Iowa City/Coralville, IA to Grinnell, IA on US Route 6

Iowa City/Coralville, IA to Grinnell, IA

The University of Iowa dominates Iowa City.  That’s apparent as I drove West on 6 through a massive campus.  Iowa City has two bus systems; one run by the city, the other run by the university, Rex Brandstatter, Real Estate sales guy and all over energizer bunny, mentioned as he drove me around.  Rex represents Coralville, just 3 miles West of Iowa City on Route 6, and he was the most responsive to my emails as I planned my cross-country trip. 

Rex Brandstatter
Coralville, IA

My Nice Audience 7:30AM!
Coralville, IA

Today, we finally met in person and he’s exactly as he comes across on the internet; friendly, fast and fanatically devoted to his hometown.  His grandfather was the Coralville Marshall once upon a time; Rex’s roots go deep here. 

He’s also extremely sentimental when it comes to Route 6 – loved the “old 6,” hates the new bypass and even more, Interstate 80 which stripped the personality from this part of Iowa.  Rex asked me to speak “to a few people” in the morning about my Route 6 project, so I was surprised to find over 40  in attendance at 7:30am.  Most were seniors, but some younger.  I prefaced my talk by saying that I’m not used to public speaking, hoping they’d go easy on me.  But I shouldn’t have worried.  These Coralville citizens were some of the nicest, friendliest, kindest folks I’d ever met.  They listened raptly, they asked questions and put me at ease, and I was honestly happy to be there.  Then Rex showered me with gifts; a polo shirt (Coralville, of course), chocolates, an insulated sandwich bag, books.  I felt like I was at my Bat Mitzvah. 

Most who came had strong ties to Route 6; all had traveled it to other towns. Some had businesses along the route before it was bypassed.  They all had Route 6 stories, and tales of the major 2008 flood that wiped out neighborhoods.  (I remember seeing pictures, but traveling like this puts me in closer touch with these resilient communities.).

Blue Top Motor Court Cottage #1 Replica
Johnson County Historical Museum
Coralville, IA

Judy and Larry Smith’s family ran the iconic Blue Top Motel which sat proudly on old Route 6 from 1952 – 1996.  It was spotless, comfortable, and each cabin had a closet “larger than most hotels,” according to one celebrity guest, Bob Hope.  There’s a replica of #1 of the old 50’s style cabin (Hope stayed in #2)  in the low-tech Johnson County Historical Museum along with a diorama of a Mormon family with their Handcart. 

Mormon Handcart Display
Johnson County Historical Museum
Coralville, IA

Coralville is a hot Mormon tourist spot; it’s on the Mormon Handcart Expedition Trail.  Mormons moving to Salt Lake City from New York got off at the railroad terminus in Iowa City expecting to find stagecoaches at the ready to bring them to their Promised Land.  What they found instead was nothing.  So, over three years (from 1855 – 1857, until the rails went all the way to Salt Lake), a total of 3,500 Mormons had to fashion their own handcarts out of local trees, gather in numbers and move out together, military-style.  The Handcart Trail goes all the way to Council Bluffs, IA. 

Coralville Antique Auto Museum
Coralville, IA

The Johnson County Historical Museum also has some photos from the devastating 2008 flood, and a few other University and Agricultural items, but old car buffs will want to walk into the next room which operates as the local Antique Car Museum.  Nearly 75 autos ranging from an 1898 Haynes-Apperson to a 1995 Form Mustang are on display along with original parts from the local Goodwin Garage, which sat on the intersection of Route 1 and Highway 6.

Coralville, IA is nicknamed the “Hub of Hospitality” (due to the fact that most of Iowa City’s Motels and Hotels ended up here), and Rex proved that to me by giving me the Grand Tour.  He took me up and down Old 6 and new, past the 1876 Schoolhouse (open sometimes for tours), the Old Town Hall, the site of the Blue Top Motel (now just a plaque on a stately sidewalk clock), and into Hills Bank and Trust (Iowa’s largest rural bank – it certainly had an “It’s a Wonderful Life” quality about it) – a treasure trove of old Coralville pictures – many of Old Route 6.  I realized how near and dear this US Highway is to many Iowans. Rex left me to head West on his favorite road.

Southwester Steak Salad
River Power and Light Company Restaurant
Coralville, IA

Hydroelectric Dam
Coralville, IA

But before leaving I stopped for lunch at the great Iowa River Power Restaurant – in the actual former utility building right on an old hydro-electric dam.  Window views were awesome and so was my Southwestern Spiced Steak Salad.  Yep – the Power Co. sure does meat right.

Sign in a Rickety Homestead Store
Homestead, IA

Head out of town on Route 6, under I80 and you’re met with dusty gravel roads and more farmland.  When you get to Homestead – take a quick left into another world.  Homestead is one of 7 “Amana Colonies” settled by Germans in the 1850’s.  A bit more progressive than their Amish brethren, they set up self-contained, communal towns, which are now beautiful, if a bit strange.  The homes, bounded by a highway on one side and farmland on the other -  on just one long street - are so well tended, it’s as if they were built for a movie set.  But people live here – most are not Amana decedents anymore, and Homestead maintains some museums,  shops and one luxury B&B - Zuber's Hotel. 

