The Amana Colonies and Amana, Iowa

Visited Oct. 6 - 11, 2022

By Janell

This is Amana RV park, in Amana, Iowa. They boast of having over 450 campsites on 80 acres of gorgeous Iowa land. You can just see the cornfields (the band of gold), beyond those RVs, at the outer edge of the park. It was a nice park, with very spacious sites. There weren't many campers while we were there, so it was very quiet. Apparently one week earlier, it was a different story: there was an Oktoberfest in Amana, and we heard that 65,000 people were in town that weekend! I'm sure the RV park was filled to capacity. At first when we heard we'd missed the Oktoberfest, we were disappointed; but then we heard how crowded it was and decided we were lucky to have missed it.

On our drive out of the RV park one day, Marty spotted these two bald eagles!

Amana is one of seven villages on 26,000 acres, that make up the Amana Colonies. The seven are: Amana, East Amana, High Amana, Middle Amana, South Amana, West Amana, and Homestead.

The colonies were built and settled by German Radical Pietists who were escaping persecution in Germany. When they came to the United States in the 1840's, they first settled near Buffalo, New York. Then in 1855, seeking further isolation, they chose the Iowa countryside, near present-day Iowa City.

For eighty years, the colonists maintained an almost completely self-sufficient community.

From Amanacolonies.com:

In the seven villages, residents received a home, medical care, meals, all household necessities, and schooling for their children. Property and resources were shared. Men and women were assigned jobs by their village council of brethren. No one received a wage. No one needed one.

Over 50 communal kitchens provided three daily meals; as well as a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack to all Colonists. These kitchens were operated by the women of the Colony and well supplied by the village smokehouse, bakery, ice house and dairy, and by the huge gardens, orchards and vineyards maintained by the villagers.

Children attended school, six days a week, year-round until the age of 14. Boys were assigned jobs on the farm or in the craft shops, while girls were assigned to a communal kitchen or garden. A few boys were sent to college for training as teachers, doctors, and dentists.

In 1932, amidst America's Great Depression, Amana set aside its communal way of life. A ruinous farm market and changes in the rural economy contributed, but what finally propelled the change was a strong desire on the part of residents to maintain their community. By 1932, the communal way of life was seen as a barrier to achieving individual goals, so rather than leave or watch their children leave, they changed. They established the Amana Society, Inc. a profit-sharing corporation to manage the farmland, the mills, and the larger enterprises. Private enterprise was encouraged. The Amana Church was maintained.

The above write-up doesn't specifically state this, but we learned that the colonists did not have kitchens in their homes; there was no need since all meals were prepared and eaten in the communal kitchens. (Sounds pretty organized, but what about midnight snacks?!)

Just in case you were wondering . . . yes, the Amana Colonies have a connection to the Amana Corporation (makers of refrigerators and other household appliances). It was founded in 1934 by George Foerstner as The Electrical Equipment Co. in Middle Amana to manufacture commercial walk-in coolers. The business was later owned by the Amana Society and became known as Amana Refrigeration, Inc. It's now owned by the Whirlpool Corporation.

Our RV park was just 1 1/2 miles from Amana, and we went into town two or three times.

Scenes from Amana:

Amidst all the fall decor in Amana, we truly weren't sure if the overalls and tractor were simply decoration or . . . ?

The following day our question was answered: the overalls were gone from the clothesline, and we saw the tractor drive down the road and pull into the yard, returning from the work day.

One evening we drove into Iowa City to see Ward Davis play at the Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon. We first found Ward Davis in July 2021 in Helena Montana at the Lewis & Clark Brewing Company, and we really enjoyed listening to the band.

Then and now we noticed the drummer's hair, which was always flying about. We wondered whether the fan blowing on him was to keep him cool, or because it made his hair look cool. My guess is the latter.

Have you heard of Eldon, Iowa?

Eldon is where the American Gothic House & Center is located. In 1930, an Iowan artist by the name of Grant Wood took a tour of the small town of Eldon and spotted a little white house with a large Gothic window. Inspired, Wood quickly sketched the house and returned home to Cedar Rapids to paint American Gothic. When asked why the house caught his eye, Wood said he found the window amusing, and called it "pretentious" for such a small house.

The models Grant Wood used for his now famous painting were his sister, Nan Wood Graham, and his dentist, Dr. B.H. McKeeby.

Three interesting notes about the models and the folks they portrayed:

1. Wood's sister and dentist posed separately for the painting, and neither of them were in front of the house when they posed. Wood painted the house from his sketch and added the figures in afterward.

2. Many might assume the couple in the painting are husband and wife, but Wood called them father and daughter.

3. The dentist did not want to pose for Wood but reluctantly agreed after Wood assured him he would not be recognizable. Wood elongated his sister's face, but he didn't change enough about the dentist; the dentist was instantly recognized by those who knew him, and he was not happy about it.

American Gothic

Outside the American Gothic Center

The house that inspired Grant Wood's painting

The house is open for touring, but there's not much inside. For whatever reason, the management has chosen not to furnish it. Also, tourists are not allowed upstairs, as the staircase is an old and skinny, spiral one. But in the American Gothic Center, adjacent to the house, we enjoyed learning all about the house and the people involved with its history.

It was also fun to see other renditions of the American Gothic couple inside the center.

Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

Our travels took us through a another small town called Riverside. What might Riverside be known for, you ask?

Of course you know about Captain James T. Kirk, of the starship USS Enterprise?

Perhaps you even knew Captain Kirk was from a "small town in the state of Iowa"?

In March 1985, an enterprising Riverside Councilmember and Star Trek fan, Steve Miller made a motion during a council meeting: What if they changed the theme for the city's annual River Festival, to "Trekfest" -- and they also claimed to be the birthplace of Captain Kirk?

Miller said, "Well, no small town in Iowa has ever claimed to be the birthplace, so we figured it was first-come, first-served." The council voted 4-0 that Monday night to designate Riverside as Kirk's future birthplace.

Miller reported later about the council meeting: "Although they were taken by surprise, the resolution passed unanimously." Miller then told a friend who was a reporter in Cedar Rapids, and word spread from there. Miller said, "It was picked up by the wire services and The New York Times and was even broadcast over the BBC in England. The mayor had to take a week's vacation from his regular job to be at city hall to answer all the calls about it. At that point, we knew we had made the right decision."