Notes on Iowa, Mason City, IA (2026)

06/20/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 20, 1863, the First National Bank of Davenport opened as the first bank in the United States chartered under the National Banking Act of 1863. Nearly 160 years later, a bank still stands on the site at 201 West Second Street in Davenport (now as a US Bank branch).

In response to many banks nationwide issuing their own currency during the American Civil War, Congress passed the National Banking Act to ensure a stable, uniform currency that Americans could trust. Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, the act marks an essential moment in the country's financial history. Immediately after the act was enacted, a charter application from Austin Corbin and Tristam Dow arrived for The First National Bank of Davenport. Over the first three days after subscriptions opened, roughly 80 Davenport citizens committed $100,000 to the project. Assigned charter No. 15, the First National Bank of the United States opened in Davenport at the end of June 1863.

Most major community leaders and businesspeople of Davenport formed the group of stockholders in the three-story bank opened on West Second Street. $80,000 in deposits streamed in on the first day of operations, and Henry Hess’s $12.60 check gained status as the first in the country to clear the new banking system. Over the first quarter, investors realized a 5% dividend. The first charter period ran from 1863 to 1882, and the bank directors steadily guided the institution to success despite the economic recession during the 1870s.

By 1900, the bank had razed the original structure to make way for a larger building. Again, in the early 1920s, growth led to an expansion decision, and after tenants got word of their eviction in early 1924, a fire raged through the building. Pairing with the cold January temperatures, frozen water was used to put out the flames, damaging sections of the building that were not scorched by the fire. A new 9-story building, designed by Frank A. Childs and William Jones Smith, was built to replace the original and still stands today. The First National Bank merged with Union Bank and Trust Company shortly after the opening of the new building, and the nation’s first First National Bank became the Union Savings Bank.

06/20/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 20, 1846, the United States Army sent orders to Fort Atkinson for the garrison to prepare to depart for service in the Mexican-American War. Temporarily staffed by volunteers from the Iowa militia, the United States Army called Fort Atkinson on the Turkey River home from 1840 until abandonment in the winter of 1849.

The Multinational Treaty of Prairie du Chien in 1830 created a 40-mile-wide strip stretching from Lacrosse, Wisconsin, into north central Iowa to serve as a ‘Neutral Ground’ between the Sauk and Meskwaki and the Dakota. As the government dispossessed the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) from Wisconsin, officials decided the tribe would occupy the ‘Neutral Ground.’ To help monitor and protect the tribe, the United States founded Fort Atkinson on the Turkey River.

Captain Lynde led Company F, 5th United States Infantry, to the site in May 1840. Company B of the 1st United States Dragoons arrived in June to assist in the Ho-Chunk resettlement. Named for the government official, Henry Atkinson, charged with dispossessing the Ho-Chunk, construction of the fort took place until June 1842. At its peak in 1842, the fort hosted 196 soldiers and represented American power in the region as settlement spread west. A base point for exploratory expeditions on the edge of America during the 1840s, the fort saw the garrison depart to serve in the Mexican-American War in June 1846. The following month, Morgan’s Iowa Volunteer Infantry arrived to staff the fort for the duration of the conflict.

When the government pushed the Ho-Chunk out of Iowa and into Minnesota in 1848, the need for a military presence in the region waned. By February 1849, the last soldiers had departed, leaving the site abandoned. Iowa acquired the fort site in 1921, and in 1958, reconstruction enabled it to serve as a geological, archaeological, and historical state preserve. Home to the annual Fort Atkinson Rendezvous, the site offers a view into Iowa’s past.

06/20/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 20, 1970, one of the first recorded Juneteenth celebrations in Iowa got underway. The legacy of that 1970 celebration is visible in the ways Juneteenth has taken root across Iowa today.

On 19 June 1865, Union troops arrived in Texas and announced that people held in slavery were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation and months after Appomattox. African American communities in Texas began marking the date in 1866, and over time, the observance spread with Black migration into other regions, including the Midwest. By the late 1960s, amid civil rights and Black Power movements, Juneteenth took on new life as an occasion to celebrate Black history, protest inequality, and claim public space in cities from Houston to Minneapolis.

In that context, a first Iowa Juneteenth in June 1970 signaled that Black Iowans were determined to embed this freedom story in the state’s civic culture. Organizers drew on the holiday’s Texas roots while adapting it to local circumstances, using a summer gathering to honor emancipation, foreground African American heritage, and press for change in housing, education, and policing.

The legacy of that 1970 celebration is visible in the ways Juneteenth has taken root across Iowa today. In 1990, organizers established the Iowa Juneteenth Observance, building on earlier celebrations and turning the Des Moines‑based event into a statewide focal point. In 2002, Governor Tom Vilsack signed legislation designating the third Saturday in June as “Juneteenth National Freedom Day” in Iowa, years before the holiday was federally recognized in 2021. By the mid‑2020s, communities from Waterloo to Cedar Rapids and Ames were hosting festivals, museum programs, and campus observances. At the same time, statewide organizations highlighted environmental justice, voting rights, and criminal legal reform alongside historical interpretation.

06/20/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 20, 1927, David William Belin was born. After growing up in Sioux City, Belin rose to fame by playing a role in the Warren Commission’s efforts to make sense of Dallas in 1963 and in shaping Judaism’s response to interfaith marriage at the century’s end.

A graduate of Sioux City Central, Belin was admitted to the Juilliard School of Music but instead enlisted in the US Army, where he served as a concert violinist in the Armed Forces Special Services. Using the GI Bill, he enrolled at Michigan in 1948 and earned his JD.

