Iowa Heritage Illustrated

English

Iowa Heritage Illustrated, vol.86 no.4, Winter 2005

Swaim, Ginalie

The Culture of Christmas

COURTESY SHSI (IOWA CiTY)
Early Laptop?
Well, in a sense.
Ben Stevenson was a county extension agent in 
the early 1920s, when this photo was taken. Here, on 
a farm visit in Cedar County, he takes a moment in 
his auto to peck away on his portable typewriter.
Typewriters were nothing new in the 1920s.
The first successfully marketed commercial type­
writer was manufactured in 1874 by E. Remington & 
Sons, then better known for their guns and sewing 
machines. Variations emerged over the decades, and 
some designers aimed for smaller and lighter 
machines. By 1910, the Bennett typewriter, for 
example, weighed only a few pounds and fit into an 
11x5 inch case, half the size of our laptop 
computers today.
How's that expression go? Something about 
"nothing new under the sun"? — The Editor
Fall 2005 131


Early Laptop?

Vogt, Michael W

Marshalltown's Henry Anson: Town Builder & Land Speculator

Maurer, William C

Fluoridation 
in Iowa
by William C. Maurer
P
rior to our country's entry into World War II, 
nearly 9 percent of inductees had lost so many 
teeth from tooth decay that they were rejected 
for general service due to failure to meet dental stan­
dards. After Pearl Harbor, dental standards had to be 
relaxed in order to meet the manpower requirements 
for such a large war effort. Since that time, dramatic 
improvements in our nation's oral health have occurred 
due to greater emphasis on preventive dentistry and 
early detection and treatment of dental disease. Most 
significant has been the widespread adoption of com­
munity water fluoridation.
In the early 1900s, Frederick S. McKay, a dentist in 
Colorado Springs, Colorado, became interested in the 
number of his patients whose teeth had brown stain­
ing. Through his efforts and the assistance of dental re­
searchers, the cause of "Colorado Brown Stain" or mot­
tling (enamel fluorosis) was found to be due to the 
town's drinking water, which contained two parts per 
million (p.p.m.) of fluoride. This problem was not 
unique to Colorado; surveys at other U.S. sites (includ- 
mg in Iowa) had found water supplies causing this 
brown staining as well.
Fluoride, the 13th most abundant element on earth, 
naturally occurs in virtually all water although most 
water supplies have low or only trace amounts. How­
ever, it is not uncommon for ground water supplies 
(wells and springs) to contain significant levels, due to 
fluoride-bearing minerals in the aquifer. A survey of 
Iowa's public water supplies in 1933 found 51 cities with 
2 or more p.p.m. fluoride; nearly 100 percent of Ankeny 
schoolchildren had dental fluorosis because of drink- 
mg water with 9 p.p.m. of naturally occurring fluoride. 
There is a wide distribution of Iowa communities with 
10 p.p.m. fluoride or higher, but the greatest number 
are in the central and southeast areas.
By the 1930s researchers found that the brown stain-
•
mg was proportional to the water fluoride content, but 
that tooth decay was inversely proportional. More sig­
nificantly, they determined that the optimum level for
Before fluoridation, 
tooth decay and extrac­
tion were common.
fluoride when tooth decay was low and tooth staining 
was absent was 1.0 p.p.m.
In January 1945, Grand Rapids, Michigan, made his­
tory when it became the first city to initiate water fluo­
ridation. It had been chosen by the United States Public 
Health Service to conduct a trial to determine if the ben­
efits of naturally fluoridated water supplies could be 
duplicated by fluoridating a community water supply. 
This was accomplished by adjusting the fluoride con­
tent of its water supply through the addition of sodium 
fluoride in the water treatment plant. During the same 
year Newburgh, New York, began a similar fluorida­
tion study.
The first results of the Grand Rapids trial reported 
in 1950 showed significant reductions in tooth decay 
compared to children in Muskegon, Michigan, the con­
trol city. After 11 years of fluoridation, Grand Rapids 
showed a 60-65 percent tooth decay reduction in chil­
dren born after the start of fluoridation and significant 
reduction in the number of missing permanent teeth. 
The Newburgh study had similar results.
In Iowa, Waukon and Dubuque became the first cit­
ies to adopt fluoridation, in October 1951, followed by 
Cedar Rapids the next year. By 1966, with half of its 
population on adjusted or natural fluoridation, Iowa 
ranked sixth in the nation in percentage of population 
with access to community water fluoridation. This in­
cluded more than 170 Iowa communities with naturally 
fluoridated water.
By this time most large cities in Iowa had initiated 
water fluoridation, but very few towns below 5,000 
population. Over the next 26 years an additional 148 
communities and 9 rural water systems (serving more 
than 346,000 Iowans) initiated water fluoridation with 
the assistance of state and federal grants for equipment.
Researchers initially believed that lifelong benefits 
of fluoridation were obtained during a child's first 12 
to 14 years of life. During these years, permanent teeth 
calcify and fluoride is incorporated into the crystalline 
structure of the tooth enamel, making it more resistant
Summer 2005 89
I
SHSI (DES MOINES) DES MOINES REGISTER AND TRIBUNE FLIER SHSl (IOWA CITY)
