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Posted November 03, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

Remembering pies from Bontels

Former East 14th Street restaurant and bakery brings back great memories for people, especially at Thanksgiving time.   As a former employee of Bishops Buffet in Cedar Rapids in both [...]

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Posted October 06, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

The Shuler Mines

Waukee was once a “company town.” I have been spending time lately in Bentonville, Arkansas (seven days a month since July to be exact). Many scholars of useless information will [...]

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Posted September 01, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

Remembering 9-11

It was a birthday I will never forget. I woke up on the morning of my 16th birthday like I did any other day and got myself ready for school. [...]

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Posted August 04, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

Strange tales from the Iowa State Fair

World’s largest man, Bobo the clown, Siamese twins and chameleons To think that it has been two years since the last Iowa State Fair is bonkers to me. I did [...]

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Posted June 30, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

Camp Dodge Swimming Pool

One of the world’s largest swimming pools operated from 1922 through 2001. My summers as a kid in the Quad Cities were not that much different than most other kids’ [...]

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Posted June 02, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

Remembering Harmon’s Barbershop

The origins may be a bit hazy, but the memories are clear. I have been a patron of the Roosevelt Barbershop for nearly 10 years, and I expect to be [...]

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Posted May 05, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

Remembering ‘A Thief in the Night’

Des Moines’ forgotten history includes the making of feature-length Christian films in the 1970s. It actually goes back to the late 1960s with a man named Russ Doughten from Carlisle [...]

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Posted March 31, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

Life before I-235

Many most of us take for granted that we can get most anywhere in the metro area in less than 20 minutes. We are all used to waiting until the [...]

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Posted March 03, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

A pocket full of quarters

Millennials can be split into two groups: those of us born in the 1980s and those born in the 1990s. The 1980s-born kids still had a chance to enjoy life [...]

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Posted February 03, 2021in Des Moines Forgotten

The Iowa Renaissance Faire

It might be a little out of season to be thinking about summer festivals, but a reader reached out to me with a topic that I have been curious about [...]

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Summer Stir - June 2024