The Park: The hub of activity

The Oskaloosa Herald

February 28, 2008 10:37 am

— The above picture postcard depicts one facet in the life of our central park. All of us can thank Mr. Edgar, a civil engineer, who was employed to lay out the original downtown area in the 1840s. The width of the streets and ample park area have been a lasting gift to our citizens for out 164 years. At one time, our city was known as “The Town of Wide Streets.” This picture was taken of the 100 and 200 blocks of High Avenue East in the early 1900s. These two blocks of buildings on the left look much the same today and the building to the right of the big tree is the courthouse. To the right of the boardwalk is written “Park Row, Oskaloosa, Iowa.” The postal cancellation is illegible. The best part of this picture is the horse and buggies tied to the hitching racks. Only one empty parking stall can be seen. It’s been said that one Halloween night the police and night watchman (probably Homer Little) were called to a disturbance at the fairgrounds. It turned out to be a false alarm, and when they returned downtown, the hitching racks were cut off at the ground and had completely disappeared. A mystery to this day is who cut them down and where they went. Cars were coming into existence and car owners were competing with the horse-drawn buggies and wagons for parking space. Another story is that the merchants were up in arms because of the amount of horse manure being tracked into their stores. The City Council was quick to create a place called the “City Market” two blocks west of the park area for the watering and hitching of the horses and buggies. Much of the above information has been taken from Irma Glatley’s set of CDs, available at the public library. Irma was the legendary leader in historical matters in Oskaloosa and Iowa. Along with Mr. Edgar we should thank our founders for such good planning.
— Chuck Russell

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