Notes on Iowa, Mason City, IA (2026)

09/02/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 2, 2017, the Hawkeye Wave first debuted following the first quarter of a game against Wyoming. A quickly beloved college football tradition, the wave unites fans and players in acknowledging the patients at the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

Located on Hawkins Drive, the $300 million new facility for Stead Family Children’s Hospital opened on Hawkins Drive. The 12-story building peeks over Kinnick Stadium, providing patients with a unique view of the home of the Hawkeyes. In May of 2017, Krista Young suggested online that fans should wave to the children at the hospital during games. The idea gained momentum, and at the end of a scoreless first quarter against Wyoming in the 2017 home opener, the first ‘Hawkeye Wave’ took place.

From the first iteration, the gesture of acknowledgment to those fighting for something much more important than a win on the gridiron inspired folks inside the stadium and across the country. When the tradition first started, Pat Green’s song “Wave on Wave” played over the public address system; however, in 2022, the hospital’s designated ‘Kid Captain’ for the game began selecting which song would play during the wave.

While the Kid Captain program started well before the Hawkeye Wave back in 2009 to honor a patient at Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the tradition has added significance and notoriety to the role. Even in the most heated football rivalries, the Hawkeye Wave continues to give everyone a chance to step back and recognize that some things are much more important than the game on the field.

09/02/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 2, 1890, the Iowa Library Association was founded in Des Moines. The second-oldest state library association in America, the ILA brings together librarians, library workers, trustees, students, and other supporters.

In the late summer of 1890, librarians throughout the state of Iowa received an invitation to meet at the State Library in Des Moines. Undersigned by Ada North, then librarian of the State University of Iowa in Iowa City, spearheaded the meeting. The State Librarian, Mary Miller, along with three others, formed an initial group to foster greater cooperation among librarians throughout the state.

Attendance at the American Library Association meeting in 1889 led North to organize the group, which convened with twelve librarians from across the state at its first meeting. The seventeen-member group heard a speech by Governor Horace Boies and established bylaws mirroring those of the New York Library Association.

Still headquartered in Des Moines, the Iowa Library Association today boasts over 1,600 members representing public, academic, and special libraries throughout the state.

09/02/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 2, 1874, Emmetsburg did something few towns can claim: it began to pick itself up and move. The first business left “Old Town” for a freshly platted site near the railroad, launching a relocation that remade the county’s commercial and political geography.

The town’s roots reached back to the Irish migration that helped settle northwestern Iowa in the 1850s. Iowa entered the Union in 1846, and Palo Alto County was established in January 1851. In 1856, Irish immigrant families including the Nolans, Nearys, Mahans, Laughlins, Downeys, Sylvesters, Jackmans, Hickeys, and Crowleys settled near the Des Moines River in what became a frontier Irish colony near present-day Emmetsburg. A local winter count for 1856–57 recorded 42 people at the Irish Colony, alongside 14 nearby Native people and three professional trappers.

In 1858, Irish land speculators proposed a town near Medium Lake, now called Five Island Lake, and chose the name Emmetsburg to honor Robert Emmet, the Irish nationalist executed by British authorities in 1803. The community that moved in 1874 had already survived false starts, isolation, and the hazards of prairie settlement. County leaders had designated Paoli as the county seat in 1859, but that place soon declined. Around 1865, Martin Coonan carried bricks from Paoli’s abandoned courthouse to the growing settlement called Old Town, where he built a two-story tavern, obtained the post office, and posted a sign pointing travelers toward “Emmetsburg.”

In June 1874, company representatives met Old Town’s businesspeople and promised choice lots in a new townsite if they relocated. The first business moved on September 2. Historical accounts identify it as the law office of Col. T. W. Harrison, moved shortly after the first building was erected at the new site on August 31. The transfer gathered momentum through the fall, and Old Town gradually disappeared as the rail-connected Emmetsburg emerged.

09/02/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 2, 1959, the name of Des Moines ’ downtown baseball stadium changed from Pioneer Memorial Stadium to Sec Taylor Stadium in honor of longtime “Des Moines Register” sports editor Garner ‘Sec’ Taylor. Replaced in 1992 by a more modern stadium bearing the same name, the park continues to honor Sec Taylor through the name of its playing surface, despite Principal buying the stadium's naming rights in 1994.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1887, Taylor made several newspaper stops throughout the Midwest before ultimately landing at the Des Moines Register in 1914. Serving on the paper for the next fifty-one years, Taylor gained national acclaim for his “Sittin’ In with the Athletes” column. Focused on fact-based reporting, Taylor stands out as a pivotal figure in the history of sports journalism.

Pioneer Memorial Stadium, originally built in 1947 to host the Class A Western League Des Moines Bruins, also briefly hosted the Class B Des Moines Demons. When the Iowa Oaks of the American Association came to town in 1969, the stadium served faithfully well into the 1980s as the Oaks became the Iowa Cubs.

With a bond issue passed in 1991, the modern facility familiar to ballgamegoers today came into being, and the Sec Taylor Stadium moniker carried over. Although submerged in the 2003 flood, Sec Taylor continued to welcome visitors well into the 21st century, until the name change to Principal Park in August 2004. Today, Taylor is remembered in “Sec Taylor Field” at Principal Park.

09/02/2026

What Iowa Town?

