Tuesday, November 29, 2011

More on the Old Cambridge Theatre

While looking at our microfilms of the Cambridge Leader, I saw  some more items about the Cambridge Theatre.  I probably would not have noticed them if not for our recent posting about the Cambridge Theatre in the Hollywood in the Heartland database.  They do have some information which was not included in the history of the Cambridge Theatre.  Looking at them reminded me to check our first book, Cambridge, Iowa The First 150 Years, as well.

In our book, pages 128-129 describe the Opera House and the Movie Theatres.  Some of that information came from these Cambridge Leader articles.

The front page of the September 29, 1921 Cambridge Leader announced that H. A. Hoskins and L. Collins have gone into the movie show business by renting the Cambridge Opera House.  The first show in the Star Theatre was to be "Charlie Chaplin in the Kid".

A little more than two months later, the front page of the December 1, 1921 Cambridge Leader had two items about the movie theatre.  The first announced a change of ownership (again), with Hoskins and Collins selling out to H. F. Spencer and son of Ames.  The second was an announcement that the first offering by them would be that Saturday with Harry Carey in If "Only Jim" followed by the shorter "Vamps and Scamps".

Monday, November 28, 2011

Florence Wheeler Can Be Reached at Sunny View Care Center

As you may have heard, Florence Wheeler fell and broke her hip this fall.  After later surgery, she is doing well and can now be reached at the Sunny View Care Center.  You can visit or reach her at Sunny View Care Center, 410 NW Ash Drive, Ankeny, IA 50023-1590.  She can be reached by phone at 515-964-1101, which is the main number for Sunny View.

Florence was the founder of the Cambridge Historical Association, which for many years was located in her residence.  We wish her a speedy recovery!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Old Cambridge Theatre is listed in Hollywood in the Heartland

Hollywood in the Heartland is a research project of Preservation Iowa and the Iowa State Historic Preservation Office that seeks to document Iowa's movie legacy.  Part of this has been identification of motion picture theaters and other buildings that have served as theaters.  Their online database of these buildings allows searching by name, city, county, and architect or builder.

Among the 16 buildings found by searching for Story (as a county), is the Cambridge Theatre shown above in its current incarnation as the Cambridge Library and the American Legion Post 233.  The Cambridge Theatre link describes its history and architecture.

The project is continuing to look for information about the theaters it has identified and any that it has missed.  You can help them by adding to their survey as described in Get Involved on this page.

Also, be sure to check out the section labeled Extras.  This includes Iowans in Hollywood and Hollywood in Iowa.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Cambridge Railroad Bridge Postcard on the Web

The Penny Postcards site, a USGenWeb Archives Web Site, includes a postcard of the Chicago Milwaukee & St Paul bridge near Cambridge as one of the postcards from Story County.  Thank you to Roxane Sesker for alerting us to this.  We have  the same picture in our book, Cambridge, Iowa The First 150 Years, on page 21.  It identifies the bridge as the first river crossing and then shows pictures of the double track "High Bridge" which replaced it.

Penny Postcards from Iowa, part of the site, has links to the postcards by county.  Then within the counties many are arranged by town.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Armistice Day in Cambridge - 1931

Armistice Day, now known as Veterans Day, was an all-day event in Cambridge 80 years ago according to the Cambridge Leader.  The morning school program was with the American Legion, the Auxiliary, and the Community Band.  After basketball games in the afternoon, a veterans dinner was followed by an evening program.

Among the guests was a Civil War veteran Andrew Nelson.

This article was on the front page of the Cambridge Leader, November 12, 1931.  It and articles from the November 12, 1929 and October 31, 1929 front pages can be seen here as well.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Iowa Genealogy Websites

Many of those interested in local history have a strong interest in their family history.  Family Tree Magazines 2010 Best State Websites includes these Iowa websites:

IOWA

Iowa Genealogical Society iowagenealogy.org
This active genealogy group has provided county-by-county research guides, an alphabetical index of pioneer ancestors, a list of available naturalization papers and more.

Iowa GenWeb Project iagenweb.org
While all the state sites in the USGenWeb Project usgenweb.org are useful, this Hawkeye State project goes way beyond the usual links to county pages. Check out the many special projects, including the family group sheet collection, gravestone photo project, transcribed history books and state censuses, Civil War and WWI compilations, newspaper clippings, and WPA graves registration survey.