Roadside Attractions in Northwest Iowa!

My husband Keith and I headed to northwestern Iowa. We attended the 2024 Red Power Round Up, an International Harvester event held in Spencer, Iowa. We found lots of roadside attractions during our travels. Hosted by Iowa Chapter 5 of the IHCC group, the location was the Clay County Fairgrounds. This beautiful show was well planned. Then the rains came and ended the event early. Floods caused some emergency evacuations.

Attractions in Laurens

We stayed in a town 30 miles south Laurens, Iowa. Laurens has a sister city of the same name in France. Being a Francophile, this interested me! The town on their website, is touted as “The Busiest Little Town in Iowa.” 

Laurens France, and Laurens, Iowa became sister cities when the Iowa community was planning their 125th anniversary in 2007.

We stayed at the Lodge Inn, a quiet place overlooking the main street. This was a great oasis away from the hustle and bustle of the Round Up, and later from the floods that ravaged the area north of town.

In the heart of Laurens, we found the first of several attractions, the beautiful wooden praying hands. Located outside the Laurens Methodist Church, Brad Rubel a member of the congregation shared about faith filled statue. “We had a large tree. It needed to come down. Several members thought it would be great to carve praying hands.”

Brad said it was carved by chainsaw artist Jeff Klatt.

We stayed in this area earlier during a previous trip to Albert City During that visit I toured the wonderful attractions of Albert City Historical Museum, and Grotto of Redemption!.

Attractions in Pocahontas, IA

Pocahontas was lovely nearby town. Check out the Indian Princess Statue at the eastern edge of town. The statue named after the famous native guide is 25 feet tall. There is also a teepee, beautiful murals, and a historic cabin to see! What a fun stop!

We headed downtown and found the Veterans Memorial. There were flowers, and quite a unique memorial with POWs and more. I loved the etched in carvings in the memorial depicting soldiers.

An Art Deco theater, the Rialto, is still open. Downtown they also had music we stopped to listen and enjoy.

We had a great dinner at the former Odd Fellows lodge.

Peterson, Iowa!

Saturday morning, we had plans to head to Trent, South Dakota to Little Village Farm. The Lacy family has a collection of barns. However, with the incessant rain, the Red Power Round Up closed on Saturday. The banquet we were to attend was cancelled. Flooding to the north and a dike that broke caused extensive flooding and devastation. Needless to say, we changed our plans when the kind people in Peterson shared that roads to the north and west were closed.

Before heading south to clear roadways, we enjoyed a stop at the Peterson Veteran’s memorial. We also stopped at Fort Peterson.

According to the information, “Fort Peterson was one of eleven forts and stockades constructed in 1862-1863. They were built due to pioneers’ fear of Native American attacks…”

There had been attacks in 1862. The Santee Dakota tribe revolted. They had been placed on a reservation and were starving. A sad story in US history for all involved.

Manning Iowa

We headed south to Manning Iowa for a tour of the German Hausbarn. I had learned about this amazing barn from the 1660’s on an earlier visit to Elkhorn, Iowa. There we viewed their famous Danish Windmill.

The German Hausbarn website shares, “The centerpiece of the Manning Community Foundation is the Manning Hausbarn Heritage Park. From the German Hausbarn and Historic Trinity Church to the Freedom Rock and the Leet/Hassler Farmstead, the Manning Hausbarn-Heritage Park is full of attractions that are guaranteed to take you back in time to the beautiful German heritage and agricultural roots.”

This historic German barn was brought to America in 1999. The roof is of thatched reeds. They came from the North Sea. Glayds Schmidt our greeter shared, “My husband Harold Schmidt was a farmer. He was onsite when they took the Hausbarn down. He spoke low German. The Mayor of Manning, Iowa spoke high German.”

Together the two were able to speak to the locals. The barn/house was built by the Claus Thams family. There are only two of these barns in the US. People and animals shared the Hausbarn. It was a great tour. There is also a farmhouse, and barn to see along with some antique farm equipment.

Downtown Manning attractions

Downtown Manning has amazing art and sculptures on display.

At the Van Wall John Deere dealership are beautiful murals. The mosaic mural was designed by Clint Hansen. It was commissioned by Warren and Ken Puck. The Puck family started the dealership in 1926.

While in town we had lunch at the fun Level B Grill. On our way back to Laurens, we stopped in Sioux Rapids, Iowa. Located according to their website in the Valley of Beauty!

Sioux Rapids

Earlier in the day, we had been diverted from traveling on a road that passed Sioux Rapids.

The town had some damage early Saturday morning. So, we headed on south. We had seen a sign saying popcorn and ice cream at the theater. This was on Saturday evening. We stopped and saw at that time the levee had held. Downtown we found a PAL tractor. It is one of two still existing that had been built in Sioux Rapids. The story was covered in a Farm Collector story. Ginny Smith of the Historical Society let us view it.

The theater across the street is now the Sioux Rapids historical society. They were open and sharing popcorn and root beer floats. What a gem!

The next morning, the levee had broken. You couldn’t get downtown. We are praying that all is well.

I have been on road trips to Southeast Iowa. This was the first time I experienced the lovely roadside attractions of northwest, Iowa. We loved our trip. But we had mixed feelings about the rain that caused such devastation. These roadside stops offer so much history and beauty. They tell the story of the vibrant local communities. Some of these finds may have to make their way into Agricultural Treasures Guidebook 2!