Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors on July 13, 2019

• Posted on December 20, 2019
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July 13, 2019
Harrison County Historical Village and Welcome Center
Missouri Valley, Iowa

Officers and Consuls in Attendance
Vice-President: Mary Preston
Treasurer: Joyce Ausberger
Secretary: Jan Gammon
State Director: Dean Parr
Boone County: John Fitzsimmons
Greene County: Joyce Ausberger
Harrison: Kathy Dirks

Others in Attendance: Bob Ausberger, Jeannie Parr, Brad Boustead, Garry Hevalow, Van Becker, Bev Becker, Eddy Hedegaard, and Janet Hedegaard.

Called to Order: Mary Preston, acting President, called the meeting to order at 9:30 AM. Those in attendance introduced themselves. Kathy Dirks asked for a head count for lunch.

Secretary Report: Jan Gammon sent out the minutes prior to the meeting and brought copies. Dean Parr made a motion to accept the minutes. Gary seconded and the motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report: Joyce Ausberger reported she just received $297 for our portion of national memberships. Iowa is reported to have the most national members. Our biggest expense is for Meredith who does the newsletter, website, and Facebook and Joyce would like to thank her for her great work.

Membership Report: Dean Parr has cleaned up the membership list with Bob Beaudoin’s National list and will be verifying Iowa renewal payments with Joyce. National membership is up and they have run out of Forums to give to new members. Our totals are 89 Iowa, 133 National, 24 Comp, 16 Life, and 22 Merchant for a total of 284. Dean is unsure how to handle Merchant members as many memberships have now expired and not renewed. John Fitzsimmons said that in Boone, the Antique Mall should remain and the others should be deleted as they have closed. The Merchant Membership is $80 and they will get a business a window sticker and be listed on the website. John said members thought it was too hard to find the listing on the website, especially on a cell phone.

Director’s Report: Dean Parr said the national treasurer is getting worn out and the board is looking at ways the weight of a conference could be placed within the committee organizing it and not on the treasurer. Still having problems accepting credit card payments- they go through Jim Cassler and his Lincoln Highway Trading Post currently. Several directors wonder if PayPal could be used to accept payments electronically. Mary Preston says she uses it and is charged a 4% service fee.

The next conference is in Joliet, Illinois at the Clarion June 22-25 (Mon-Thurs as there is a NASCAR race on the weekend). 2021 will be in Sacramento, California. 2022 is open yet. 2023 will be in Nebraska.
Jimmy Lin has redesigned the website and merged a separate website with the history of the Lincoln Highway with this one. A survey was sent out and it had a 30% response rate (which is very good- higher than national rate). Joyce pointed out that of the top location identified to visit along the entire Lincoln Highway route are the Tama Bridge, Preston’s and Niland Café. Good to have so many in Iowa. Most respondents were from eastern United States. Dean will email out the results to everyone.

The national officers were voted in and remain the same as last year. The vice-presidency is still open.

New Business:

National Conference Report: Joyce and Bob Ausberger brought back a number of pamphlets, books, and window clings that are available for the taking from the conference in Wyoming. They enjoyed the conference very much. Michael Owens has his book about the 1919 Convoy available for sale now. Jeannie liked the hotel and thought the conference was well organized. Gregory Hasman was the only local on committee. Russel Rein did a lot too. Jeannie also like the Lincoln Highway III Suite that was arranged for an orchestra. Bob said it was divided into 5 parts of the country (East, OH area, Midwest, West, and California). It can be played from either east or west. Brad found it on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv-oGrjQU6U.

Contract for Newsletter/Website/Facebook: The contract with Prairie Rivers of Iowa was extended last April and it ended June 30, 2019. Meredith Ponder has been doing the work, first as an intern at PRI and then as an employee. She has now graduated and is employed at Drake University. She has formed her own LLC and rather than contract with Prairie Rivers, she would like to contract directly with the Lincoln Highway Association. By doing so, the ILHA treasurer (Joyce Ausberger) would need to have a W-9 filled out and create a 1099 at the end of the year. Joyce does not want to do that and said by contracting with Prairie Rivers, they take care of the paperwork for taxes/employees/contractors. PRI has a new
intern that has the necessary skills. After much discussion, Joyce moved to continue the contract with Prairie Rivers of Iowa and return to using an intern. Garry seconded the motion. Motion carried. The ILHA thanks Meredith for her work over the years and wishes her well with her new company.

