Courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa – Iowa City.
Signage on this storefront on S. Dubuque Street shows the intermixing of human and equine goods and cultural life. The windows of the second floor harness shop advertise clothing and equipment for both species together. Below, on the ground level, a nickelodeon-type theatre has replaced the saloon shown on the 1899 Sanborn Fire Map, and cowboy films are featured. Even as Anglo-European riding and carriage styles predominated in urban life, herding and roping skills were still needed on cattle farms, and the excitement of the mythologized Wild West drew audiences. Area residents and their families would have come by horse and carriage into downtown Iowa City to shop and take in a film.
Reproduced on panel:
Bijou Theatre, 122 S. Dubuque Street, ca. 1910
State Historical Society of Iowa – Iowa City
Iowa Byington Reed (1851-1936), an Iowa City seamstress and homemaker, kept a diary with daily entries covering her life from age twenty to just a few weeks before her death at age eighty-four. The hand-written diaries in twenty-one volumes reside in the Iowa Women’s Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries. They are a treasure trove of information about what life was like for a settled, Anglo-European farm– and business-owning family in the Iowa City area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Reed documents routine interactions with the farm animals, including many horses. The diary volumes are fully transcribed and are available to view online in the Iowa Digital Library, and on DIY History.
Iowa Byington was born on July 23, 1851, to Mary McCollister Byington and LeGrand Byington, Iowa City farmer and realtor, the second of six children. The Byington family farm was located on the near the west side of the Iowa River between what are now Grand Avenue and Newton Road. Today, Byington Road bears the family name and marks the old farm site. This road intersects with Grand Avenue and is situated west of Hillcrest Hall. The farm was approximately ¾ of a mile from downtown, so family members could readily commute via a drive–in a buggy [middle-class family vehicle], buckboard [utility wagon], sleigh, a horseback ride, or by foot.
The family raised horses, cows, hogs, and chickens and cultivated corn, beans, oats, and hay. What they called their “West Farm” where they grazed cattle and harvested hay was on two adjoining acreages about ten farms away to the west. Iowa Byington married William “Will” Reed, who bred and trained horses and helped manage the properties and livestock, on May 12, 1886 in Iowa City. They lived at the West Farm together until Will’s death in 1918. Iowa’s diaries are filled with references to generations of mares and foals (called “colts” regardless of sex) with names such as Nell, Flora, Maude, Pat, Bess, and Belle. Equine births, illnesses, and deaths are recorded along with those of human family members.
In the case:
Each object in the cases is marked with a corresponding number unless otherwise noted.
9. Iowa Byington Reed Diary, Vol. 1, January 30, 1899 – June 30, 1902
Iowa Byington Reed Papers, Iowa Women’s Archives
Excerpts from Reed’s diaries:
Sunday April 3rd 1892
I was busy about the work all the forenoon. I had one of my spells with my stomach in the afternoon. The Whetstones were over and Hattie and Edith stayed and helped Mother get supper. This is our Rob’s birthday [remembering her brother six years after his death]. Will found old Pat had a nice little colt when he went to the barn this morning…
Tuesday April 19th 1892
Leonard started early this morning to the county. He got back by half past nine and helped me with the washing. I worked on till three o’clock in the afternoon doing some cleaning up. The girls were over from town. Leonard went after his cousin and brought her before supper. I wrote to Charlie. Flora mare has a little horse colt…
Tuesday September 13th 1892
I hurried through with part of the work this forenoon and walked to town then paid for a ride
to the fair ground and back to enter Mother’s bread. Will went up in the country this morning for another Colt to break. After dinner Mother and I went out to Woolfs and did not find them at home. We stopped at Folsoms in our way back. Will was out to the fair ground awhile. I read in the evening…
Thursday April 3rd 1902
I had churning done in the morning and got the butter ready to go down in the afternoon. I stopped at home and Hattie rode to town with me. Will sold “Belle’s” colt today to Mr [Periney?] for $75.00. I did evening work and read
some. Brother Rob would have been 48 years old today had he lived.
10. Antique Draft Horse Bits and Noseband of a Riding Horse Bridle
Marra Collection