South Tama Memories

Sometimes we stumble across things that we all remember, identify with and can tell a lot of stories about.  If you find something, send it and we will publish for all to see and listen to the memories these things generate.  If you remember something that you feel others might enjoy, send us a note and we'll either put it in the text box or dispay  it with the picture.

Memories of Living in STC

Steve Springer: I remember making a phone call by picking up the phone and saying a 3 number phone number to the operator who connected the call manually using a switchboard.  My friend Doug’s mother worked at the telephone company and was an operator.  Her name was Pearl. I distinctly recall the time when I picked up the receiver, the operator said, "number please" and I asked her where Doug was.  The operator called out “Pearl, where’s Doug?”  Pearl told her where Doug was, and the operator told me where to find him. 

When there was a fire, often people would go outside the town businesses to watch the Toledo Volunteer Fire Department racing through

town heading for the fire station.  If the fire siren went off, you could pick up the phone and the operator could tell you where the fire was.

King Tower, Tama Iowa

King Tower was originally known as the King Tower One-Stop  It was built by Wes Mansfield and opened in 1937.  A year later 18 tourist cabins joined the complex.  Together it made up the kind of full-service roadside stop that defined mid-20th century highway travel: food, fuel, a mechanic and a place to sleep.  King Tower was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Locals often came here after the bars closed.  A manager’s house stood just north of the main building.  However, King Tower was hit hard during the COVID-19 shutdowns, then in 2020 the derecho left it battered and broken. Also the highway was changed and the Tower was bypassed.  Owners Jimmy and Lejka Arifi decided not to reopen.  In 2020, of the 25 properties added to the National Register that February, there was only one in Iowa, and it was King Tower.  King tower was never just a stop, it was a story.

 C.S.A. Hall, Vining Iowa

                         Built by the Czechoslovak Society of America 1913 and still used today. 

Memories

Steve Springer:  My friends and I attended many wedding dances here, had a lot of fun and never had the remotest clue who got married.  Just walk in, drop some change in a donation box, grab a "Swisher Sweet" and you're one of the gang.

C&NW Tama Train Station, Date Unknown

Memories

Steve Springer:  I recall going to the Tama Depot with my aunt.  My uncle was in the army stationed in France and my aunt had a large chest of some sort filled with her belongings.  She sent the chest to France and the journey started with shipping by rail at Tama.  As I recall, the inside had a window to the waiting room, much like that of a bank teller were people bought tickets.  There were benches that looked a lot like church pews as a waiting area.

Tama County Jail when it was closed in 1970.

In 1874 the first Tama County Jail was constructed in the city of Toledo at the north east corner of Broadway and State Streets. The original brick structure was 30' X 34'. The second story was to be occupied by the jailer and the lower story contained the jail section, This building remained in use as the Tama County jail until June 15, 1970 when it was closed because it could not be brought up to standards set by the state.  Jail records show that the first prisoner held in the original jail was confined on October 22, 1870. The man's name was Orson Buno and the charge was murder. Buno was released from the jail on October 31, 1870 by Writ of Habeas Corpus.

The first recorded jail escape occurred January 24, 1871 when a C. H. Powell ran from the jailer.

During the years that the original jail was in operation it was customary for the Sheriff to reside in the jail and for the sheriff and his wife to cook meals for prisoners. In 1880 the Tama County Sheriff received fifty cents per day for the boarding of prisoners. Record show that in 1901 the Sheriff received twenty-five cents per meal for the feeding of the prisoners. (This data from the internet)

Memories

Steve Springer:  I was living in Toledo when the jail was being converted to the Historical Center.  Workers were clearing out the jail section in the lower level.  It is unfortunate that something wasn't done to preserve the graffiti that was written on the walls.  As I recall there were cells in the middle of the room with a common area on the outside of the cells. I actually acquired a complete cell with the door and fold down bed.  When I left Toledo I sold the cell.  My father operated a lumber yard just down the street.  I hung around the lumber yard in the 50's and I recall workers from the lumber yard going to the jail to recruit day workers when help was needed to unload lumber out of a railroad car.

Wieting Theater

Wieting Theater is located in Toledo .  It is one of three opera houses built by Ella Wieting as memorials to her husband C.W. Wieting.  The Wietings came to Toledo in 1867 from Worcster, New york.  He was trained as a dentist and was involved in various business ventures.  They moved to Sydracuse, New York around 1900 and he died there ion 1906.The thearter in Toledo housed productions from travelling road shows, local school productions political meetings, movies, and lyceum courses.  The theater closed in 1958 and reopended two years later by the Wieting Theater Guild.  It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.