Old Business:

Open Officer and Consul Positions: Jan Gammon read an email from Teresa Keairnes that she is resigning as Crawford County Consul due to health issues and demands of commitments. Eddy and Janet Hedegaard are in attendance today from Pottawattamie County- the other county without a consul. They will think it over and let us know. (By lunchtime Eddy agreed to be the Consul!)

County Reports:

Clinton County: Cathie Nichols emailed a note to Jan stating her cancer rating after surgery has gone from Stage I to State III since lymph nodes were involved. One of her chemo drugs makes her very sensitive to cold-even opening a refrigerator can give her chest pains and shortness of breath. She won’t have any immunity, so she will not be around people any more than she needs to be. She hopes by spring she will start getting back to normal.

Cedar County: Joe Goodlove is unable to be at the meeting due to his son’s wedding in Texas. He emailed in a report. Not much NEW news. All communities are holding their usual summer activities-farmer’s markets, park days, garage sales, etc. – none affiliated with the Lincoln Highway. But there is FUTURE news. In Clarence, the painting of the LH crosswalks has been delayed to August 12 due to weather with a backup the following week. In Lowden, plans for the LH marker celebration are combined with the 40th year anniversary of the Lowden Historical Society Building. This will be September 1 to commemorate the anniversary of the Boy Scouts LH marker installation.

Joyce added that she has talked to one of the owners of the Lincoln Hotel in Lowden. She lives in California, but would stay in the hotel when her family visited the Grandparents. She always loved the hotel and as an adult when it came up for sale, her family purchased it. They have hired an innkeeper and other staff. Mary, an owner, will send in info for an ad in the ILHA newsletter.

Linn County: Rex Martin is also unable to be at the meeting due to a daughter’s wedding, but emailed in a report. The detour is still in effect as construction continues in western Cedar Rapids. Rex submitted and article for the Forum about the Freedom Rocks along the Lincoln Highway in Iowa. Linn County’s is scheduled for painting next summer. As with Joe, each town in Linn County is having its usual markets, music, and art shows.

Benton County: Van is filling in for Mike Kelly with a report from Benton County. Mike and Sandii are helping out at Youngville when they can. Sandii is working in Iowa City. Joyce indicated that Youngville has not renewed as a LHA member. Van will talk to them about it as he thought they had. Youngville needs more volunteers .Van wanted people to know the “Fire Truck” guy, Craig Harmon, has passed away. He had many unique items and a museum near Canton, OH.

Tama County: No report. Bridge covered later.

Marshall County: Harlan emailed in his report. State Center just celebrated its 61st Annual State Center Rose Festival on Father’s Day weekend, June 13-16. The weather cooperated with the festivities, so it had a great turnout.

The Mid-Iowa Antique Power Association will be holding its 35th Annual Steam Threshing and Plowing Show on August 2-4 at the parade grounds at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office just off Hwy 30, east of State Center. There will be displays and demonstrations of implements and tools used to farm in the 1800s and 1900s. it will be a firsthand look at farming through the times of horsepower, steam power, and on to power from gas and diesel engines.

The Military Vehicle Preservation Association will arrive in Marshalltown on August 23, where they will spend the night. The next morning, they will travel west to State Center’s Main Street on their way to Colo.

The LHA re-enactment of the 1919 Convoy arrives in Marshalltown for an overnight stay on Friday, September 6. The Convoy moves on to State Center on Saturday morning, September 7, and then down State Center’s Main Street, and on to Story County.

Story County: Jan reported that the Niland Café in Colo is doing good business.

