Ottumwa Iowa

It rained all night and was quite windy.  This morning the rain continued and so did the wind.  We had a very lazy morning waiting for the rain to subside. 

Our campsite..

We headed to Ottumwa (do you know the semi famous TV character who claimed Ottumwa as his home town?)  (see below for answer)

Ottumwa... the name means place of perseverance and land of rippling waters. Ottumwa embodies the westward expansion of the United States, plentiful game, good fishing, and the river's rippling waters. These qualities enticed Iowa's most famous chiefs, Wapello, Keokuk, and Appanoose, to settle here.

Chief Wapello.....

They weren't alone for long, in the land rush of 1843 a group of white investors staked out 467 acres along the winding Des Moines River, to make a town. The railroad came through in 1859, opening Ottumwa and Wapello County to the world and ensuring the city's continued growth over the next 100 years. By 1870 Ottumwa boasted a population of over 5,000 people.

The Coal Palace was built in 1890 in Ottumwa, Iowa.  Designed to advertise Iowa’s prominence as a coal-producing state, the Coal Palace housed an exhibition of Iowa products in 1890 and 1891.  The Coal Palace was dismantled in late 1891 after the close of the exposition.

Like many modern stone buildings, the Coal Palace was stone-clad but not built of stone.  Instead, its structural frame consisted of 800,000 feet of lumber.  The building was 230 feet long and 130 feet wide, and its central tower reached 200 feet above ground.  It had a dance floor, an auditorium, many exhibit halls, and a thirty-foot waterfall.

Coal is certainly not a common building stone.  Coal is prone to oxidation, either quickly in a conflagration or slowly, leading to crumbling and collapse.  The razing of the Coal Palace in 1891 was thus probably wise, and it is unlikely that it could have survived until today.  The Coal Palace was probably the largest building ever built of coal, but it was not the only one.  There are coal houses today in Middlesboro Kentucky, and also in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

Airpower Museum – Antique Airfield – Ottumwa, Iowa
Home of the Antique Airplane Association, Inc., the Airpower Museum, Inc., and the APM Library of Flight, Antique Airfield has a collection of aircraft, engines, and aircraft memorabilia assembled in the Airpower Museum, as well as the Annual AAA/APM National Fly-In. Its grass runways and scenic setting help to recapture the feel of aviation in its early years.
The Airpower Museum has over 30 antique planes primarily from WWI through WWII including WWII Glider plane exhibit, Lindberg exhibit and the cloths worn for flying as well as appropriate gear

Eric collected Black Walnuts....

we must have been in the wrong part of Iowa.  could not find any pork!!   no pork on any menu, did not see any pigs only cows, goats and chickens..  thought that Iowa was all about pork....

Radar O'Riley from M.A.S.H.  was from Ottumwa!