News from The Chronicle

(Courtesy of the 9-11-14 and 9-18-14 editions of THE CHRONICLE)

Odebolt Receives Preservation Award
Preservation Iowa announced their annual Preservation at Its Best Awards at the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids, IA. Preservation Iowa awarded nine awards in seven categories. Each year Preservation Iowa seeks to honor historic preservation successes. In doing so, we hope to inspire others to take action to preserve, protect, and promote Iowa’s historic resources. Additionally these projects highlight the work being done around the state to preserve our historic infrastructures by repurposing them to allow reintegration into their local communities. Many of these projects encourage community growth by stimulating the local economy through housing, food industry, and bringing Iowans back into their historic districts which encourages the preservation of the Iowa’s rich heritage.

The City of Odebolt won the award for rural preservation for the Willow Tree School Project.

This 1883 schoolhouse educated rural Iowans for generations, before it was closed in 1953. After its closure, it hosted the local 4-H club and eventually became a hog-farrowing building. In 2011 a community group formed and began the process of restoring the Victorian style school. The school had its original fish scale on the entry, evidence of corbels and gingerbread, extra tall and narrow Italianate windows, decorative tin balls, tin roof ridges ending in fleur-de-lis designs, wainscoting, original slate boards, hooks and hardware. After careful planning, the school was moved into the city of Odebolt on what is now called Odebolt Heritage Square where its mission is “preserving the history of Iowa’s rural schools and instilling pride in the heritage of our community.” While the building is no longer part of Iowa’s countryside, it is safe from demolition and decay and will endure to promote Iowa’s rich rural heritage.

For a complete list of Preservation Iowa 2014 award recipients click here. 

Visit Iowa Rural Schools Museum of Odebolt on facebook.


Durbin Presented with Memorabilia
Ed Durbin was scheduled to go on the Brushy Creek Area Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. on May 10, 2014.  However, Ed's health had declined and he felt that he wouldn't be able to go.

On September 2, Ed got a surprise.  Peggy Dettmann, Sac County Veterans Service Officer, along with legionnaires Jim Scott and Leonard Carstensen from Odebolt, presented him with on honorary certificate of participation, along with an Honor Flight shirt and cap, dog tags, a Brushy Creek coin, a Korean Memorial book, and a DVD of the May 10th flight.

Ed served in the Army from July 1954 to July 1956.


Firefighters Attend Training Program
Volunteer firefighters from the Arthur Community Fire Department, Ida Grove Fire Department and the Odebolt Fire Department returned home recently after a two-day industrial fire training program at the Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery training grounds near St. Paul, Minn.  Flint Hills Resources, which also owns and operates the ethanol plant in Arthur, created the scholarship training program.