DON'T BE FOOLED!
on Fluor idat ion FACTS
1. PO ISO N — Sodium Fluoride it a Poison. It it used to kill ra ts  and 
insects.
to tooth decay. More recently, researchers have agreed 
that an additional benefit of fluoridation, and the most 
significant, is the remineralization (or hardening) of 
tooth enamel after bacterial plaque acid attacks. Thus, 
adults as well as children benefit from fluoridation.
While the fluoridation trials of the 1950s resulted 
in 60-65 percent reduction in tooth decay, benefits now 
range from 18 to 25 percent. Fluoridation is still effec­
tive, but people living in non-fluoridated communities 
receive significant benefits of fluoride through the con­
sumption of beverages and other foods processed in 
fluoridated communities. For that reason the relative 
benefits of community water fluoridation are no longer 
as great as they were in 1945 because there are truly no 
communities that are considered to be fluoride free.
Public support of fluoridation has led to the large 
number of city councils that have authorized fluorida­
tion. Far less visible are the ongoing skills of water plant 
operators to monitor and adjust fluoridation equipment. 
But success has not come without opposition.
Over the past six decades, various groups of anti- 
fluoridationists have produced literature (and now Web 
sites) making allegations about the hazards, ineffective­
ness, conspiracies, and illegality of fluoridation. These 
materials are frequently made available to city councils 
when the adoption of fluoridation is being considered. 
This literature has often used half-truths, lies, and find­
ings from various legitimate scientific articles taken out
of context to make their claims. One of the earliest was 
that sodium fluoride, a rat poison, was being put into 
drinking water. This ignored the issue of dosage, which 
at optimal fluoridation levels is only 1 p.p.m. (equal to 
one drop of water in a bathtub full). Fluoridation at one 
time was claimed to be a communist plot to weaken 
U.S. citizens for an overthrow. Some believe fluorida­
tion infringes on their rights of freedom of choice.
Opposition continues, even though more than 70 
percent of Americans support fluoridation, according 
to public opinion surveys. Fluoridation is cost effective: 
every dollar spent on fluoridation saves $80 in dental 
treatment. Extensive peer-reviewed research over the 
last half century documents its continued benefits and 
safety.
At present nine out of ten Iowans, and two thirds of 
the U.S. population on public water supplies, have ac­
cess to this proven public health measure. Nearly a hun­
dred national and international organizations recognize 
fluoridation of community water as an effective means 
of preventing tooth decay. ♦>
William C. Maurer was Chief of the Dental Health Bureau, Di­
vision of Family and Community Health, Iowa Department of 
Public Health from 1976 to 1999. He directed organized com- 
munitxj activities towards prevention and control of oral disease, 
which included promotion of community water fluoridation.
90 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
2. D A N G E R O U S  if t a k e n  in te rna l ly  or  inha led  Dr. Leo Spira ,  M.D , 
New York, says:  “ It depr ives  th e  body of Calc ium . H ea r t ,  diabetic 
an d  k idney  pat ien ts  a re  w a rn e d  NOT to d r in k  f lu o r id a ted  w a te r .”
3. C A N C E R :
“The results of ray experiment indicate th a t  an im als  on t rea ted  # 
( f lu o r id a ted  w a te r )  deve loped  cance r  e a r l ie r  th a n  the  controls—  
( those  not  d r ink ing  f lu o r id a ted  w a t e r ! “ )—from a letter by Dr. 
A lf red  T ay lor ,  r e sea rch  scientist,  in the Biochemical Institute, Uni­
versity of Texas.
4. SMALL DOSAGE H IG H LY  T O X IC :  “Fluoride intoxication is in­
sidious and ACCUMULATIVE, especially when the daily dose is 
small, but its effects are permanent and irreparable,“ says Dr 
Charles Dillon.
5. FLU O R ID A T IO N  IS A D A N G E R O U S AND UNSCIEN TIFIC  EX- 
P E R IM E N T :  “It is unscientific and impractical to prescribe a
toxic substance for the duration of your life, as an experiment, 
whether we need it or not, against our will, and without being able 
to stop taking it if we want to do so,“ says Dr. C. A. Brusch, M. D., 
of Cambridge Medical Centre, Mass.
6. FLU O RID A TIO N  is the experimental MASS-MEDICATION of 
entire populations by the impregnation of entire water supplies of 
whole communities with METALLIC fluorine compounds INCAP­
ABLE of being assimilated as food, under conditions of duress, 
without cession or reasonable chance of escape.“ (Dr. Paul 
Manning).
7. FA N T A ST IC  W A STE O F T A X P A Y E R S  M O N EY : Over 8 mil­
lion gallons of water pumped yearly by Des Moines Water Works 
—would take $17,688 for the chemical only if put in city water— 
per year. Yet only $25.00 of same chemical (sodium-fluoride) 
actually needed for 60,000 children in Des Moines — if tablets 
were sold by drug stores.
That is $17,613 of taxpayers money WASTED. That wasted I 
money should be used for salaries—NOT to buy poison to put in 
our drinking water.
A discussion of fluoridation packed a Des Moines city council meeting in 
March 1959. Right: An anti-fluoridation flier (undated).
Citizens Committee Opposing Fluoridation
2826 Logan 
Des Moines, Iowa
K


