Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 16, 1935, Pella invited Iowans to tiptoe through their tulips as the first Tulip Festival began. An annual showcase of the southeastern Iowa town’s Dutch roots, Tulip Time continues to invite visitors to marvel at elaborate gardens, architecture, and events centered on the town’s heritage. Following a production of a small operetta, ‘Tulip Time in Pella,’ during the spring of 1935, local leaders Irwin Lubbers and Lon Wormhoudt urged the Chamber of

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 16, 2009, the University of Northern Iowa beat Bradley 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in the school’s last baseball game. Started in 1893, the bats went quiet as the lights went out on the Panthers following the 2009 season. Started back when UNI existed as the Iowa State Normal School, the Panthers steadily grew into the school’s most successful athletic program. Legendary skippers L.W. Whitford and J.D. Anderson led the program from 1926 through 1984,

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 16, 1970, Cathy Carroll became the first four-title winner in girls' state track meet history, sweeping the 60, 100, and 200-yard dashes and the long jump. Carroll went on to compete for Iowa State, where she became part of the university’s early rise in women’s track as the program moved from club status to varsity status in the 1970s. Her achievement came at a time when girls’ athletics in Iowa was still building its public identity. The Iowa Gir

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 16, 1951, all-time great Cyclone and NFL football player Merv Krakau was born in Jefferson. A standout four-sport athlete at Guthrie Center, Krakau played six seasons in the NFL after a Hall of Fame career at Iowa State. Known as a versatile athlete while competing at Guthrie Center, Krakau caught the eye of Iowa State assistant coach Jimmy Johnson. Recruited by Johnny Majors, Krakau accepted a scholarship to play at Iowa State during the spring of

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: During the late afternoon on May 15, 1968, five massive tornadoes touched down in Iowa as part of a wider 39-tornado outbreak across ten states. Two EF5/F5 tornadoes occurred during the storm, with one striking Charles City at 4:50 p.m. The tornado moved directly through the seat of Floyd County, destroying hundreds of homes, over a thousand vehicles, and over $30 million in damage. In total, 18 Iowans (14 in Charles City alone) lost their lives as a seri

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 15, 1856, Congress passed a law that helped turn Iowa from a promising frontier state into a key corridor in the nation’s railroad age. The Iowa Railway Land Grant Act linked local ambition to federal power, giving rail builders the means to push tracks across the state and connect the Mississippi River to the Missouri River. The act belongs to a larger mid-nineteenth-century story in which railroads became the engine of western expansion. Congress

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 15, 1950, Bill Riley hosted the first “Tune-O” contest over Iowa’s airwaves. A popular form of musical bingo, players picked up “Tune-O” cards at local grocery stores and tuned in to KRNT to try to make matches to win prizes. Following on the heels of another popular Bill Riley and KRNT contest called “Money Man,” the weekday “Tune-O” contest ran daily from 9:30 to 10:00 p.m. Sponsored by Hiland Dairy, residents could grab a new card every month at

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 15, 1940, legendary Iowa Hawkeye basketball player and long-time NBA coach Don Nelson was born. Nelson was a five-time NBA champion as a player and set the NBA record for regular-season coaching wins. Born in Michigan, Nelson’s family eventually moved to Rock Island across the Mississippi River from Iowa’s eastern border. A standout hooper at Rock Island High, “Nellie” led the Rockets to a 47-7 record during his final two high school seasons. Nelso

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 14, 1933, what began as a local celebration of beauty and civic pride grew into the Tulip Festival, the public event that still draws visitors each spring and still ties Orange City to its Dutch heritage. The deeper history of the festival reaches back to Orange City’s Dutch immigrant roots and the town’s long effort to preserve Old World customs in northwest Iowa. By the early 1930s, townspeople were already thinking about flowers, pageantry, and

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 14, 1964, two-time American Space Shuttle Pilot James M. Kelly was born in Burlington, Iowa. Educated in southeastern Iowa’s Des Moines County county seat, Kelly graduated from Burlington High School in the spring of 1982. Drawn to the skies, the former Greyhound enrolled at the United States Air Force Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in astronautical engineering in 1986. Designated an Air Force Pilot in the fall of 1987, Kelly report

