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Subj: A Where's Where to Piney Oaks, Iowa Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 at 04:18:01 pm EDT (Viewed 418 times) | |||
Piney Oaks, Iowa is in the lower right hand corner of the state. The town that would one day become Piney Oaks has it's roots in the mid 19th Century, the exact date is unknown but it's rumored to have been around the 1840's-1850's that Seymour Gunnarson started his trading post. Gunnarson choose to set up his shop at very location for a few reasons, it being along a major trade route & it was near the banks of the Kneejerk River which follows into Rathburn Lake were factors but he was also interested a grove of odd trees in the area. He wasn't sure what they exactly were. They all seemed to be sort of Oak tree which also had aspects of a Pine tree. Over the years, Gunnarson's trading post became quite known & as well as those odd "Piney Oaks". As time progressed & people started to migrate west, people started to settle around Gunnarson's trading post & those Piney Oaks. When the town was finally created they named the town after those trees. Today, Piney Oaks is a somewhat isolated, quaint, close knit community. They are miles away from any other town. Surrounding the town is nothing but miles & miles of farmland. The town it's self is only about a few city blocks square. In the center of it all is the Town Square. The Square, as locals call it, is a small park with a statue of Seymour Gunnarson in the center of it. There is some talk of changing the statue the Town's most famous former resident: Ham-Boy. They are quite proud of that fact. If you come into town from the west, you'll see a large billboard sized sign. On it is a picture of a smiling, waving Ham-Boy with words next to it reading: "Welcome to Piney Oaks, Iowa! Hometown of Ham-Boy." The paint on the sign is now faded & is chipping away in places. Like many small towns, about half to three fourths of the buildings & stores in town are empty. But there are still a few hold-outs still serving the community. The Piney Oaks General Store (which is owned by the Gunnarson Family), a few restaurants including the popular Dotts' Cafe. The town has 2 museums: one for Iowa's largest ball of Yarn, which is maintained by the Quilters Union, Local 897 & the other is the Ham-Boy Museum which is maintained by the Ham-Boy Museum's Board of Trustees (Janis Harris-Smith, President). Both are free to the public but donations are always excepted. The largest building surrounding the square, maybe in town, is the City Hall, which serves all of the Town's governmental needs. The volunteer Fire Department have their truck parked behind the building & a office or two in the building. The Police Department (floor 3) & the Post Office (the right half of the 1st floor) are also there. Due to the small amount of people in the town, the Mayor is also the Police Chief. When the Fire Chief is out of town they can also fill in that position, too. The Mayor is not the Post Master due to some Postal regulations. In the basement of City Hall is the offices of the Piney Oakian, the by-monthly 4 page newspaper chronicling all the happenings in Piney Oaks & the general area surrounding it. North of the square is the town's lone Chapel, it is nondenominational. Past the Chapel, almost on the outskirts of the town is the town's only gas & service station. It's run by Elmer Presley. On the outskirts of town in the north east corner is the Bus Station which runs twice a day Monday, Wednesday & Friday. For schooling, the children of Piney Oaks got to the small elementary school. When they graduate from there, they go to the regional Junior/Senior High School in the next town over which is a good 3 hour round trip. As you travel out from the town in any direction you're bound to hit a farm, a family run farm. The people of Piney Oaks are quite proud of this fact almost as proud as they are of Ham-Boy being from there. The Harris Farm is a few miles west of Piney Oaks & sits on 20 acres of land. They are on a corner lot which has the main highway through the town & another road bordering it. When the land was original bought by Hogarth Albert "Al" Harris in the early 1950's, he bought 80 acres & worked the farm until he turned it over his son, Alan Harris, during the late 1970's. Around the time his son, Fredrick "Fred" Hogarth Harris, was born in the 1980's the farm was downsized to it's present size. This was done because the Harris family wasn't using the land as much & to not loose the farm completely they sold much off the land. On the land is the family home where 3 generations of the Harris family have lived. It's currently the home to Janis Harris-Smith & her second husband, Jordan Smith. Near the house is the old barn which the loft had been converted into a play space for Fred. Next to the barn was a piney oak which Fred had a tree house in (The treehouse is still there but is in disrepair). Out in the eastern corner of the property is a small pond. | |||
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