Innovator Byron Godberson: Iowa Time Machine January 19, 1925

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On January 19, 1925, Byron Godberson was born on a farm near Mapleton, Iowa. Godberson would transform northwestern Iowa’s Ida Grove into “Castletown, USA.”

Godberson grew up during the Great Depression. World War II interrupted his young adulthood, and Godbersen served as a paratrooper in the Pacific Theater. After returning home, he eventually founded Midwest Industries in 1954 to manufacture a hydraulic house for farm wagons he developed while working on his farm. By the early 1970s, his company had pivoted to marine products, and Byron Godbersen had become the most powerful man in Ida Grove.

A trip to Europe ignited Godberson’s passion for medieval architecture. Godbersen's empire-building started modestly with a gate entrance to his corporate chalet, complete with Lake LaJune named after his wife. The eight-acre lake, carved from a cornfield in 1969, served as both a marine product demonstration site and a canvas for his architectural fantasies. Byron's employees built a half-scale replica of the H.M.S. Bounty to float in his lake. In 1970, he commissioned a stone-towered suspension bridge spanning Odebolt Creek through the golf course.

When the local newspaper criticized his projects, Godbersen bought a competing shopper paper, transformed it into the Ida County Courier, and built a castle to house it, placing a boulder engraved "Know the Truth" out front. His vision encompassed a Welcome Tower, shopping plaza, skating rink, airport hangar, and his personal mansion, complete with a moat and drawbridge. #Iowa #OTD #History #Architecture #Castle