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 14, 1903, the Oskaloosa Herald first mentioned the Buxton Wonders. The Wonders, a coal-town company team featuring predominantly Black players, pulled perhaps the greatest upset in Iowa sports history when they beat the Chicago Union Giants in 1909. Buxton, Iowa, a predominantly Black company town founded by the Consolidation Coal Company in 1900, remained a productive coal mining town until at least 1919. During many of those years, the company an

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 14, 1894, Iowa lost remarkable artist and innovator Andrew Clemens, the “sand in bottle” master whose intricate sand art continues to captivate collectors and historians alike. Born deaf and mute, Clemens transformed his unique perspective into an extraordinary folk art form. He created stunning images and patterns inside small glass bottles using nothing but naturally colored sand from Iowa’s Mississippi River bluffs. Each grain was carefully plac

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 13, 1973, the Grateful Dead turned the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines into a place where weather, improvisation, and crowd energy all seemed to move in the same rhythm. The early 1970s were the years when the Grateful Dead were becoming more than a Bay Area rock band. They were building a reputation for long, fluid concerts that rewarded patient listeners, and outdoor shows had become a signature setting. Iowa fit that moment well, since stat

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 13, 1901, Iowa’s 31st Governor, Bill Beardsley, was born in Beacon, Iowa. Iowa’s only Governor to die in office, Beardsley, tragically passed away following a car accident while attempting to visit his son at Iowa State. Born in Beacon, Iowa, in 1901, Beardsley attended public school in Birmingham, Iowa, before attending Bowen Institute of Pharmacy and Chemistry. Owner of a successful drugstore in New Virginia, Iowa, Beardsley entered politics when

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 13, 1922, the first VEISHEA ended at Iowa State. The annual week-long celebration, which highlighted many departments, student groups, and other aspects of Iowa State, ran until Iowa State President Stephen Leath first suspended and ultimately discontinued the popular spring festival. Named for the university colleges that existed at Iowa State College in 1922 (Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Science (Industrial), Home Economics, and Agriculture)

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 13, 1978, educational innovator Everett Franklin Lindquist passed away. From the “Brain Derby” to the ACT, his career helped define how schools measure learning, aptitude, and readiness. Lindquist’s work emerged in an era when American education was being modernized by mass schooling, expanding college access, and a growing faith in measurement and efficiency. Born in Gowrie, Iowa, in 1901, he studied at Augustana College, the University of Chicago

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 12, 1967, Cara Coughenour was born in Sioux City, Iowa. A trailblazing pitcher who would go on to make history in women’s professional baseball. Coughenour pitched for the Colorado Silver Bullets, a groundbreaking all-women's baseball team that competed against men in the 1990s. Standing 5'11" and known for her right-handed pitching and infield skills, Coughenour symbolized Iowa’s rich sports heritage and women’s empowerment in athletics. Coughenou

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 12, 1869, the first train chugged into Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad (later the famed Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific Line). An extension of the first line to cross the Mississippi River at Davenport in 1856, the line created an important link across the state and country just two days after workers drove the ‘golden spike’ of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah. The culmination of efforts that beg

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 12, 1938, the first Fareway store opened in Boone. Started by Paul Beckwith and Fred Vitt, the store grew to represent one of Iowa’s most iconic businesses. Although the notice in the Ames Tribune boasted that the chain would make its headquarters in Story County, the first Fareway Store opened on May 12, 1938, at 624 Story Street in Boone, Iowa. Paul Beckwith and co-founder Fred Vitt worked for the large national chain Safeway. Beckwith started hi

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 12, 1982, author W.P. Kinsella released his Iowa-set book “Shoeless Joe.” Expanded from Kinsella's short story "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa,” the book served as the basis for the 1989 film Field of Dreams. Canadian novelist W.P. Kinsella first developed the idea for the story while attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Kinsella decided to incorporate the stories he told about the Black Sox Scandal by imagining Shoeless Joe Jackson coming bac

