Extension Activity Ideas

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1. Many Iowa cities have histories that are unique and interesting. For a great place to research county history go to Iowa GenWeb Project page, and click on your county. http://www.rootsweb.com/~iagenweb/index.htm/
   • Assign groups to research important historical events.
   • In what year was your community founded?
   • Tell about the origin of the first settlement. Who were the first people to live in the region?
   • Research information about the settlers of your community during different time periods.
   • Explain the reasons why they moved to your community.
   • Discuss a historical event that made an important impact on the citizens of your community.
   • Get students to research some quirky or humorous event that took place in your community's past.
   
   
   
2. On a map of your county locate all the towns that existed at the turn of the century. Make another map to show the towns that exist today. Ask how many of the earlier towns are missing. Ask students to speculate why the remaining towns survived. Create a map, mural or other drawing that illustrates the changes in your community that have taken place over time (its buildings, streets, transportation, population/ethnic groups, business and industry, people's dress and physical appearance).
   
   
3. Today, almost everyone has a chance to record history with a camera. Ask what kinds of photograph can students think of that might show people of the future what your town or city was like in the 1990's? Analyze historic photos. What information can be gleaned from the photos? Find turn-of-the-century photographs or postcards of your communities and/or surrounding communities. Take pictures of the same locations today. Make a "then and now" poster. Create a photo gallery featuring old and new pictures accompanied by written descriptions of the photos by students.
   
   
4. Conduct research on the location of your town's buildings at the turn of the century. Visit your community's town hall, library, or historical society to find out when your town was laid out. Construct a model of the town or a portion of it. Choose a historic building in town and trace its uses back to the turn of the century. Trace the commercial history of one building on Main Street. Conduct research on the location of your town's buildings at the turn of the century. Construct a model of the town or a portion of it. Try to find photographs, Sanborn maps, plat maps, and old newspapers to tell the story of the building. Try to find evidence in your town of the time when horses were the main source of energy for transportation. Look for houses or other buildings with a stable, hitching post, or large stone block at the edge of the street. See if the building would qualify for a National Register of Historic Places designation. If so, consider having students write a nomination. National Register information can be obtained by contacting the State Historical Society in the Des Moines office.
   
   
5. Create a model of your historic Iowa community. Research what businesses, services, industries, professional people, and craftspeople were found in Iowa towns between 1890 and 1910. On a large piece of paper, lay out a town and locate the different businesses on it. Comment on the town being fairly self-sufficient and then have students make comparisons with today's towns and cities.
   
   
6. Have students write a play about their town at the turn of the century and present it to other classes in your school.
   
   
7. Have students compare the front page of your local newspaper with the front page of an Iowa town in the late 1800's. What differences can they find? What seems to be the most important information on each of the front pages? What businesses are advertised in the paper? Which businesses are still open today? Why?
   
   
8. Write a "before and after" show that features slice of life scenarios from the past and the present. Create a yesterday and today magazine in which students write articles that describe your community from the point of view of the past and the present. Enact a television news show in which students present news stories from the past and the present write songs or poems that describe scenes from the past and the present.