"The Biggest Day in the History of the County"

"The Biggest Day in the History of the County". Decorah: A Walk into the Past. , Billed in the Decorah Public Opinion headline of the time as the “biggest day in the history of this county,” thousands of residents of Decorah and Winneshiek County gathered on September 18, 1917 to send off the first contingent of World War I soldiers with a patriotic celebration that filled the courthouse lawn and spilled onto Main Street. Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, Ernest R. Moore, the day's keynote speaker, arrived at the Milwaukee station at 2:30 p.m. and joined a parade to honor the “Boys of ‘17” as it wended its way to the courthouse square via Water Street, Mechanic Street, Broadway, and finally east to Winnebago, ending at the speaker's platform on West Main Street facing the courthouse. (Winnebago is the street to your left and W. Main the street directly behind you.) The city band escorted Lt. Gov. Moore followed by the Decorah Drum Corps with Civil War Medal of Honor recipient L.L. Cadwell. as drum major. George Cuchioftis, a Decorah citizen of Greek descent and one of the departing soldiers, carried a banner with the words “Boys of ’17,” followed by the rest of the soldiers, Calmar Boy Scouts, and the “Boys of '61," Civil War Veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, riding in autos. The speakers and other leading citizens brought up the rear. Following the afternoon's speeches in the courthouse square, the Calmar band entertained in front of the Winneshiek Hotel and a grand banquet for the soldiers was served at Haugen Hall concluding with apple pie a la mode and cigars. During the course of the meal, Mrs. Norman Willett presented each boy with a comfort kit assembled by the local women and girls. Free admission for the soldiers to the Lyric and Star picture shows and a dance at the Steyer Opera House rounded out the evening. The 74 young men departed the next morning at 7 a.m. from Rock Island depot on East Water Street for induction at Camp Dodge in Des Moines. As the flag bedecked train pulled out of the station, a large crowd of over a thousand bid them adieu and the Merchants band led by Prof. Carlo A. Sperati played “America.” , The Courthouse , Behind the crowd in the photo stands the current Winneshiek County Courthouse. It is the second courthouse to serve Winneshiek County citizens. The present Renaissance Revival style courthouse replaced the 1857 courthouse with construction beginning in 1903 and completed in 1904. The architect Was A.C. Kinney of Kinney and Detweiler of Minneapolis and contractors were S.H. and Ben Olson of Stillwater, Minnesota. Cost for the completed building was $112,000 with $27,338 spent on the furniture, plumbing, heating and other interior items. Buff Bedford (Indiana) oolite limestone was used for the upper stories and the tower, and grayish-brown spotted Marquette raindrop brownstone for the first floor level and approaches. Arched and pedimented windows alternate, a portico with composite capitals and dentil molding reflects Greek Revival antecedents, and railings with Roman style balusters indicate its Classical Revival heritage. The figure in the portico's triangular-shaped pediment represents Justice. The clock as well as the bell in the dome were donated by banker C.J. Weiser in memory of his father and mother, Horace S. and Louise A. Weiser. Horace Weiser began the first bank in Decorah. , Courthouse History , In 1849 court was initially held in the William and Elizabeth Day log house located behind the present Hotel Winneshiek. It was then moved to the home of Judge David Reed visible in this photo as the second building from the left, a square Italianate style house crowned by a widow's walk. Early residents referred to it as “Reed's Castle” because it was a three-story home in a town of log houses. The first courthouse, a red brick Greek Revival style building, was constructed in 1857 on the site of the present courthouse. It contained the court room and other county offices and included the county jail and the public library. When more space was required, a separate county jail was constructed in 1874, the building in the center of the photo. It contains both Greek Revival broken pediments and Italianate style arched windows. Wrought iron cresting surmounts the low-pitched roof. The Classical Revival building on the left-hand side of the photo was the Decorah Post Office (now the public library) constructed in 1910. Also visible are two churches, the Methodist Church just to the right of the courthouse and Decorah Lutheran Church partially hidden by the jail.