His appointment in 1964 as assistant counsel to the Warren Commission came at a moment when public trust in government still appeared resilient. Yet, the assassination of John F. Kennedy threatened to splinter that confidence. A decade later, his leadership role on the Rockefeller Commission investigating the Central Intelligence Agency's domestic activities placed him at the intersection of post‑Watergate skepticism and the ongoing effort to define lawful intelligence work in a democratic society.

In the same period, demographic shifts and rising rates of intermarriage within American Jewry turned synagogue life and denominational policy into sites of intense argument over boundaries and belonging, a context in which Belin would emerge as a national advocate for Reform Jewish outreach.

06/19/2026

📍Mason City, Iowa

06/19/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 19, 1955, Bettendorf-born Jack Fleck rallied late to win the U.S. Open. The first golf major championship win for an Iowan, Fleck’s comeback denied golfing legend Ben Hogan a potential record-setting fifth Open title.

Born in the third-largest of the Quad Cities, Fleck’s farmer parents lost their farm during the 1920s. Fleck learned to play golf while working as a caddy for a local dentist during the 1930s and eventually played at Davenport High School. Turning pro in 1939, Fleck started his career in golf at the Des Moines Country Club, where he earned five dollars per week as an assistant golf pro. Joining the United States Navy in 1942, Fleck put his career on hold to serve as a quartermaster and participate in the D-Day invasion. Aboard a British rocket-firing ship stationed at Utah Beach in Normandy, the future Open champion proudly served his country.

Fleck focused on a return to the links after an honorable discharge by trying to qualify for PGA Tour events on the PGA Tour Winter Series. Several years of competing in local events and an occasional PGA contest led Fleck to decide on a two-year stint dedicated to pursuing his dreams full-time. Six months later, Fleck captured his first win on the tour when he came out of nowhere to upset Hogan at the 1955 U.S. Open. The course at San Francisco’s Olympic Club stymied Fleck on the tournament's first day as he registered a deficit of nine strokes behind the day’s leader. Determined to turn things around, the 32-year-old Fleck shot a second-round 69 to get back into contention the following day.

After a rocky outing of 75 in the third, Fleck came into Sunday three strokes behind four-time champion Hogan. Carding a 67, Fleck caught Hogan to force an eighteen-hole playoff. The municipal golf pro from Des Moines shot for par on the first seven holes before three straight birdies propelled Fleck into the lead. A Hogan double bogey on 18 sealed a three-shot victory for Fleck.

06/19/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 19, 2013, K*m & Go co-founder William A. Krause passed away. Co-founder of the popular Iowa convenience store chain K*m & Go, Krause helped create one of Iowa’s most recognizable brands while pioneering 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."

Over the 1960s, the Krause Gentle Corporation expanded holdings by buying up gas stations and converting them to the convenience store model. The K*m & Go 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 unwanted stores from chains 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!" in a 2006 movie. In 2023, the national chain Maverik purchased the company leading to an announcement the K*m & Go store name would soon be retired..

06/19/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 19, 1946, Walter A. Sheaffer passed away. Born in Bloomfield, Sheaffer developed the first commercially successful lever-filling fountain pen and founded the W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company.

Jacob Sheaffer, Walter’s father, moved to Bloomfield in 1854 to open a jewelry store after venturing west during the California Gold Rush. Always an entrepreneur, young Walter worked as a printer's devil, as a grocery boy, and operated a summer peanut stand. Dropping out of school, he went to work at a jewelry store in Centerville before eventually returning to Bloomfield to partner in his father’s store.

In 1906, Walter Sheaffer purchased a jewelry store on 2nd Street in Fort Madison, Iowa, and renamed it “The Sheaffer Jewelry and Music Company.” Inspired by the success of other self-filling fountain pens, Sheaffer turned his attention to inventing his own self-filling mechanism.

He received his first fountain pen patent in 1908 for a lever-filler but did not put his design into production until 1912. The new business was incorporated as the W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company at the end of January 1913. Within ten years, the Fort Madison company became one of the top American pen manufacturers. Sheaffer served as president of the company from 1913 to 1938 before retiring into a role as chairman of the board.

06/19/2026

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 19, 1950, baseball all-time great Satchel Paige threw batting practice to Ernie “Mr. Cub” Banks before the Kansas City Monarchs took on the Chicago Giants in an exhibition game at Pioneer Memorial Stadium. The only time the future MLB great faced off with one of baseball’s greatest pitchers, the moment stands as a unique alignment of the stars.

Satchel debuted for the Mobile Tigers before spending much of his peak years for the Chattanooga Black Lookouts on diamonds across America. So dominant he’d occasionally have his infielders sit down at their positions while he struck out the side, Paige waited for an opportunity to break into the major leagues. Signed by Cleveland in 1948, Paige finally got his chance to debut in the American League at the age of 42. Helping Cleveland to the World Series in his debut season, Paige continued to pitch professionally until after his 59th birthday. Released by Cleveland following the 1949 season, Paige spent the summer of 1950 appearing on the mound for the Des Moines Black Barons in two games before signing with the Kansas City Monarchs.

As Paige’s star started to set, a young shortstop named Ernie Banks from Texas was on the rise. Signed by the Monarchs for the 1950 season, the future National League MVP spent the summer opening the eyes of Major League scouts. Shortly after Banks joined the team, he stepped into the box at Pioneer Memorial Stadium (later renamed Sec Taylor Stadium) in Des Moines to take a few cuts from the legendary Paige during batting practice.

While Banks relayed his memory of taking batting practice off Paige in Des Moines in an interview, Mr. Cub didn’t relay how he fared off the immortal arm of Paige. Not covered in the newspaper, the event goes down as one of the greatest ‘you just had to be there’ moments in both Iowa and baseball history.

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