Decorah: A Walk into the Past

Decorah: A Walk into the Past. Water Street Trail. , A Street in Transition , The face of Water Street has changed over the years. Beginning with the arrival of settlers in 1849, houses and small businesses sprang up in what is now the Water Street business district. The photo above records one such home, a vernacular interpretation of Greek Revival with low-pitched roof, broken pediments, shuttered six-over-six windows, and kneehole second story windows. The house stood on the southwest corner of Court and W. Water Streets across the street to the left of where you are now standing. It was occupied by banker Horace S. Weiser, wife Louisa, and their children. The caption on the back of the photo taken by photographer C.W. Adams reads, “This is the house that C.J. Weiser was born in, corner Water Street and Court Street, Decorah, Iowa. Just an alley between the Bullis and this house.” , In front of the Weiser home, the Decorah Light Guards drill on Water Street. Capt. George Quigley Gardner, who served with distinction in the Civil War, organized the Decorah Light Guards in 1876 because he felt there should be a standing militia ready to serve if the need arose. The group was later known as Co. G, 4th Iowa Infantry. The leader on the left side of the photo may be Capt. Gardner. , The Grand Opera House , Early settler Alonzo Bradish built his first house in 1852 on the southeast corner of Court and Water Streets just behind where you are standing. By January 1892, the Grand Opera House stood on this spot. It was in operation until a fire caused extensive damage on July 18, 1899. It was restored and reopened as the Grand Theater and Opera House. A fine theater with three levels of seating, it had a main floor and two balconies with the second floor balcony containing special box seats. Both plays and moving picture shows were presented here and it continued under changing management until February of 1969 when it was razed. , An Early Business , The law office of Judge David H. Hughes was one of the early business buildings located on Water Street. It was situated on the south side of the street at 209 W. Water, where J. Tupy's east building is now located and was about the size of a one-car garage. Hughes was an attorney, assistant county assessor, and Winneshiek County judge before leaving for the Civil War as commanding officer of the 38th Regiment. Col. Hughes died of dysentery near Port Hudson, Louisiana on August 7, 1863 just days short of his 33rd birthday. , The Woolen Mill , North of where you are standing at the bottom of the hill, an early Decorah business plied its trade next to the river that originally ran by its door. The red brick Decorah Woolen Mill, now the Woolen Mill Apartments, was built in 1867 by Lt. Col. William Thurlow Baker, a British officer retired from service in India, and a member of Decorah's “English Colony.” The woolen mill was powered by water from a dam by its back door. The mill had 60 spindles and could only produce red and blue flannel because of dye problems with the river water. Large quantities of flannel and woolen goods were produced and exported, but eventually the mill was sold to a firm that manufactured patent medicines. In 1908, the building, then location for the Decorah Glove and Mitten Works, was shorn of its fourth story by a tornado. Reduced to a three-story building, it served by turns as a paint and cosmetic factory, a furniture storage site for servicemen away at world war two, a factory manufacturing radio parts for the Army, and a tire shop. It was converted into the Woolen Mill Apartments in 2002. , Unplanned Change , Fires and razing and reconstruction of buildings have not been the only elements of change in the business district. In June of 1908, a tornado, accompanied by egg-sized hail and torrential rains, roared through Decorah, toppling church steeples and telephone poles, blowing off roofs, breaking windows and leaving a path of destruction down Water Street in its wake. , [other photo captions] , . Engraving from A. T. Andreas’ Illustrated Historical Atlas of Iowa, 1875. Note the incorrect spelling of “Dacorah.” , Funding for this sign provided by: Decorah’s Self-supporting Municipal Improvement District