Fluoridation in Iowa

I
by Ginalie Swairn
xpect them in Siberia, even Alaska, where 
this one was found by D. F. Schoal of 
Sheldahl, Iowa. Tusks and bones of 
woolly mammoths, the great shaggy beasts 
of the Ice Age, are often found in the Far 
North, where permafrost has even preserved skin, hair, 
soft tissue, and internal organs. A baby mammoth, some 
40,000 years old, was found with traces of mother's milk 
in its stomach; another mammoth, with its last bite of 
buttercups between its teeth.
But woolly mammoths in Iowa? It's hard to picture 
these beasts roaming our state—but then it's hard to 
picture glaciers pushing their way into Iowa more than 
two million years ago.
The Ice Age wasn't all ice, but rather long cycles of 
freezing and thawing, as the climate cooled and
2 Iowa Heritage Illustrated
Iow a
warmed, and the glaciers advanced and retreated. When 
trying to imagine the terrain of Ice Age Iowa, natural 
history curator Bill Johnson says to "think of northern 
Minnesota and on up into Canada, where you have open 
areas and then conifer forests and then open areas again. 
We did have some ice and snow, but also some tundra­
like vegetation, low shrubs, and spotty woodland areas 
on the margins of the glaciers." Living in this landscape 
was a host of mammals now extinct, including the 
woolly mammoth.
It's been a year now since the State Historical Soci­
ety of Iowa opened its museum exhibit "Mammoth: 
Witness to Change," curated by Johnson and designed 
by Jerry Brown. "We are still getting tremendous inter­
est from the public," Johnson says. "People are intrigued 
by the idea that there was something strange roaming
Iowa at a time long before them, and by the fact that 
we're still finding evidence of woolly mammoths, that 
we find discoveries quite regularly. In the river valleys, 
the gravel pits, in farm fields, every few months there 
seems to be a discovery of a tooth or a tusk, a limb bone, 
all fragments of the animals that lived during the Pleis­
tocene. Regularly here at the museum we get individu­
als who bring in bison skulls, mammoth teeth, and other 
assorted bones. Recently there's been a giant ground 
sloth found in the southwestern part of the state. Gravel 
pits, which were the backwaters and eddies of early riv­
ers, produce numbers of mammoth teeth. This is espe­
cially true south of Des Moines. North of Des Moines, 
everything was covered over by recent deposits."
"Recent," of course, is relative. For geologists, re­
cent can mean 15,000 years ago, when the last glacier of 
the Ice Age, called the Des Moines Lobe, shoved its way 
down into central Iowa like a giant thumb. For the next 
few thousand years, the lobe surged forward, then stag­
nated as the temperatures warmed enough for some of 
it to melt, then advanced again. Driving north on 1-35, 
you'll see moraines marking the pauses in the glacier's 
advances and retreats, potholes created as isolated 
blocks of ice melted, gravel deposits dropped from 
churning meltwaters. Edged by the Raccoon River, the 
lobe's southern-most point was present-day Des Moines.
In August 2001, Allied Insurance in downtown Des 
Moines began excavation for the foundation of a new 
parking garage. From 55 feet below the surface, huge 
augers brought up a slurry of Pennsylvania shale (a sign 
they had hit bedrock)—and bone. Wisely, Allied called 
staff at the State Historical Society of Iowa, including 
Bill Johnson, who knew right away that bones that size 
could only have come from a mammoth or mastodon. 
A neck vertebra, scapula, ribs, and a portion of the front 
leg were all carefully removed from the construction 
site and donated to the museum by Allied Insurance.
"One of our archaeologists on staff, Dan Higginbot- 
tom, contacted David Overstreet, a noted archaeologist 
who had done mammoth work up in Wisconsin," 
Johnson says. "He came down and took a look at the 
specimens and arranged for us to have carbon-14 dates 
taken. The Allied bones are still so fresh that they could 
get the organic information out of them. They almost 
feel oily when you work with them. Because they were 
rapidly covered and preserved by tens of feet of sedi­
ment, the decaying process is very slow.
"The carbon-14 tests came back at 15,000 years," 
Johnson says. "Those dates fall very close to what U.S. 
Geological Survey excavations had already determined 
to be the age of the Des Moines Lobe north of here at 
Saylorville. Saylorville is along the Des Moines River,
Spring 2005 3
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which was carved out as the meltwaters of 
the glacier subsided." Johnson calls the Al­
lied bones "a grand find."
T
ne centerpiece or tne museum
exhibit is the 12-foot-high mam­
moth skeleton (left). A gift of 
Dickson Industries of Des Moines, 
the skeleton is a fiberglass and 
resin replica of an actual mammoth skeleton 
uncovered in 1994 when farmer John Hebior 
was digging a drainage ditch across an old 
pond in southeastern Wisconsin. The find as­
tounded archaeologists: nearly 90 percent of 
the bones were still there, making the Hebior 
mammoth the most complete mammoth 
skeleton ever found in North America.
Scientists could tell that the Hebior mam­
moth was between 25 and 28 years old (by 
how many bones had fused) and that it was 
male (by the size of skull, tusks, and pelvis 
opening), but they couldn't determine how 
it had died (by disease, starvation, or preda­
tors). But more significant was the presence 
of stone tools and of butchering marks on 
some of the bones—making this one of the 
earliest butchering sites found in North 
America. Archaeologist David Overstreet, 
who oversaw the excavation of the Hebior 
mammoth, told visitors at the Des Moines 
exhibit opening a year ago, "Frankly, in my 
line of work, it doesn't get any better."
Mastering the technology of making 
stone tools and weapons allowed Paleo- 
Indians to hunt and butcher the big game 
(megafauna) of the Ice Age: giant bison, 
musk oxen, deer, elk, ground sloth, mast­
odon, and mammoth. With great skill and 
precision, they chipped and flaked chert and 
obsidian into long, narrow projectile points, 
as sharp as a surgeon's knife. Johnson has 
great admiration for the Paleo-Indian tech­
nology. "All you have to do," he explains, 
"is think about how sharp a piece of glass is, 
to figure out how sharp the edges of a stone 
tool are. Then put that on a shaft, whether it 
be a throwing shaft from an atlatl or a spear 
shaft, and you end up being able to project a 
lot of force," enough to penetrate the thick 
hide of a mammoth.
As the last ice sheet retreated, rouehlv
A m am m oth  that  lived a full life of 80 
years would have gone through six sets 
of molars, four to each set. Each ten- 
pound molar was the size of a shoebox, 
with vertical ridges designed to tear, 
grind, and chew some 300 pounds of 
shrubs, leaves, pinecones, grasses, and 
willow and spruce twigs every day. As 
the abrasive silica in the plants wore 
down the ridged, corrugated surface of 
th e  m o la r s ,  new m o la r s  e m e r g e d ,  
moved forward as if on a conveyor belt, 
and pushed the old ones out. Because 
each progressive set had larger molars 
with more ridges, scientists can estimate 
the age of a m am m oth  at time of death. 
Mammoth teeth and jaw fragments have 
been found in many Iowa counties. Per­
haps the museum’s finest example is this 
lower jaw with two molars, found in 
Dallas County in I 9 1 9 by Fred White.
Below: This neck vertebra the size of a 
dinner plate was one of the m am m oth  
bones uncovered at the Allied Insurance 
building site in 2001.
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12,000 years ago, humans entered the Upper Mississippi 
River Valley. This intersection, in time and place, of 
human and mammoth is what most excites Bill Johnson. 
Megafauna were on the path to extinction; humans, to 
dominance. Both were witnesses to great change.
E
xhibit designer Jerry Brown became well
acquainted with the form of a mammoth 
while constructing a one-quarter scale 
model. "He really did a phenomenal job," 
Johnson says. "And he did it as a forensic 
scientist would have, by reading up on elephants, the 
cousins of mammoths, and figuring out the height and 
thickness of each area of the body. He carved the tusks 
from fiberglass. And then the hair was just a beautiful 
addition, and a masterful idea to use musk ox hair."
Brown's shaggy model is a popular feature of the 
exhibit for the thousands of schoolchildren who tour 
the museum each year. Museum educator Sarah Macht 
relates how the students are "just amazed that mam­
moths were in Iowa." Macht developed lesson plans on 
the Society's Web site (see box) so that teachers can use 
the mammoth exhibit to teach science, mathematics, so­
cial studies, and art, and meet national academic stan­
dards.
How do you convey the idea of the Ice Age to chil­
dren? "Again, we look at the idea of change," Johnson 
explains. "This is the one thing that ties everything to­
gether. We talk first about the idea that there are changes
in seasons from year to year. Was this winter like last 
winter? Do you remember how much snow there was? 
Students notice that there are differences in winters. 
Then we go back to Grandpa's time, and then his 
grandfather's time, and you begin adding time back 
hundreds, then thousands of years. When you say 
'years' to 7-year-olds, they understand that amount of 
time. They've already established the idea of a year as 
a certain amount of time. So when you say 15,000, even 
though that's a really long time, they can begin to un­
derstand that."
Still, it's a stretch of the imagination, for adults as 
well as children, to think of Iowa as a mosaic of conifer 
forests and tundra-like vegetation. And it's a stretch to 
imagine the great woolly mammoths plodding along, 
using their nine-foot tusks to scrape bark off trees, to 
plow through snow, to battle each other. But it's a valu­
able exercise in imagination, Johnson believes. "This is 
a beast that was here 15,000 years ago. We're only part 
of that continuum of time, and a very small part. A hun­
dred years of that continuum will be a human life. And 
yet things were going on long before us, and will con­
tinue long after us. It puts life in perspective." ❖
Right: Exhibit designer Jerry Brown created this quarter-size 
model of a woolly m am m oth .  Mammoths weighed up to 
I 2,000 pounds; the skull and tusks alone, perhaps 300 pounds. 
A thick layer of inner hair covered by long outer hairs insu­
lated against the cold. Small ears limited heat loss.
M ore on M am m oths
• V is i t “ M a m m o th : W itn e s s  to  C h a n g e ’ ’ and 
o th e r  e x h ib its  a t th e  S ta te  H is to r ic a l S o c ie ty  o f  
Io w a  m u se um , 600  E. L o cu s t, M o n d a y -S a tu rd a y , 
9 -4 :3 0 ; Sundays, n o o n  to  4 :30.
•T o  a rra n g e  s c h o o l to u r s ,c o n ta c t  m useum  
e d u c a to r  Sarah M a ch t, a t 5 15 -2 4 2 -5  193, o r  by e- 
m ail a t s a ra h .m a c h t@ io w a .g o v .
• F ind o n lin e  lesson plans a t w w w . io w a h is to ry . 
o rg /m u s e u m /e x h ib its /m a m m o th , th e n  c lic k  on  
“ Learn .”
• T h e  S o c ie ty ’s M useum  S to re  o ffe rs  a v a r ie ty  
o f  b o o k s  and to ys  on  m a m m o th s . 5 15 -2 8 3 -1 757, 
w w w .io w a h is to ry .o rg , c lic k  on  “ M useum  S to re .’ ’
F o r fu r th e r  read ing :
• M a m m o th : The R esurrec tion  o f  an Ice Age  
G ia n t, by R ich a rd  S tone
• M a m m o th s : Ice-Age G ia n ts , by D r. L a rry  D. 
A g e n b ro a d  and Lisa N e ls o n
• L a n d fo rm s  o f  Io w a , by Jean C . P rio r, especia lly  
pages 3 6 -H 7 , on  th e  D es  M o in e s  L o be  in Iow a
Special th an ks  to  A llie d  Insu rance  and D ickso n  
In d u s tr ie s  fo r  h e lp in g  to  fu n d  th e  e x h ib it  and 
e d u c a tio n a l p ro g ra m s . A d d it io n a l th a n ks  to  A llie d  
In su rance  fo r  p re s e rv in g  th e  m a m m o th  bones fo r  
th e  p e o p le  o f  Iow a .
6 Iowa Heri tage II lustra ted


