Here's one of the historic steam engines on the move during the 20th “Pleasant Prairie Old-Fashioned Threshing Bee” held June 27-28 by the family of Nick & Annette Foster at their farm northwest of Jefferson. “This is a historic farm re-enactment,” Nick Foster, a member of the historical society's board of directors, recently explained. “We teach the way things were done. It’s one way to keep the rural culture and history alive.” There are demonstrations of threshing and plowing, an antique tractor ride, music and food over the two days. (Photo is by Roger Aegerter)

After retired journalists Chuck Offenburger and Jerry Roberts -- co-hosts of the historical society's "History Chats" at the recent Greene County Fair -- picked the brains and imaginations of these five about the future of Greene County, Offenburger said it was "the best conversation I've had in 15 years here." The five, from the left, Greene County High School senior class president Sophia Ausberger; rock musician, barbecue slinger & barista Parker Willis; Greene Bean Coffee co-owner & high-level IT systems manager for Oracle, Rich Osborne; Greene County Treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen, and farmer Schyler Bardole. Hopefully, we'll have a story later about the key points of the panel discussion.

Nick Foster, co-owner with his wife Annette Foster of the Mason House hotel in Jefferson IA, shared stories of the historic inn for members and guests of the Greene County Iowa Historical Society at our meeting Friday, June 7, at the First United Methodist Church in Jefferson. "It's been bought and sold many times," said Foster, who purchased it a year ago from Dr. Jim & Nancy Teusch, who'd owned it 10 years. "The Teusches deserve a lot of praise. They spent a lot of money on it and they basically saved it." It its 130-plus years, the hotel initially served passengers arriving on the north-south railroad. Today it serves a lot of bicyclists arriving on the Raccoon River Valley Trail, which has been built on the old railroad route. Foster said he and Annette are always on the lookout for stories from the hotel's past. One puzzler -- old newspaper articles seem to indicate that from 1901 to 1904, the facility was apparently owned by Drake University and the Iowa Christian Convention. He said their goal is to renovate "but keep it as close to original as possible. We don't expect to make any money on it -- it's definitely a non-profit business! -- and whatever we do make we'll be putting right back into it."

At the Pleasant Hill Memorial Homecoming service on Sunday, May 26, Wallace Teagarden, 96, a 1941 graduate of Grand Junction High, a retired attorney & insurance claims adjustor who has lived for years in Ames, did the patriotic oration he's been doing since junior high school, reciting excerpts of several important American documents and then the full Gettysburg Address. Teagarden has done this at the Pleasant Hill Church services on Memorial Day weekend every year since 1960, and does it from memory. His oration this year was flawless and inspiring as ever. At the right is his cousin Jerry Evilsizer, of Fairmont, Minn., who chauffeured Teagarden for the day. More photos are in the story below here.

Featured speakers at the Pleasant Hill Memorial Homecoming service were Iowa Rep. Phil Thompson and Melissa Bosshart Frederick, both of whose families have deep ties to the church and pioneer community -- and they are classmates from the Jefferson-Scranton High School Class of 2009. Both are rising young leaders in our area. The event was organized and sponsored by the non-profit Pleasant Hill Memorial Inc. with support from the Greene County Iowa Historical Society. More photos are in the story below here.

"Gus" Gustafson is shown here as a graduating senior at old Churdan High School in the spring of 1949. He went on to earn three college degrees, became a lawyer, college professor, owner of a chain of banks and leading businessman in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, then in the 1970s bought the Tropicana casino and resort and several other properties in Las Vegas. His empire came toppling down in the 1980s, and Gustafson died at 67 years old in 1999. His amazing life and career were the subject of the Greene County Iowa Historical Society program on Friday, May 3, in his hometown of Churdan. Find details elsewhere on this page.