Friday, January 10, 2014

It's Iowa!



No Where Else But Iowa!
Good morning my fellow Rotarians.  Quite often in my travels people will ask me about Iowa wanting to know some things of interest besides the fact that we have snow, corn and John Deere Tractors.  So, here is some trivia about a few of our towns that you might find helpful…

Burlington…  ‘Ripley's Believe It or Not’ dubbed Snake Alley the most crooked street in the world.
                                       
Strawberry Point…  Home of the world's largest strawberry.

Elk Horn…  A Community with the largest Danish settlement in the United States.
  
Dubuque…  Fenelon Place Elevator is the world's steepest and shortest railway.

Cedar Rapids…  Quaker Oats, home of the largest cereal plant in the world.

Dyersville…  The Saint Francis Xavier Basilica is the only basilica in the US located outside a major metropolitan area.

Mt Vernon…  Cornell College is the only school in the nation to have its entire campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fort Atkinson…  The only fort ever built by the U.S government to protect one Indian tribe from another.

Mason City…  Home of Meredith Wilson, composer and writer of THE MUSIC MAN.

Boone…  Location of the Kate Shelly Bridge, the highest double track railroad bridge in the world.

Winterset…  Birthplace of Marion Robert Morrison, or better known as John Wayne, who became one of Hollywood's most popular movie stars.
 
Ames…  Home of Iowa State University, the oldest land grant college in the US.

Iowa, an Indian name, means ‘beautiful land.’  And there you go, a few fun facts for conversation about our great state of Iowa!  And that is the bottom of our news on this Friday, January 10, 2014!  ###