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 11, 2013, E. Wayne Cooley passed away. One of the most important architects of girls’ high school athletics in Iowa, Cooley was a figure whose influence reached far beyond the state’s gymnasiums, leaving behind a legacy built on the simple yet radical idea that girls deserved their own athletic stage. In 1954, Cooley became executive secretary of the Iowa Girls' High School Athletic Union. This organization, at the time, sponsored only basketball,

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 11, 1978, blues, country, and folk singer William Elliott Whitmore was born in Lee County. Famously known for his Iowa-inspired lyrics, Whitmore continues to derive inspiration from his home state. Whitmore spent his childhood on a 160-acre horse farm outside Keokuk in Iowa’s extreme southeastern corner. A farm dating back to Whitmore’s third great-grandfather, the musician still owns the farm despite his career success. Born into a musical family

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 11, 1944, the last cadets to enter the US Navy Preflight School (NPFS) at Iowa City started training. One of four World War II-era pre-flight schools hosted at colleges throughout the country, the training featured a variety of academic and athletic challenges for the cadets preparing to take to the skies. In addition to the NPFS locations in Georgia, North Carolina, and Saint Mary’s (CA), the University of Iowa agreed to host a preflight school in

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 11, 2003, visionary architect and innovator Byron Godbersen passed away. The man behind Ida Grove’s iconic castle-themed buildings, Godbersen founded CEO Midwest Industries and helped transform a small-town manufacturing company into a thriving business producing farm and marine equipment. The most notable remainder of Godbersen’s legacy is the castle architecture still evident in Ida Grove today. However, Byron’s creativity wasn’t limited to build

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: The movie Twister debuted in theaters on May 10, 1996. While set in Oklahoma, the blockbuster movie shot the climactic F5 tornado scene near Eldora, Iowa, and another near Ames. Directed by Jan de Bont and starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and Cary Elwes, the movie opens with TV weatherman Bill Harding trying to get his tornado-hunter wife, Jo, to sign divorce papers so he can marry his girlfriend Melissa. But Mother Nature, in the form of a series of int

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 10, 1879, near Estherville, Iowa, the largest known meteorite ever observed in North America smashed into Emmet County. Alerted by rattling dishes and windows, people throughout the area looked up at the tremendous ball of fire descending from the southwest to the northeast during the afternoon. A thunderous noise ripped through the area as the main body of the descending meteorite fragmented before impact, and several eyewitnesses reported seeing

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 10, 1910, Iowan Arthur John Hartman made Iowa's first heavier-than-air aircraft fly. An important aviation innovator, Hartman’s legacy flies high in Iowa’s history. Born and raised in Burlington, Iowa, Hartman ran away at 15 and worked at the Illinois Steel Boiler Company in Chicago. Moonlighting as a volunteer at the Goddard Balloon Company, he soloed in a balloon three months before the Wright Brothers' first heavier-than-air flight in 1903. In 1

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 10, 1925, the Sioux City Ghosts first appeared in local newspaper reports. An all-Black fast-pitch softball team, the Ghosts often drew comparisons to the Harlem Globetrotters while touring the country during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The Ghosts started as a team at the West 7th Street Boys Club. Playing at the Hopkins School playground, the team, comprising roughly 40 members, captured the Sioux City Junior League Championship during their firs

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 9, 1938, union workers at the Maytag Washing Machine plant in Newton went on strike in protest of a posted 10% pay cut as the Great Depression raged across America. The strike lasted throughout the summer of 1938 as escalating violence eventually led Governor Nelson G. Kraschel to call out the National Guard. Maytag posted a notice informing employees of the impending pay cut in early May, before workers organized a sit-down strike. A relatively ne

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 9, 1932, a radio merger in Iowa helped create one of the Midwest’s great broadcasting powerhouses. When WOC in Davenport joined forces with WHO in Des Moines, the result was WHO-WOC, a station built to reach farther, sound stronger, and speak to a larger regional audience. WHO had begun in 1924, WOC had roots in the early 1920s, and both stations were shaped by the new regulatory landscape created after the Federal Radio Commission reorganized the