The City of Nevada is working on several projects before the MPVA Convoy comes through town on August 24th and is part of the Lincoln Highway Days parade. Projects include painting LH and Jefferson Highway logos on poles, putting both logos on 2-sided banners at new park outside of City Hall, interpretive panels at City Hall (named the Lincoln Highway and Jefferson Highway Heritage Park), putting logos on street signs and metal signs elsewhere along the route.

Boone County: John Fitzsimmons said Ogden Fun Days had good weather and good crowds. The Boone County fair is this week. Charles Irwin has come out of retirement to get the Boone Historical group re-organized. Mamie Eisenhower’s birthplace is being prepared to be re-opened. John submitted an article to the Forum about Sinclair gas stations.

Greene County: Joyce said for the Union Pacific’s 150th they are taking a “Big Boy” steam engine across parts of the nation. Eddy reported that it is in Council Bluffs now for Railroad Days. John said it had some problems with flooding in NE, but Eddy said it was resolved and was “back on track” (schedule). It will come through Denison, Boone, Ames, and Nevada.

Joyce wanted people to know the Freedom Rock in Jefferson has picture of LH and Eisenhower painted on it. There is a sign there that tells about Lincoln.

The Quirks Cabin area, now owned by the Ausbergers, has some drainage issues. Bob has been pumping water out of one building. If anyone has Conoco memorabilia let Bob know. Will be working on a National Register of Historic Places application. Bob Owens will donate his Green Gables cabin for the site and Prairie Rivers had created 3 small interpretive panels to be placed around a Boy Scout concrete marker that will be installed on this site.

The Grand Junction LH Garden will get a small gazebo from a couple that moved to Grand Junction from California. The Mount family bought it from someone in Hollywood and took it apart and moved it to Iowa. Grand Junction will celebrate 150 years on August 3-4. Joyce has a costume of LH marker “heads” that someone could wear in the parade. Jan will have a Byway car in the parade. Scranton also celebrated 150 year earlier this summer.

Carroll County: Barbara Hackfort emailed her report in. There are 2 Carroll County Sesquicentennials celebrated this month. Carroll’s is the weekend of July 19-21 and Mount Carmel’s is July 26-28.

The “Fall Junk-a-thon” will be held on September 27-28.Antique and second-hand shops along Hwy 30 from Denison to Jefferson will be offering deals on those days.

Crawford County: No report

Harrison County: Kathy Dirks said the LHA group with Jim Cassler will stop Sept 7th at Welcome Center. There is road construction on Hwy 30 near Woodbine. Everyone should be looking at the DOT 5 year plan. Change planned for the area will tie into the access for the bypass. Wisecup Farm and Museum will probably go away.

Harrison County has had problems with flooding and roads closed. Lincoln Highway was a detour route, but has a viaduct near county line with Pottawattamie that has a height restriction. Semis would ignore the warning signs and would hit it at least 3 times a day. Kathy said the railroad wanted to close the LH and work on the viaduct at the same time it was a detour, but wiser heads prevailed.

Pottawattamie County: Eddy and Janet reported that flooding has been a problem there as well.

Committee and Project Reports

1919 Convoy: The MPVA group will be in Iowa August 22-25. Overnighting in DeWitt, Marshalltown, and Denison. Brad Nelson has been in contact with many of the LH Consuls to coordinate lunches (Belle Plaine on 23rd) and overnights. The LHA group will be in Grand Junction for lunch on Sept 7th.

Herring Hotel: Kristine is not at our meeting. Mary Preston says it is listed on the Belle Plaine City Council Meeting on Monday. A roof has been put on the lower part, but no other work done since Bob and Joyce there working.

Preston’s Station Historic District: Mary said she received an in-kind grant for 9 gallons of paint from Keep Iowa Beautiful for the concrete block garage. Painting delayed due to rain. Dave Goodell, a painter from Wiliamsburg, has volunteered to paint it. University of Iowa is doing a collections policy this summer through the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities. Preston’s has received a HRDP grant from the State Preservation Office to apply for a National Register of Historic Places listing. Jennifer Price, Price Preservation, helped with the initial work and will do the application. Preston’s received a notice from Kristen Vander Molen at the State Office Preservation Office that they will get 24 hours with a Technical Advisor Network (TAN) to work on a structural report for as many buildings as the TAN expert can do.

