Review of
Sixty Sketches of Iowa’s Past &
Present, by William J. Wagner
Five out of five stars
A history lesson constructed from sketches of
structures
Iowa was a
state that possessed a great deal of natural building materials, from native
lumber to stone. When Europeans started moving into the state, they initially
built temporary structures, but it was not long before more permanent ones were
constructed. Schoolhouses, churches and government buildings were generally built
to last. Homes of the wealthier class were also solidly built, so well put
together that many were still in use a century after construction. Several
famous people were born or lived in Iowa, among them Wyatt Earp, Herbert
Hoover and Mamie Eisenhower.
William Wagner was a sketch artist that spent his time
making drawings of famous, even if only locally, buildings in the state of
Iowa. Sixty of those sketches appear in this book along with lengthy textual
explanations of why the building is famous. While some of them were in good shape
at the time they were drawn, others appeared to be in decline. Fortunately,
most of them have been taken over by people or organizations that are dedicated
to preserving them.
There is a lot
of local history in this book. Since overall history is made up from a series
of overlapping local events, there is a great deal of the history of the state
of Iowa in this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment