Muscatine Tours Podcast

Dan Clark reads "First Christmas Tree" by William D. Randall (Little Known Stories of Muscatine, Vol. 4) and then takes a call from Randall's daughter, Shirley Calvert. Guest author Tom Savage says his research has turned up more information about early settlers than was known when the historical marker was placed in the 1960s at the foot of Iowa Avenue ("This granite stone marks the site of the f...

Dan Clark called this show "It's Our People on that Monument." His guest is Lee Miller, who is leading an effort by local veterans groups and others to restore the 1875 Civil War monument on the grounds of the Muscatine County Courthouse. They propose to replace the soldier atop the column and the four plaques at the base, and they would add names that were left off originally. Lee is author of Cr...

Dan Clark called this show "Old Barn 'Acorn Fund' Saves the Day." His guests are John Haskins, founder and president of Friends of the Old Barn, and Judi Holdorf, executive director of the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine. Two weeks ago the Muscatine County supervisors reversed an earlier vote and approved a request from Friends of the Old Barn to use a nearby "cottage" for a public restr...

Dan Clark called this show "No, the Muscatine Trolley is NOT for sale..." but hurried on to say he is getting ready for some changes in the coming year. December concludes eight years of MT&T and four years of TTT. "In the coming year, I will pass the age of 'Old' John Brown when he died December 2, 1859, on the Virginia gallows," Dan said. All year the show has tracked the story of the Brown band...

Dan Clark calls this show "What else can we learn about the Underground Railroad around Muscatine?" His guest is Doug Jones, staff archaeologist for the State Historical Society of Iowa whose job includes Underground Railroad research. Doug is visiting the Muscatine area to learn about Alexander G. Clark and other black residents and also their white neighbors who opposed slavery. He gives an upda...

Dan Clark calls this show "Mark Twain Dissenting AND the Diogenes of Diamond Towns." Muscatine brags about the months Mark Twain lived here in 1854. We love his praise of our sunsets, but most don't know his anti-war writings. Dan reads from Twain's "The War-Prayer" in belated recognition of Veterans Day. "When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow v...

Dan Clark calls this show "Muscatine Memories of the Berlin Wall and Its Fall." His guests are Kristine Conlon and Ingrid Rowe of Muscatine Sister Cities Association. Kristine is a Muscatine native and German-language teacher who led several school trips to Germany. Ingrid is an East German native who fled to the West with her parents when she was 12, shortly before the border closed. She is now a...

Dan Clark calls this show "Our Very Own Lincoln-Assassination Story." After killing President Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth eluded federal pursuers and changed his name and lived out more adventures. He ended up in Oklahoma or maybe South America or India. Booth's accomplice Michael O'Laughlen didn't die in prison in 1867 after all, but rather in Muscatine County in 1890, after living where W...

Dan Clark calls this show "Wedding Destination Muscatine." His guest is Misty Lutz of Hazel Green Bridal and Tux, one of the sponsors of the Wedding Salon Bridal Show that will be at the Muscatine Mall on November 1 http://www.specialelegantevents.com/id83.html. They discuss the bridal show and the wedding business and Muscatine as a place for weddings. Misty says weddings often cost $15,000 to $2...

Dan Clark calls this show "Connecting the Dots...to Harpers Ferry and Beyond." He's just back from West Virginia where abolitionist John Brown led raiders into the federal arsenal on October 16, 1859, and helped bring on the Civil War. Dan experienced some of the 150th anniversary observances and took part in an academic symposium at which several sessions were filmed by C-SPAN. At least one progr...

Dan Clark devotes this show to the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry (now West Virginia) on October 16, 1859, in an attempt to end slavery. Dan will take part in a conference there this week http://www.johnbrownharpersferry.com/ and visit a friend, a circuit court judge whose work takes him to the courthouse where the 1859 judge pronounced sentence after...

Dan Clark's guests are Ann Meeker and Dawnese Openshaw, business owners and leaders of Muscatine's Downtown Action Alliance http://muscatinedowntown.com/. They discuss coming events and promotions and talk about holding onto dreams for a vibrant "heart of the community" in this tough economy. There's even a little singalong with Petula Clark on "Downtown"! "Things'll be great...Downtown"..."Downto...