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 9, 1848, James M. Pierce was born. Pierce moved from apprentice printer to Civil War teen volunteer, then became one of Iowa's most influential farm publishers. Pierce came of age in a region where print culture was expanding alongside westward settlement and postwar agriculture. His career unfolded during a period when farm editors were becoming public voices for scientific farming, railroad regulation, and cooperative action, and the Iowa Homeste

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 9, 1941, the first Iowa Conference on Local History was held in Des Moines. Hosted by the Iowa State Department of History and Archives, it sought to bring best practices to local historical societies across the state. Under the careful guidance of Ora Williams, Curator of the Iowa State Department of History and Archives, the conference attracted more than a hundred attendees from all corners of the state. The first presentations focused on how ci

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 8, 1918, a Davenport, Iowa newspaper headline trumpeted: “Government Marshals begin round-up of pro-Germans!” and reported that the “county defense council” had visited a half-dozen farmers suspected of having made anti-American statements. This episode unfolded in the fevered climate of World War I, when the United States had joined the conflict against Germany in April 1917, and mobilization touched every corner of the country. Iowa, home to larg

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 8, 1966, the Des Moines Children’s Zoo (now Blank Park Zoo) opened on the south side of Iowa’s capital city. The only accredited zoo in Iowa, the 49-acre facility continues to teach Iowans about the natural world through conservation, education, research, and recreation. Following the decommissioning of (3rd) Fort Des Moines, the federal government sought to donate the former military base lands to the city for recreational purposes. Abraham Harry

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 8, 1803, Charles Larpenteur was born. Larpenteur’s life captures the moment when the upper Mississippi and Missouri valleys were still frontier worlds shaped by trade, diplomacy, and survival. A French immigrant who became one of Iowa’s earliest frontier chroniclers. Born near Fontainebleau in 1803, Larpenteur came from a Bonapartist family that left France after Waterloo and settled near Baltimore in 1818, placing him on the edge of the growing Un

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 8, 1689, Nicholas Perrot stood at the edge of a river system that would shape the future of North America and claimed it for France. That act looks dramatic on paper, but it also opens a larger story about how Europeans tried to name, map, and govern lands already occupied by Native nations with their own deep histories and political claims. Perrot was no casual adventurer. A French trader, diplomat, and frontier intermediary, he spent years travel

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 7, 1969, Denise Long of Whitten, Iowa, became the first woman drafted into the NBA when the San Francisco Warriors selected the basketball standout in the 13th round of the draft. Long caught the attention of basketball fans everywhere when she averaged an astounding 69.6 per game as a senior at Union-Whitten High School in 1969. Growing up in the small Hardin County town of Whitten (population 200), Long developed a love for basketball at an early

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 7, 1922, American actor and musician Lew Anderson of ‘Howdy Doody’ show fame was born in Kirkman, Iowa. Anderson was a notable jazz arranger and big band leader in addition to his far-famed role as Clarabell the Clown on ‘Howdy Doody.’ Growing up in Shelby County, Anderson took up the clarinet after his sister abandoned the instrument. In high school, Anderson formed a dance band and used his talents to attend community college in Fort Dodge and la

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 7, 1914, the curtain went up at the Volga Opera House for the first time. The Clayton County venue served as a vital community meeting place for decades. Still, it faced near-demolition and underwent restoration to become part of a great Iowa historic preservation story. The first show hosted at the space, “The Lion & the Mouse,” set the stage for the venue, serving as a community center for theatrical productions, dances, school functions, and oth

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 7, 1862, notable Iowa conservationist Cora Whitley Call was born. From wartime mobilization to conservation work that helped shape the state’s park culture, her life also shows how women’s voluntary organizations became a real force in Progressive Era Iowa by linking local civic life to national reform and wartime service. Born on May 7, 1862, in Rowelsburg, West Virginia, to a Baptist minister and a mother from the Guyon family, Whitley came of ag

