150 Years of "Grinnell-in-Grinnell"

Photos courtesy of Mickey Munley '87

Vice-President for College and Alumni Relations Mickey Munley '87 collects historic Grinnell postcards, which offer a unique and fascinating vantage point on the campus and community.

The Manhattan Oil Service Station at Fifth Avenue and Main Street as it looked in the 1920s.

The Methodist Church in 1912 (according to the date on the reverse side of the postcard), at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Park Street. Still in use, today the structure is just south of Grinnell House and across the street from the new Drake Community Library.

The postcard is labeled "Camp King Abbott, Grinnell Ia., First Iowa Cavalry Troop ’D’." The presence of an automobile indicates 20th-century vintage. If you know more about Camp King Abbott, please let us know.

Grinnell’s armory at 816 Fifth Avenue is now home to Pagliai’s Pizza. The postcard is dated 1910 on the reverse side.

Main Street South from Fourth Avenue in downtown Grinnell. Godfather’s Pizza now occupies the building on the corner, which in this photo boasts signage proclaiming "R.E. Bates." Note both horses and automobiles on the street. The handwritten note on the back reads, "Dear Kids, Have lived thru first day. Think I’ll like it here. Hope you’re OK. Write me. Bill.

This postcard shows Grinnell’s canning factory under construction. The date on the reverse side is 1912.

Nelson and Sons Sample Day, with delivery wagons lined up and ready to go. Signs in the window advertise a "Carnival of Food Products, given away free Thursday April 20th." Circa 1911.

Central Park once boasted the E. W. Clark Memorial Fountain, designed by Walter Burley Griffin.

Grinnell’s Parker School was named in honor of L.F. Parker, the first superintendent. It stood at 602 Sixth Avenue, and was built in 1896. Parker was also a Grinnell College professor, teaching Greek, Latin, and history.

The South Side School was the fourth school built in Grinnell; it stood at the corner of Hamilton and Broad.

The Cooper School’s name honored Colonel S.F. Cooper, a local military leader during the Civil War. At the corner of Sixth Avenue and Elm Street, the Cooper School is gone today, but the name lives on. The college parking lot on the site is known as the "Cooper School Lot." Written in 1917, the note on the back says, "This is the school where Ethel goes. Her room is marked." (See the "X" above the windows on the right.)

Grinnell’s ice plant and creamery. Note on the back, dated 1913, says, "Our price 33¢." It is addressed to Walter Paul, Haverhill, Iowa -- perhaps a dairy farmer? The business processed dairy products and produced butter, ice cream, and more.

Grinnell’s impressive Congregational Church, pictured here as it appeared in the mid-20th century, occupies the same location at 902 Broad Street today. Rev. J.B. Grinnell, a Congregational minister and founder of the city of Grinnell, organized the church on April 8, 1855.

The Monroe Hotel was for decades a Grinnell institution, known for its fine dining room and silver dollars set in the hotel floor. It was located at the corner of Park Street and Third Avenue, across from the train depot.