Garry played host to a group from Norway/Sweden. Bill Cary had donated a glass “pumpkin”- some kind of glass float for the gas pumps and he told May and Garry about the group being in Iowa. They even used a photo of Preston’s on their front cover of tour across America pamphlet.

Montour Gas Station: Jan talked to Dustin Kupka, one of the owners. He is interested in getting this property to someone. We have been unable to identify a group in the town, population 200, or in Tama County. Jan had submitted the property as a possible project with the U of I to do a site plan, but pulled it back due to ownership issues. Town needs a convenience store. Dustin will think on this.

Newsletter: Most liked the new design. Van said the photos were hard to see when converted to black and white and then printed out. Jan will relay the message to person doing the newsletter next quarter.

Prairie Rivers of Iowa /Coordinator Report:

Cedar/Clinton Study: Jan has been attending City Council meetings and Board of Supervisor meetings in Green, Boone, Story, Marshall, Benton, and Clinton so far. Goal is to attend all of them before the end of the year. She has also been working on Byway signage to make sure they are all installed correctly before the Convoys come though. The Ralston area correction might take some time.

Jan Gammon attended the DOT meeting in Clarence regarding the Clinton/Cedar County Highway 30 Study. The Highway 30 Coalition was there in full force promoting the idea it become a 4-lane road. DOT posters set up around the room showed the traffic counts and accident rates do not warrant it becoming a 4-lane or even a super 2 (in most cases). There are a few choices on the maps the DOT created. Go to the south of Stanwood, Mechanicsville, and Grand Mound. Or choose between route to the north or the south at Lowden and Wheatland or go to the south of Clarence then either north or south on the east side of town. They can 4-lane, super 2, or do nothing. They would like comments by July 10 (which has passed) but will take them on-going. Go to http://www.iowadot.gov/pim or www/bit.ly/US30 for more information or to send in a comment. Jan also had copies of comment cards for people to take with them and send in. The map around Wheatland shows a potential road going right over the Wapsi Bridge area that the LHA is considering for interpretation and trail development. After talking with DOT personnel, they are aware this is a “sensitive” area and many groups are interested in working together to develop it.

Brochure: A brochure about the 1919 Army Convoy, the Lincoln Highway, Eisenhower, and Mamie is being developed. Jan passed around a draft of the booklet. She had reached out to American Legions, but is having a hard time fundraising for it. It will be handed out at the Iowa Byways booth at the Iowa State Fair, at Iowa Welcome Centers, and key locations on the Lincoln Highway.

Grants/ Projects: The Byway has connected the University of Iowa to Preston’s (collection policy already reported on) and to the City of Tama to create a comprehensive plan for them.

Interpretation: The Henry Ostermann interpretive panel has been delivered to the City of Montour and they will install it in the Maple Hill Cemetery. A ribbon cutting will be planned.

Tama Bridge: Engineering work was done this winter and engineering firm has now presented the City of Tama with a new choice, one that includes a higher dollar amount. They will apply for some DOT funds to see if it will help with this cost. Work is being delayed to accommodate the 2 Convoys and will be now completed in 2020.

Other News
Van Becker added that Joyce Wheeler is making the pies for Youngville. The original idea was for someone to live there to operate the site, but the upstairs would need a kitchen added as the commercial downstairs kitchen could not be used for personal use. The stairs going to upper level are very narrow, but Van did use it for the Amateur Radio group to broadcast from a few years ago. (Van received 3rd place in a Midwest radio contest.)
Van also wondered if anyone has heard from Bryon Osberg. Bryon had put out an email that he would not be organizing an auto tour again. Van would like to see it continue, but Van doesn’t want to organize it, but could be an advisor.

The next meeting will be held in Cedar County. Location will be in the newsletter. The January site is undetermined at this time.

It was moved by Van Becker to adjourn. Dean Parr seconded. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 12:28 PM. Those wanting lunch traveled to Loess Moose in Missouri Valley.