Ice Age Iowa

A
Prairie Vignettes
The following three vignettes appeared in H istory of Marshall County, 
Iowa, by Mrs. N. Sanford. Published in 1867, Sanford’s book, like most 
I 9th-century county histories, is filled with the typical laudatory profiles 
o f leading citizens, and descriptions o f early businesses and schools. 
Although genealogists and historians have learned to use county histories 
with a critical eye, some o f the stories within them are just too colorful to 
ignore. Here, Sanford portrays Marshall County as bursting with wild 
game and fruit, but also with good-natured humor and sophisticated 
entertainment such as theatrical tableaux vivants. — The Editor
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HUNTING PARTIES
The prairie in the western portion has 
been noted for hunting parties, w ith 
dogs, guns, snack-baskets, and bottles 
of corn coffee. There is a tradition 
extant of one party who went to  the 
head of Timber creek and killed seven 
hundred and eight [prairie] chickens. 
These broiled, w ith hot rolls, and a 
cup of good Java, is a dish fit fo r a 
king. No wonder our prairies present 
such attractions to  English and other 
sportsmen. Last season a large party 
of hunters from Buffalo visited this 
section.They were highly pleased with 
the ir success, and as our railroad 
facilities are increasing, no doubt in a 
few years our lovely plains will receive 
a full share of the summer tourists 
who journey for health and comfort.
Mr. George W ills, w ith a party of 
five, went beyond Power’s Grove and 
killed three hundred and eleven 
[prairie] chickens in one day, returning 
to  town with their wagon loaded 
down with game. If this slaughtering 
should go on long at a time, the question 
is, where would the chickens be?
BLACKBERRY HUNT
There had been rumors of fru it 
across the river, so Mrs.Willigrod,
Mrs. Bissell and a few others started 
out w ith a team, Mr. Pratt as a driver. 
Mrs.W illigrod prudently put on a pair
o f her husband’s boots fo r fear of 
snakes. On arriving at the canoe the 
whole party arranged themselves 
w ith M rs.W illigrod in the stern.They 
amused each other by laughing and 
singing, also by plashing water on Mrs. 
W. She, to  avenge herself, threw many 
handfuls from the river into their 
faces, but just as the boat struck the 
opposite bank, in reaching to  give 
them a final baptism she fell backward 
into the river, boots and all.The party 
laughed, but like the frog in the fable 
it came very near being the death of 
her, fo r she rose the second time 
before the stupefied Mr. Pratt could 
rescue her from the perilous situa­
tion. Coming out of the water like a 
drowned kitten, she was glad to  make 
her way home w ithout any blackber­
ries. Mrs.W illigrod has such a vein of 
genial humor, one enjoys an hour of 
her experiences in border life.
TAMBOS
As they were called by a Marshall 
lady through some inadvertence of 
memory. “ Tambos!” “ Tambos!” she 
repeated. “ Are they good to  eat?” 
Many had never seen tableaux and 
knew nothing of scenic effect, and 
pious people in the churches talked 
of the rigors of discipline if they were 
repeated, denouncing them as an
incipient theatre. A large fund was 
raised from the entertainment, and it 
passed off pleasantly to  all concerned. 
An incident occurred just before the 
performance began. Mr. Wasson in 
arranging the curtains was behind 
them. And a light showed him full 
length, w ith his hair sticking up as if in 
the need of a pair of shears.“ Tambos, 
Number I,”  whispered Pete Hepburn 
to  a lady; as the head kept bobbing 
from side to  side like a jumping jack, 
the candles being in just the right 
position to make a really laughable 
scene Mr. Wasson, now one of our 
dignified merchants and a perfect 
gentleman, perhaps may have forgot­
ten his role in the performance.
104 Iowa Heri tage Illustra ted


