Iowa

Travels in the Heartland: Reliving the Underground Railroad in Iowa

Published

2 years ago

February 18, 2023

Travels in the Heartland: Reliving the Underground Railroad in Iowa

Think about touring beneath the quilt of darkness, making an attempt to sleep through the day whereas hiding from bounty hunters, in hopes of discovering a secure harbor. This was life for escaped slaves who fled the South, following rivers and different routes northward in hopes of discovering freedom. Two Heartland communities offered stops alongside the Underground Railroad through the mid-1850s.

The Hitchcock Home in Lewis and the Todd Home in Tabor are amongst 5 Iowa websites preserved as a part of the historical past of the Underground Railroad. The others are the Jordan Home in West Des Moines (2 hours east of Omaha), Lewelling Home in Salem (4 hours east), and Pearson Home in Keosauqua (4 ½ hours east).

Utilizing language much like railroad jargon, the Underground Railroad was a community of secure homes, which offered help and sanctuary for escaped slaves. A number of freed Black individuals would discover their method to Canada, with the American system helping within the motion.

Hitchcock Home – Lewis, Iowa

Tim Trudell/The Strolling Vacationers

It took three years to construct the Hitchcock Home on the outskirts of Lewis, Iowa. Photograph by Tim Trudell

The Hitchcock Home, about an hour east of Omaha, provided security to escaped slaves touring alongside the Nishnabotna River. Individuals would wait till dusk earlier than approaching the home. A lit candle in an upstairs bed room warned individuals to remain away. It’s probably family visitors weren’t abolition supporters.

A lit candle on the Hitchcock Home signaled escaped slaves to not method the home for his or her security. Photograph by Tim Trudell

As soon as inside, the escaped slaves stayed in a secret room within the cellar. Its entrance was coated with a black curtain and cabinets, protecting gentle out and stopping others from seeing contained in the room.

About 200 former slaves discovered their method to the Hitchcock Home – designated a Nationwide Historic Landmark – situated on the outskirts of Lewis, a city of about 400. The stone home was owned by the Rev. George B. Hitchcock and was accomplished in about three years.

Excursions of the property are provided seasonally. Strolling the grounds, it’s simple to journey again in time and picture what life should have been like for individuals touring alongside the Underground Railroad. Stroll towards the wooded space alongside the river, shut your eyes and transport your self to the late 1850s. It’ll supply a brand new perspective on what individuals went via for his or her freedom.

The parlor on the Hitchcock Home hosted church companies. Photograph by Tim Trudell

Contained in the Hitchcock Home, the household hosted church companies in the principle room, whereas having fun with meals within the eating room, with a kitchen to the facet of it. The second ground has the bedrooms that the Hitchcock household and visitors used. Some African American escapees had been believed to even have slept within the rooms when the chance allowed.

Todd Home – Tabor, Iowa

The Todd Home was the third constructing constructed in Tabor, and housed tons of of escaped slaves as a part of the Underground Railroad. Photograph by Tim Trudell

A loyal follower of famed abolitionist John Brown, the Rev. John Todd opened his residence in Tabor to vacationers alongside the Underground Railroad. The 2-floor Todd Home was identified for storing about 200 rifles and ammunition within the basement, for use throughout a battle for slaves’ freedom.

Tabor was based by graduates of Oberlin School in Ohio, identified for being one of many first post-secondary colleges within the nation to just accept ladies of colour as college students. Early residents of Tabor had been supportive of abolition and the Underground Railroad.

Named to the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations, the Todd Home was the third constructing constructed n Tabor. Because the Todd household supported the Underground Railroad, the motion modified via the years, from aiding just a few individuals at a time to serving to bigger teams of refugees after the Civil Battle began in 1861, driving massive teams of escaped slaves northward.

Excursions of the Todd Home are provided by appointment, with data discovered right here.

Escaped slaves typically spent solely hours or a day or two on the Hitchcock Home and Todd Home as a result of bounty hunters had been typically close by, in addition to sheriffs and marshals trying to arrest them.

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Iowa

Iowa women fall to Oregon 49-50

Published

4 hours ago

January 20, 2025

Press Room

EUGENE, Oregon (KCRG) – It came down to the wire, but the Iowa women fell just short against the Oregon Ducks in Matthew Knight Arena.

Iowa led most of the game, going into the final 10 minutes with a 41-35 advantage, but a late surge put Oregon ahead of the Hawkeyes. The Ducks were able to hold on and edge past the Hawkeyes 49-50.

Sydney Affolter earned a double-double, scoring 10 points and getting a career-high 15 rebounds. Addi O’Grady had 10 points and 2 rebounds.

Up next, the Hawkeyes travel to Alaska Airlines Arena to play the Washington Huskies on Wednesday, January 22

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Iowa

Top 15 Iowa high school boys basketball power rankings

Published

12 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

Here is a look at this week’s High School on SI Top 15 Iowa high school boys basketball power rankings for the week of Jan. 20. To be eligible, you must be ranked in the Top 5 of the class rankings:

1. West Des Moines Valley (10-2)

Previous rank: 5

Next game: Jan. 21 at Ankeny Centennial

2. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (9-2)

