Little Town on the Prairie

Our second day in Des Moines, we indulged in one of our favorite forms of geekery, history, and paid a visit to the Living History Farms in nearby Urbandale. Comprising two acreages on either side of I80, the complex offers a town re-created to roughly 1875, and a series of three farms. We spent the cool, clear morning walking the town of Walnut Hill, which was built on the estate of railway entrepreneur Martin Flynn and which features his home as well as some period buildings moved here from other sites, and some specially reconstructed.

Our first stop was the print shop, where a summer intern was laying out the text for menus and place cards that will be used in the annual fall dinners that are held at the Farms. They do the printing as it would have been done in 1875.

Moveable type:

There were dozens of cabinets and probably a couple hundred drawers of type in different sizes and fonts. Those type drawers that hang in many a home (including ours!) holding little knickknacks look random in their design but in fact were systematic. Each letter had its own box, the size and location of which was determined by the letters' frequency of use. A typesetter could reach into the box without even looking and pull out what was required --- kind of like how a good typist can type without looking at the keyboard.

Hand-cranked presses turn out broadsheets. This press was laid out with a town newspaper from the period.


I think on slow days the staff and interns working the print shop have a good laugh:


Further up the road was the doctor's office; this is one of the original buldings.


A selection of anaesthetics:


More good stuff could be found across the street:


This drugstore offered condiments like Worcestershire sauce as well as medicines.


And, of course, the latest in natural remedies:


There were also some interesting bugs on the outside. This preying mantis was the size of a small cat.


The general store was full of useful implements.


In addition to the foodstuffs that you would expect --flour, sugar, coffee, tea, spices, and so on-- there was also canned fish and canned tomatoes and other vegetables. I found the canned vegetables very odd for a rural town in the middle of farmland. And I wondered how popular oysters would have been here at that time. I may be a history nerd, but I am a discerning history nerd.


Oh my goodness, the 19th century equivalent of Midland Farm Supply!


House, barn, and grey sky.


The kitchen of a middle class home. I would like to have this kitchen.


Child's bedroom in the Flynn mansion:


Kitchen window in the Flynn mansion.


School house -- more windows!



This little trip through the past took about three hours. We took a break for lunch at a local chain called Machine Shed --truly awful chicken-fried steak the size of a dinner plate-- and for the afternoon set our sights on the other side of the highway.