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 6, 1897, the Iowa General Assembly designated the “wild rose” as the state flower of Iowa. An enduring, if unspecific, symbol representing Iowa’s natural beauty, the wild rose continues to bloom throughout the state today. From the earliest American records available, Iowans admired the wild roses growing throughout the state. In 1896, as the original USS Iowa battleship (a pre-dreadnought BB-4, not to be confused with the more famous BB-61 USS Iow

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 6, 1813, Platt Smith was born. Smith’s life started with almost no schooling, yet he rose to become a force in Iowa law, politics, and railroad building. Smith came of age in a period when Iowa was still young, unsettled, and hungry for connection to eastern markets. Between 1850 and 1870, railroads became the state’s great engine of development, and the people who controlled them became some of the most influential figures in Iowa life. At the sam

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 6, 1865, a stagecoach robbery occurred in Centerville. Shortly after a Western Stage Company coach rolled into town with six passengers and the town’s mail aboard, a passenger suddenly pulled a revolver on driver F.J. Leach. “You’re in the hands of the rebels!” he snarled, as five more armed men inside the coach revealed themselves. “You’re in the hands of the rebels!” he snarled, as five more armed men inside the coach revealed themselves. The gan

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 6, 1875, William D. Leahy, perhaps the most critical military decision-maker for the United States during World War II, was born in Hampton. A fleet admiral who represents the first ever U.S. Naval officer to hold a five-star rank, Leahy also served as Governor of Puerto Rico and as United States Ambassador to France. Born to an Irish-American Civil War veteran, Michael Arthur Leahy, who attended West Point, William spent part of his childhood in F

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 5, 1934, hooves thundered, and the crowd went wild while Iowan Mack Garner raced down the homestretch on the back of Cavalcade to capture the Kentucky Derby. One of several notable jockeys from the Garner family of Centerville, Andrew “Mack” Garner went on to win almost $3 million while winning 1,346 races over a 22-year career. Born Andrew Garner in Centerville on December 23, 1898, Mack grew up one of seven brothers who achieved national jockeyin

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 5, 1920, the Decorah Journal discussed plans for a new state fish hatchery just south of the Winneshiek County seat. Responsible for raising around 130,000 catchable-size rainbow trout yearly, the hatchery provides stocking fish for 15 put-and-take streams in northeastern Iowa. After the initial construction in the 1920s, the Civilian Conservation Corps helped build a limestone office building and an administrator's residence. Over the decades, sta

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 5, 1871, Montrose, Iowa, native Cal McVey made his Major League debut for the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Cal McVey’s debut marked the arrival of a player whose life and career connected the frontier, the Midwest, and the birth of the major leagues. McVey came of age at a moment when baseball was moving from amateur club play into paid competition, and the game was spreading rapidly through the Midwest and East. Born in Lee County, Iowa, in 1849, he

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 5, 1936, Milo Reno passed away. He was a farmer, insurance executive, and orator whose name became tied to the Farm Holiday movement and to the struggle of Depression-era farmers to survive a collapsing economy. Born near Agency in Wapello County in 1866, he grew up in a large farming family shaped by the political currents of the late 19th century, when farmers organized against railroads, credit systems, and distant economic power. He carried tha

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 4, 1959, Iowa’s Music Man, Meredith Willson, took home a Grammy at the first-ever Grammy Awards. The notable composer, conductor, musical arranger, and author of iconic musicals “The Music Man” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” also composed songs for the University of Iowa (“Iowa Fight Song”) and Iowa State University (For I for S Forever). Willson spent an inspiring childhood in Mason City, flanked by his older brother, John Ceder

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On May 4, 1977, a man known as a “Modern Day Mark Twain,” Richard Pike Bissell, passed away. The Dubuque native turned the Mississippi River, his family textile business, and the rhythms of working life into stories that traveled far beyond Iowa. Bissell came from a prominent Dubuque family tied to the H. B. Glover Company, studied at Phillips Exeter and Harvard, and then moved between seafaring, river work, and business management before becoming known a