Previous rank: 4

Next game: Jan. 21 at Dubuque Hempstead

3. Clear Lake (10-0)

Previous rank: 3

Next game: Jan. 20 at Algona

4. Grand View Christian (13-0)

Previous rank: 6

Next game: Jan. 21 at West Marshall

5. Linn-Mar (9-2)

Previous rank: Not ranked

Next game: Jan. 21 at Iowa City High

6. Cedar Falls (11-1)

Previous rank: 1

Next game: Jan. 21 vs. Iowa City Liberty

7. MOC-Floyd Valley (10-2)

Previous rank: 7

Next game: Jan. 21 vs. West Lyon

8. West Lyon (11-1)

Previous rank: 8

Next game: Jan. 21 at MOC-Floyd Valley

9. Madrid (13-0)

Previous rank: 9

Next game: Jan. 21 vs. Woodward-Granger

10. Bellevue Marquette (13-0)

Previous rank: 10

Next game: Jan. 21 at Prince of Peace

11. Ballard (10-0)

Previous rank: 12

Next game: Jan. 21 at Boone

12. Grundy Center (12-0)

Previous rank: 13

Next game: Jan. 21 vs. South Hardin

13. Council Bluffs Lincoln (10-0)

Previous rank: Not ranked

Next game: Jan. 20 vs. Gretna

14. Western Christian (11-2)

Previous rank: Not ranked

Next game: Jan. 20 vs. Remsen St. Mary’s

15. Storm Lake (9-1)

Previous rank: Not ranked

Next game: Jan. 21 vs. Spirit Lake

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Iowa

Kim Reynolds offers remedies, but her diagnosis of Iowa has holes | Opinion

Published

20 hours ago

January 19, 2025

Press Room

Kim Reynolds offers remedies, but her diagnosis of Iowa has holes | Opinion

But so long as state government denies forms of health care and casts suspicions on members of certain demographics, efforts to sell Iowa will have a ceiling.

The Register’s editorial
| Des Moines Register

Iowa doesn’t have enough people. Job openings are too hard to fill, particularly ones for medical professionals. Child care options are scarce enough that some people who would like to work or work more choose not to.

Gov. Kim Reynolds and her Republican colleagues in the Legislature note those problems accurately. On Tuesday, the governor proposed a few innovative investments and policies to attack them. But the state’s GOP leaders aren’t articulating the entire picture of why there’s a shortage of people who want to live and work here. Specifically, they aren’t looking in the mirror.

It was no surprise that the governor’s sales pitch for the state focused on tax reductions and national rankings while omitting mention of laws that make people feel unwelcome or even endangered in Iowa — people who fear whether they can find adequate care during pregnancy in light of a strict ban on abortions. People who could face scrutiny based on their appearance under harsh immigration laws. People who see the state formally labeling information about their or their family members’ sexual orientations and gender identities inappropriate for schoolchildren.

It is indisputable that the state’s aggressive income tax reductions make living here more attractive. Pumping money into rural recruitment problems and chipping away at preschool and child care burdens would make a positive difference, too.

But so long as state government denies forms of health care, casts suspicions on members of certain demographics, and refuses to take meaningful action to protect the state’s soil and water, those efforts to sell Iowa will have a ceiling.

Policy ideas range from terrible to adequate

Many of Reynolds’ policy proposals during her annual address to lawmakers were less sweeping than the “flat tax” or “school choice” unveilings of previous years, but their potential impact on the state is still great. A few highlights, and lowlights, deserve notice:

MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS: Reynolds insists that now is the time to try again on a bad and tired idea: requiring some prospective Medicaid recipients to work in order to receive health care coverage. Or, to put it another way, putting obstacles between health insurance and a small, small slice of low-income Medicaid recipients (those who are not children or retired or disabled or already working). Or, to put it another way, creating a costly new apparatus of bureaucratic red tape using money that could instead pay for needed care for Iowans. This popular Republican idea has progressed furthest in Arkansas and Georgia, and neither state’s experience is in the least encouraging. Georgia’s rules have not led to increased employment, which is, you know, the point.
NUCLEAR ENERGY: Reynolds said she’d set up a task force to explore bringing nuclear power generation back to Iowa. A robust debate on this topic over a decade ago ended with MidAmerican Energy declining to pursue the idea beyond a study. Reynolds is correct that the massive electrical demands of data centers, especially for artificial intelligence, counsels an open-minded look at the state’s energy mix.
CANCER RESEARCH: Iowa’s cancer statistics are among the nation’s worst, and Reynolds says she wants to spend $1 million to launch a new research team to better understand what’s happening. That’s a start, to be sure. Almost no investment would be too much, and the task force should have freedom to investigate and deliver, if necessary, unpleasant answers or hypotheses about what contributes to cancer in Iowa.
GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: Nobody is against government efficiency. Reynolds’ remarks about copying the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency weren’t particularly amusing to people like Democratic state Sen. Zach Wahls, who sarcastically and correctly wrote on X about Reynolds “inventing” … the office of state auditor, the real-life version of which the Legislature keeps kneecapping.
ATTRACTING MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS, IMPROVING CHILD CARE: Reynolds’ overall state budget proposal would increase spending 5.4% over the current year, with tax revenue continuing to fall. Large chunks of new money will go to educating savings accounts for private school students and to cover a projected $174 Medicaid shortfall. Reynolds also says Iowa should put millions of dollars into projects to bring more physicians and nurses to rural Iowa and to fill gaps parents face in managing preschool and child care. Those are solid proposals, though a bigger and better swing would be expanding state-paid universal preschool to full days for 4-year-olds and at least some subsidy for 3-year-olds.

Iowa has reasons to be proud and to stay, and reasons to run away

Reynolds opened her address by taking a deserved victory lap for state and local government success in 2024: responding meaningfully to natural disasters and providing for recovery and implementing her far-reaching state government reorganization. Iowa does have plenty to be proud of, plenty of reasons to stay, plenty of reasons to come. The governor and the Legislature need to realize that they have also given people reasons to flee. Until that changes, they aren’t doing all they can to solve Iowa’s worker shortages.

Lucas Grundmeier, on behalf of the Register’s editorial board

This editorial is the opinion of the Des Moines Register’s editorial board: Lucas Grundmeier, opinion editor; and Richard Doak and Rox Laird, editorial board members.

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