Photos of Current Cambridge, Iowa

The Random Iowa blog had as its topic this week visiting Cambridge, Iowa. (They were planning to visit on February 8th.) They travel around Iowa to a different area each week to take interesting photographs for Wikimedia Commons, i.e., the pictures may be used in Wikipedia articles and related projects. For example, the pictures might be used to illustrate the Cambridge, Iowa Wikipedia article. I'm pleased they planned to visit us and look forward to seeing the pictures.

They asked for suggestions of sights to photograph and I offered the American Legion Mural and the Memorial on Water Street. What do you think we should be photographing? What pictures should the Cambridge Historical Association be collecting now to document Cambridge's history for the future? Please add your comments here or contact us.

Finding that Random Iowa, which I was previously unaware of, was going to visit was partly luck and partly use of some of the tools available on the Internet. The timing was mainly luck because Random Iowa posted their plans on the day before their visit. I found out about their plans because I also have a Google Alert for Cambridge, Iowa, which searches blogs and sends results, if any, daily. You can set these up to email or receive via a Feed Reader. For more information, see the Google Alerts FAQ. The results I receive are similar to this Google blog search for "Cambridge Iowa", just spread out in time rather than all at once.

Monthly Meeting and Election - November 18, 2008

The regular monthly meeting of the Cambridge Historical Association was held Tuesday, November 18, 2008. Items discussed included:

• The Slater Area Historical Association presentation by Amy Yoakum on the Cemeteries of Story County
• The microfilm reader-printer has been received and installed in the Cambridge Library. A different computer is required to make it fully operational.
• Mayor Scott DeYoung has requested our help in designing a sign for the Heart of Iowa Nature Trail from Cambridge to Maxwell.
  
• Election of officers for 2009.

The officers elected were:

• Wayne Messer - co-president
• Don Erickson - co-president
• Florence Wheeler - treasurer
• Julie Erickson - secretary
• Joyce Williams - director
• Val Moore - Director
  

The next regular meeting of the Cambridge Historical Association will be Tuesday, January 20, 2009, at 7 p.m.

Monthly Meeting - October 21, 2008

The regular monthly meeting of the Cambridge Historical Association was held Tuesday, October 21, 2008. Among the items discussed were:

• Memorials for long time supporters of the Cambridge Historical Association.
• Larry Purvis gave us a wooden model of the old Cambridge water tower which was recently taken down. These are also available for purchase from Larry.
• The American Legion has requested our help preparing a list of veterans buried in the Cambridge Cemetery.
• Florence Wheeler and Wayne Messer represented Cambridge at a meeting of the Story County Historical Societies with the Story County Supervisors. We reported on our accomplishments this year and heard what other groups are doing. This was followed by a tour of the Roland Museum.
• Arlen Twedt of the Central Iowa Norwegian Project sent us a transcript of a news item from The Story County Representative, July 6, 1870, describing the 4th of July celebration and town of Cambridge, Iowa, at the time.

The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 7 p.m. It will include election of officers for the coming year.

Monthly Meeting - September 16, 2008

The regular monthly meeting of the Cambridge Historical Association was held Tuesday, September 16, 2008. Because we did not have a quorum, a formal meeting was not held. We did note a request from John Stow of the American Legion for help in listing the veterans buried in the Cambridge area cemeteries. Also, the Slater Area Historical Society is having a presentation by Amy Yoakum on "Cemeteries of Story County", October 23rd. The remainder of the meeting was used as a work session checking obituaries, email requests, and indexing.

The next regular meeting of the Cambridge Historical Association will be Tuesday, October 21, 2008, at 7 p.m.

Cambridge Iowa Newspapers

The local newspaper in Cambridge Iowa had a number of name changes in its history. These changes are described in our first book on page 73. A summary of the name changes for your reference:

• Cambridge Independent was a weekly begun June 7, 1881. It lasted a few months.
• Cambridge Reporter started publication April 27, 1882.
• Cambridge Argus followed.
• Cambridge Herald published Vol. 1, No. 1 on February 27, 1885.
• Cambridge Garland started August 2, 1887.
• Cambridge Press appeared in 1893.
• Cambridge Chronicle was in 1895.
• Cambridge Dispatch 1896.
• Cambridge Phoenix began in 1903.
• Cambridge Leader 1905.
• Cambridge Clipper 1906.
• Cambridge Leader 1906 to March 1972.

Since then the Tri-County Times has carried weekly news of Cambridge.

Microfilm of most of the Cambridge newspapers is available in the Cambridge Memorial Library and at the State Historical Society of Iowa.

[Updated 4-11-2010 with new Tri-County Times link.  Updated 11-10-2016 with new Tri-County Times link.]

Monthly Meeting - August 19, 2008

The regular monthly meeting of the Cambridge Historical Association was held Tuesday, August 19, 2008. Among the topics discussed were:

• Don and Julie Erickson and Wayne Messer attended the initial CHAT Meeting for region 5 at the Boone Historical Society on July 30. This is an opportunity for the cultural, historic, and arts groups to work together. Our region, one of 13 in the state, is the 8 counties around Boone county. Cyndi Pederson, the head of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, is leading the creation of these teams (CHAT is Culture History Arts Team) to raise the profile of these industries.
  
• Book sales of our new book, Cambridge, Iowa 150 Years of Education in Cambridge and Union Township, Story County, Iowa, continued. The schools and libraries which should receive a copy of this book, the same ones which have our first book, were discussed.
• The history of current and former Cambridge, Iowa organizations are topics that may need further development. We discussed the Legion Auxiliary, the Bucket Brigade (a fire company auxiliary), Jaycees, and Eastern Star. Are there other organizations which should be added?
• We received a Buland Specials ad from Nels Nord of the Huxley Historical Society. Thank you for this ad from an early Cambridge store. It is now on display in the Cambridge Historical Association.
  

The next regular meeting will be held Tuesday, September 16, 2008, at 7 p.m.

Monthly Meeting - July 15, 2008

The regular monthly meeting of the Cambridge Historical Association was held Tuesday, July 15, 2008. Because we did not have a quorum, a formal meeting was not held. We discussed the continuing sales of our new book, Cambridge, Iowa 150 Years of Education in Cambridge and Union Township, Story County, Iowa. A work session by the members present updated our obituaries index, hung the Mason presiding officer pictures we recently received, and examined the indexing of our books contents.

The next regular meeting will be held Tuesday, August 19, 2008, at 7 p.m.