Local History Lucky

How lucky you ask? Way lucky! Librarians at the Des Moines Public Library have been working day and night to make local history information available to you. We currently call it the Local History Wiki ,cause, you know, we're hip to this Internet stuff. The coolest information is here, and let me tell you, this stuff is not easy to find on your general web. For the most part, the information is from paper sources. Or even microfilm. One foot in the future, one in the past, that's us. We're all about balance. Here's a baseball tidbit to get you started. Did you know that in one year the Des Moines baseball team had 3, count'em, 3 different names? Click here and slide down to the bottom of the page to get the names. And when you're not using my oh-so-handy blog links to get to the Local History, here's how you access it.
1. From our home page, http://www.desmoineslibrary.com/, click on Blogs/Wikis
2. In the green column to the left, click on Local History Wiki
3. Click on the link http://desmoinespubliclibrary.pbwiki.com/

4. Noodle around to your heart's content.
We'll have more on the Local History Wiki this week - Stay tuned!

Merle Hay, the soldier

A Memorial Day Story

Merle Hay was only 21 years old when he died.

He was a sentry at a trench near Bathelmont, France on November 3, 1917 when a German raiding party attacked. Two other men, Bethel Greshem and Tom Enright, died in the same attack. The three men became the first Americans to die in World War I.

Hay's view that night was barbed wire stretched over a bare hillside. Another sentry spoke to him, asking Hay if he thought he'd last the night. Hay replied he didn't know.

He was killed hours later. Merle Hay had only enlisted in World War I six month earlier.

I'd always known the name Merle Hay, first American/Iowan to die in World War I. I had no idea he was so young.

Source: Des Moines Register 11/29/1967

Historic North Des Moines

To the left is the actual mallet used in the test-your-strength game at the old Riverview Park. Cool, right? Well stop in at the North Side Library for a gander at a whole collection of historic artifacts and documents from the Highland Park - Oak Park neighborhoods.

Vintage photographs, turn of the century yearbooks, menus from area restaurants, and items from Hi-Lan Dairy are just a part of the memorabilia room. In the year 2000 the North Side Library staff, Friends of the North Side Library, and numerous other individual contributors established a Millennium book collection and a Parks Area Heritage collection. Get a preview of the goods by clicking here.

Local History Wiki!

Des Moines History Buffs! Such a deal we have for you! Have you seen mention of a wiki on our web site? The link: Local History Wiki . Go ahead, click on it! Here are some treasures:
An index to our set of biographical newspaper clippings. Look up a person, find out which volume has their clippings, stop in at the Central Library and the folks at the Reference Desk willl help you find the volume. Okay, lots of steps, but trust me this is fabulous information you won't find anywhere else. The index is not quite done, but there are many entries already.
Baseball fan? We have a pretty darn complete list of Des Moines baseball teams and that list usually includes the coach's name and the season's record. Did you know there was a year in which the Des Moines team had three names? Neither did I.

We're just getting started, keep checking back. Local History Rules!