Henry Moore Barn Museum
South Amana, IA

Henry Moore Barn Museum
South Amana, IA

In South Amana – a bit West on 6 – be sure to stop in at the Henry Moore Barn Museum.  If this place was near an Interstate, folks would be flocking over to see the almost 200 buildings that retired farmer Moore meticulously created (one inch to one ft. scale) over 15 years. Henry began it as a hobby and “once he started he couldn’t stop,” says son John who now runs the two-level barn that houses little barns (and other buildings).  It should be a “Roadside America” feature!

John let me know that Route 6 is closed West of here (replacing a bridge), so informed me of an alternate route; F15 to Marengo.  I’m sure I didn’t miss much as all this land is open and sowed with a multitude of crops.

Ladora Bank Bisto
Ladora, IA

Ladora Bank Bistro
Ladora, IA

West of Marengo on Route 6, there’s a ghost-town named Ladora.  A few broken storefronts and on the right hand side a Neoclassical what-the-hell-is-this-doing-here former bank, built in 1920 with columns and two-stories tall.  A few years ago, Brad and Colleen Erickson purchased the building, renovated it and opened it up as a fine-dining, small plates, 100 bottle wine selection destination restaurant called the Ladora Bank Bistro.  It’s not large and reservations fill up quickly for the evenings that dinner is served (Thurs – Sat. 4pm-9pm, Sun. noon -6pm) – but people drive for two hours and come from all over the world to dine on Colleen’s gourmet Italian food.  I came through early in the week.  So, so sorry I didn’t have a chance to eat there. But Bryan let me in to take pics.

Standard Oil Gas Station
Brooklyn, IA

"Community of Flags"
Brooklyn, IA

When I got to Brooklyn (the second Brooklyn on this trip; the first one was in Connecticut and home to the Bison Farm!), I followed signs to downtown (a left then a mile from Route 6) for a couple of photo ops.  One is a field of flags from every U.S. state and 35 countries. (Brooklyn, IA is known as the “Community of Flags”) and the second is an old fashioned Standard Oil gas station, still standing from bygone days.  Every little town has got to have a “gimmick” as my Grandpa would say!

Louis Sullivan Jewel Box Bank
Grinnell, IA

Side Wall Stained Glass with Mysterious Symbols
Louis Sullivan Jewel Box Bank
Grinnell, IA

In a few miles, I arrived in Grinnell, called “The Jewel of the Prairie,” home to one of the top Liberal Arts Colleges in the nation and to a rare Louis Sullivan designed Jewel Box Bank.  Sullivan was considered the “Father of the Modern Skyscraper”  - the first architect to utilize steel beams in building construction.  This bank was one of 8 (three were in Iowa), built in 1914 and still in impeccable condition.  The story goes that Sullivan was sitting in the park across the street surrounded by churches when he dreamed up the design, which incorporates many church elements. Standing inside the lobby (which now serves as a Grinnell Visitor’s Center) you see a stained glass “Rose” window over the front door (set within a very ornamental terra cotta medallion over the external entrance in the shape of a keyhole), a wall of stained glass depicting a mysterious symbol (which from the outside seems rather plain), and a stained glass ceiling.  The check-writing station looks like a church pew, and interior walls are glazed bricks laid in “Romanesque style”.  It is a remarkable building and one of Grinnell’s top attractions.  Two others, the Historical Museum and the college’s Faulconer Gallery were closed when I was in town.  The whole town, however, is architecturally interesting and the Visitor’s Center offers one-hour walking tours.  If I had more time here, I’d have taken one.

Valerie and Tim Hammond
Spaulding Inn B&B
Grinnell, IA

Spaulding Inn B&B
Grinnell, IA

My comfy room
Spaulding Inn B&B

Stay: Spaulding Inn Bed and Breakfast.  Once owned by the family that made its fortune here with Spaulding Buggies and early automobiles, this Prairie manor home is grand in everything except bathrooms.  All five guestrooms must share two baths, which, it turns out has never caused an issue with guests since last year when owner Valerie Hammond opened this marvelous B&B. It certainly didn't with me.  Spaulding’s decor might hark back to the past, but sensibilities are modern; bedding is organic, Burt’s Bee’s products in the bathroom (in large stay-put bottles; no garbage-mound-producing bottlettes here) and breakfast is made from locally sourced foods.  In the morning, Valerie’s son, Tim, brought out fresh fruit, blueberry corn bread (made from corn grown and ground by Valerie), and Praire Oatmeal Bread made with local honey.  Delish and very Moosewood Cookbook-like. 

Montgomery's for "Loose Meat" sandwich
Grinnell, IA

Candyland Ice-Cream and Soda Fountain
Grinnell, IA

"Loose Meat Sandwich"
Montgomery's
Grinnell, IA

Eat:  For those who have never tried a “loose meat” sandwich, now’s the time, especially since Montgomery’s is right across the street from the Spaulding Inn.  It’s only $5.99 for sandwich (baslically a crumbled hamburger), fries and soda.  From there, walk two blocks to the new “old fashioned” ice cream shop – Candyland.  Most equipment came from a 1920’s soda shop that went out of business and the place has a great retro feel.  The “Turtle” sundae is terrific, too.  In the morning, do what the locals do and buy a “Coney” at the Danish Maid Bakery downtown.  It’s an eclair filled with whipped cream and glazed with icing.  The Des Moines Register named eating a Coney from Danish Maid “one of the 100 things you must eat before you die.”  It is so good, too many might just kill you!

Danish Maid Coney
Grinnell, IA