Dan Clark's guest is Heather Shoppa, director of Muscatine's Convention and Visitors Bureau http://www.meetmuscatine.com/. It's her job to market our town's attractions, and she tells about two big days for out-of-town visitors arriving via motor coaches: Great River Celebration and Meet Muscatine Day (September 30 and October 21 this year). During such events, the trolley shuttles the visitors fr...

Dan Clark's topic is "Who's Afraid of the Paint Police?" Dan compares Muscatine's Historic Preservation Commission (educational and advisory only), which he chairs, with other communities' more robust protections for historic properties. And he confesses envy of Dubuque which last month celebrated a huge economic development success based on historic preservation. He reads from Dubuque's ordinance...

Dan Clark's topic is "Celebrating Freedom Seekers" with guest Barb Christensen, director of the Muscatine Art Center http://muscatineartcenter.org/. They discuss a current exhibition of paintings by Joseph Holston, "Color In Freedom: Journey Along the Underground Railroad," and related programs at Musser Public Library http://musserpubliclibrary.org/Quick-Links/Event-Calendar/The-Undergraound-Rail...

Dan Clark's topic is "Iowa and Russia: A Half Century of Citizen Diplomacy," starting from memories of Nikita Khrushchev's visit to Iowa in 1959. He tells of welcoming visitors from the former Soviet Union and helping many Iowans with their exchange efforts, having traveled in Russia eight times, 1984-1998, especially Iowa's sister state Stavropol and Muscatine's sister city Kislovodsk. He asks li...

Dan Clark says, "It's Time for School—Preservation School!" The Muscatine (city) and Louisa (county) preservation commissions will be hosting a lot of history horsepower at a workshop on historic preservation that will be presented in Mucatine Sept. 17-18 by experts from Iowa's State Historic Preservation Office. Everyone is invited, and the first day is free. Details at http://muscatinepreservati...

Dan Clark called this show "A Half Hour for Billy Baladeer" in memory of William "Bill" Duval who died last week at age 86. With recorded hymns as background (Bill playing in his "primitive piano" style), Dan reads stories from Bill's life as salesman and musician from the book Bill published about a year ago. Caller Kent Sissel tells about the operetta Bill wrote that was performed in the 1980s a...

A demolition reprieve is running out for the 110-year-old Henry Jayne house acquired last fall by the Muscatine Art Center. The center's trustees say they need the land at 1402 Mulberry Ave. for "future expansion" and insist that letting the house remain at its historic location is out of the question. However, after objections by the city's Historic Preservation Commission and the nonprofit Frien...

Dan Clark and guest Kent Sissel, resident restorer of the Alexander G. Clark House, discuss steps involved in gaining recognition for the area surrounding the West Third Street residence of Muscatine's famous 19th century citizen. Muscatine has two "national" historic districts, but the Clark district would be locally designated. Learn about Clark at http://alexanderclark.org/ and local districts...

Back from a two-week "family history and US history" vacation in the eastern US, host Dan Clark chats with producer Ron Edwin, catching up on local happenings and weaving together his travel report with praise for the "heritage tourism" that can be enjoyed right here at Muscatine.

Guest host Tom Savage, co-owner of Muscatine Books and More, speaks with Duffy DeFrance, "renaissance woman" storyteller and director of the Muscatine Literacy Coalition. The retired children's librarian was recently recognized by the Bi-State Literacy Council with an exemplary service award. Duffy tells of the 56-year history of the Muscatine Masquers Community Theatre, focusing on founder and lo...

Guest host Tom Savage, co-owner of Muscatine Books and More, speaks with local Civil War authors Lee Miller (Crocker's Brigade) and Jeff Shay (book in progress). Dan Clark is on vacation.

Dan Clark and guest Ann Meeker talk about the third annual "PatriArt" events June 27-July 4, organized by the Muscatine Cultural Alliance. Discussing concerts and July 4 parade and more, they chat mostly about trolley rides, horse-drawn carriage rides, and the first-ever Pearl Button paddlewheel boat cruises http://thepearlbuttonpaddlewheel.com/special-events.html. See the complete PatriArt schedu...

Sermon by J. Glen Widmer at Sugar Creek Mennonite Church, Wayland, Iowa • Sunday, June 28, 2009 "Several weeks ago, one of the elders said, 'Maybe we should have some stories told over the pulpit.' And I said, 'Well, I've got some stories. I think I can do that.' And so this morning I want to talk a little bit about God's faithfulness in my spiritual pilgrimage."