How the trains made Ames
Before there was a city of Ames (in Iowa), there was a railroad depot. Ames can be said to have been founded in 1864 as the depot stop for the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad. The city of Ames...
View ArticleThe Dinkey: A blast from the past
Commuter blues As a graduate student at Iowa State University, I commute 3-4 days a week from my home in Boone, IA to campus — a distance of 20 miles roundtrip. This adds up to four or five hours a...
View ArticleGalena Depot from Commission to Calendar
Budding artists, take note! Through pictures, Stewart Buck, the railroad artist, gives us a glimpse into how a drawing goes from concept to completion. Click on the Play arrow button to view the...
View ArticleThe power of transportation
If you’ve ever seen a movie about the “wild, wild west,” you probably noticed the appearance of a train in at least one scene. Or, maybe the entire movie took place around the train. You may be...
View ArticleA blast from the past: Cars in the US
Though there are an estimated 1 billion cars in the world (about 1 car for every 7 people), most countries seem to have more diverse forms of transportation than the US. In the US, we take cars for...
View ArticleMainstreet across America
Called the “Mainstreet across America” in its heyday, the Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental road in the United States. Although no longer widely used for cross-country travel, it is still...
View ArticleBridges—‘may the force be with you’
Have you ever looked at a bridge, no, I mean really looked at it? Bridges can range from logs used to cross streams to the massive steel and concrete suspension bridges that span entire bays....
View ArticlePreserving America’s historical covered bridges
Covered timber bridges are one of the most iconic images of rural America. Covered timber bridges, also often referred to as “barn bridges,” originated in the northeastern United States, although the...
View ArticleAn abbreviated history of flight
Dreams of flying have existed since long before the Wright brothers’ historic flight in 1903. Wilber and Orville Wright may have piloted the first powered flight, but they were not the first ones to...
View ArticleWho Am I? Historical Iowan aviatrixes
My early life In 1915, I graduated from Ames High School in Ames, Iowa, and then attended Iowa State University where I studied mechanical drawing, combustion engines, and machine repair. What I really...
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