counters and black walnut woodwork throughout the building. In 1879, the bank merged into the Oskaloosa National Bank.
The Great Depression caused the closing of five banks in Oskaloosa, including this bank. In 1937, Iowa Trust and Savings Bank purchased the building and began operations. In 1943, during the midcentury modern era, the bank underwent extensive renovations. The bank also removed its copper and brass grillwork and donated it to the World War II scrap metal drive. In 1959, to further the modern streamline aesthetic, the bank had a grey granite veneer installed over its exterior. “That is how many people remember the building,” Brouwer said.
In 1990, the building was converted into apartments, and in 1998 it was condemned due to poor conditions. Committee member Sherry Vavra said that in 2008, “the Oskaloosa Downtown Development Group (ODD), renovated the building back to its original appearance, including locating and installing the original pillars on the portico from 1896.”
“Thanks to the efforts of the ODD group, The Iowa Building exterior now looks as it did in 1896,” Vavra stressed. “The Oskaloosa Chamber and Development Group is hosting a webpage for all of our historical markers so not only can people get ‘the rest of the story’ regarding the building, but they may have some additional historical information from their family history that they can add to the site.”
Brouwer said that many volunteers collaborated to make the historical markers possible. Committee members worked with John Grahek from Clow Valve, which is donating the brass for all of the markers. The pattern for the mold that Clow used was developed by Tom Stone from Musco and donated to the committee. Colt Mefford is donating his services to install the historical markers and Lyle Siefering of Mahaska Title is providing the “chain of ownership” on each building for the chamber website. Calvin Bandstra is leading a team of individual researchers who have adopted each building to uncover their amazing history.
“People are very interested in preserving our community’s history for future generations, and it’s very exciting to work with such a great group of volunteers to make this happen,” Brouwer said.
If you would like more information or you have information to share about our historical buildings, contact Brower at 641-660-8075 or Vavra at 641-660-7504.