09/01/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 1, 1947, Iowa Hawkeye legend Ed Podolak was born on a farm near Atlantic, Iowa, in Cass County. A gridiron standout for Atlantic, Iowa, and the Kansas City Chiefs, Podolak’s color commentary for Hawkeye football endeared him to generations of Iowans.

A multisport athlete for Atlantic High School, Podolak shone as a quarterback on the gridiron while helping lead the Trojans to back-to-back undefeated seasons during his last two years of high school. In basketball, Podolak played forward at Atlantic while guiding the Trojans to back-to-back state tournament appearances.

Heading east to Iowa City, Podolak stepped in as the starting quarterback for the Hawkeyes during his sophomore season. His first start garnered him “Offensive Player of the Week” when he guided Iowa to a 42-7 win over Arizona. Five games into his senior season in 1968, Podolak moved to tailback when the team’s starter went down. In his second start at tailback, Podolak set a Big 10 single-game rushing record with 286 yards. He went on to win All-Big 10 Honors for the season.

A second-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, Podolak went on to become the organization’s all-time leading rusher during a nine-year career. After winning the Super Bowl during his rookie season, he racked up 4,451 yards and 34 touchdowns on 1,158 carries and caught 288 passes for 2,456 yards and six touchdowns. After retirement from the NFL, Podolak headed up to the broadcasting booth, where he endeared himself to generations of Hawkeye fans by providing color commentary alongside Jim Zabel and Gary Dolphin.

09/01/2026

The answer to yesterday’s what Iowa town: Newton, Iowa

09/01/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 1, 1959, the Hampton Oil Company, forerunner to the first K*m & Go convenience store, opened in Hampton. One of Iowa’s most recognizable brands, K*m & Go, helped pioneer the convenience store concept.

In 1959, Tony Gentle bought a gas station in Hampton, Iowa, and started a partnership with his son-in-law, W. A. "Bill" Krause. The first station, known as the Hampton Oil Company, proved successful, and the two men eventually formed the Krause Gentle Corporation. In 1963, Krause Gentle started selling both fuel and merchandise, changing the Hampton Oil Company gas station into a "station store."

Throughout the 1960s, the Krause Gentle Corporation expanded its holdings by acquiring gas stations and converting them to the convenience-store model. The K*m & name, adopted in 1975, unified the company's array of stores under a single brand. The name, a play on the phrase "come and go,” used the initials of founders Krause and Gentle.

In 1988, Krause Gentle moved the company's corporate headquarters to West Des Moines. K*m & Go rapidly expanded in the late 1990s and early 2000s by building new stores and acquiring underperforming stores from chains such as 7-Eleven, QuikTrip, and Git 'n' Go. Sales of K*m & Go-branded merchandise spiked after Johnny Knoxville wore a black K*m & Go T-shirt with the tagline "We go all out!" during a scene in the 2006 movie. In 2023, the national chain Maverik acquired the company, ultimately leading to the retirement of the K*m & name.

09/01/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 1, 2011, Iowans could look skyward at the familiar swift, pointed wings of mourning doves and, for the first time in the state’s modern history, legally hunt them. For supporters, the season offered an accessible early-autumn hunt; for opponents, it raised pointed questions about wildlife ethics, public values, and the meaning attached to a bird whose mournful call had long signaled summer in Iowa.

Mourning doves had lived across Iowa since the pioneer era, feeding largely on w**d seeds and waste grain in the agricultural landscape. Because they are migratory birds, federal authority shaped their management through the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Iowa law had recognized mourning doves as game animals since 1937, yet the state did not establish a hunting season for them for most of the twentieth century.

In 2011, the Iowa General Assembly passed Senate File 464, granting the Natural Resources Commission authority to establish an open mourning dove season, and Governor Terry Branstad approved the measure on March 24. The debate had been contentious. Supporters framed dove hunting as a regulated and widely accepted form of recreation, while critics objected to hunting a bird often associated with peace and backyard observation. Once the law took effect, Iowa became the 42nd state with a mourning dove hunting season.

The DNR continues to describe dove hunting as an entry point for hunters because it requires comparatively simple equipment and modest physical exertion. At the same time, the season still reflects the balance that defined the 2011 debate: the state permits harvest while regulating timing, daily limits, shooting hours, and hunting methods for a migratory species.

09/01/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On September 1, 2000, the Central College volleyball team lost for the first time since 1998. The Dutch captured three straight championships during one of the most dominant stretches in Iowa sports history by any team.

Coach Megan Clayberg’s Dutch team dropped only nine sets on the entire 1999 season, notching a perfect 41-0 record as part of an NCAA Division III record 60-match streak spanning 1998-2000. Abby Brown, a middle-hitter and native of Eldora, shattered the previous kills per game record of 4.11 during her career by posting an astounding 4.70. A two-time AVCA National Player of the Year, Brown also excelled on the basketball court for the Dutch in the offseason.

Candace Wilson of Britt also stood out during the Dutch's dominant run, which saw the team compile an eye-popping 154-8 record over her four-year career. The middle hitter earned first-team All-America honors for three straight years and National Player of the Year honors in 2000.

Clayberg, the coach behind the Dutch's on-court success, posted a 370-107 record while serving as head coach from 1991 to 2002. Central made seven NCAA tournament appearances during her tenure and captured national titles in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 2000, the NCAA recognized Clayberg as the National Coach of the Year.

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