Grinnell College

Provides a look at Grinnell College from the students' viewpoint.

A passion for education, opposition to slavery, and yearning for a moral life led Josiah B. Grinnell and his band of like-minded New Englanders to establish a town and a college on the Iowa prairie in 1854. Over the years, a remarkable number of dreamers and doers from all walks of life have emerged from Grinnell, including pioneer aviator Billy Robinson; Harry Hopkins, advisor to Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt; and Robert Noyce, cofounder of Intel Corporation. Today, Grinnell is a distinctive blend of urban and rural culture that has been marked by the idealism of its beginnings, molded by the surrounding agricultural economy, and shaped by prestigious Grinnell College. Proudly known as the “Jewel of the Prairie,” Grinnell is recognized in the National Register of Historic Places with two historic districts and 15 individual buildings. The Merchants National Bank designed by Louis Sullivan is a National Historic Landmark.

“A Century of GHS Athletics” is an effort to put as many individual and team achievements as possible in one place.

In this most engaging history of one of America's premier liberal arts colleges, Wall captures far more than the formation and growth of Grinnell College, Iowa. It is also a story about organized religion and religious values in nineteenth-century America, about westward expansion across the Mississippi River, and about town building on the prairies. Strong personalities drive the early college: Leonard and Sarah Parker, George F. Magoun, George Herron, Carrie Rand, Martha Foote Crowe, and above all, George Augustus Gates. Wall's quotations from personal letters and college minutes illuminate their backgrounds, motivations, and aspirations. The book was originally commissioned by President George Drake as a sesquicentennial history of the college. This volume contains the story Wall had completed when he died. Mrs Bea Wall finished her husband's last chapter.

From 1912 to 1940, social worker Harry Hopkins committed himself to the ideal of government responsibility for impoverished Americans. This look at Hopkins' life and social work career broadens our understanding of the political and cultural currents that led to the Social Security Act of 1935, the bedrock of the American welfare state. Hopkins' experiences as an advocate and administrator of work relief and widows' pensions in New York City during the Progressive Era informed his contribution to welfare legislation during the New Deal years. Written by his granddaughter June Hopkins, this book not only clarifies the emergence of welfare policy but sheds considerable light on the present welfare debate. It also illuminates the life of one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century.

As a student of local history, I find Daves stories of old Grinnell very fascinating. We who lived in this era of the 40s, 50s, and 60s have some interesting things to share with others about our town and its people. His broad knowledge continues to amaze me. How he remembers so much from 50-70 years ago and is able to record it for the rest of us to enjoy is wonderful. If he wants to expand on a topic of which he is unfamiliar, he knows the right person to contact. Yes, he lives in Texas, but he contacts friends all over to help expand on his topics. Daves knowledge and expertise in basketball continued from his first book A Journey in Overseas Basketballwritten in 1997 through the first edition of Home Town Memories of Grinnell, Iowa in 2012 and now into the sequel ofMore Hometown Memories of Grinnell, Iowa.

From an abolitionist hotbed to the home of a prestigious liberal arts college, Grinnell, Iowa, is known across the country as a "jewel of the prairie." Originally conceived as a Congregationalist utopia, Grinnell developed a reputation as a highly-educated community with a wealth of incredible architecture. It was also a turn-of-the-century industrial hub, despite a population of less than 5,000, where buggies, early automobiles, and gloves were made. The historic postcards in this book recall a community on the verge of transition, from a small agriculture-based town on the prairie to a thriving center of commerce and higher education. They provide a remarkable glimpse of the buildings that make up what is now a "Historic Commercial District" on the National Register of Historic Places. Still others are visual reminders of great buildings-both in the community and on the Grinnell College campus-that now exist only in memory.