Prairie Vignettes

Eckoff, Ronald D

Instructing the Masses: The Development of Iowa's Health Department

Juhl, Paul C

The Thrill and Magic of Audio-Visual Day in a 1950's School

Lex, Louise

Public Health in the Past 30 Years
by Louise Lex
M
ethamphetamine, HIV/AIDs, West Nile
virus, and antibiotic resistance have become 
part of our vocabulary, but these words were 
virtually unknown as recently as the 1970s. New dis­
eases have emerged, and yet some of the older diseases 
such as tuberculosis have not been eliminated. In fact, 
some have become resistant to drugs once thought of 
as panaceas. Another change in public health is the very 
definition of what is a health problem. Violence and sub­
stance abuse, once considered to be personal concerns, 
now are viewed as significant health problems.
Regardless of changing terminology and disease 
threats, public health has focused on three fundamen­
tals: assessing health problems, ensuring that services 
are available to meet the problems, and developing poli­
cies that result in longer, healthier lives. Someone de­
fined this goal as dying young at an old age.
Public health in recent decades has attended to Io­
wans' everyday health, including seeing that everyone 
who needs a flu shot gets one and that young children 
sit in child-safety seats (something not considered im­
portant in the 1970s).
Although public health is most effective when it is 
invisible, because it has prevented an epidemic or the 
spread of disease, people take special notice of its work 
during disasters. After United Flight 232 crashed in 
Sioux City in 1989, more than half of the passengers and 
crew survived. Pilot A1 Haynes credited the prepara­
tion and cooperation of communities, the airport, and 
health workers, as well as their emergency response 
group drill and an annual update of the response plan. 
Haynes also credited the outpouring of support, in that 
400 people showed up spontaneously to give blood 
with no call for donors having been sent out; they just 
arrived because they figured it would be needed."
Iowans today consider environmental contaminants 
as one of their major concerns. Only schools and eco­
nomic issues (unemployment, taxes, and government 
budgets) rank higher. Citizens have called for environ­
mental protection to reduce the effects of such contami­
nants as lead-based paint. Iowa ranks fifth among the 
states in the percentage of housing built before 1960; 
third, before 1940. Lead-based paint was not banned 
until 1978. The rate of lead poisoning among Iowa chil­
dren under age six is four times the national average. 
Since the 1990s, local programs have been initiated, and
more than half of Iowa children born in 2000 have re­
ceived at least one blood-lead test.
One of the most difficult challenges in public health 
is changing health behaviors. Change goes well beyond 
an individual deciding to stop smoking, to exercise more 
frequently, or to improve nutritional choices. Family 
income, health insurance coverage, peer pressure, com­
munity support, media influences, and access to parks 
and outdoor recreation are but a few of the forces that 
shape individual or group health behaviors. Risky be­
haviors can lead to such diseases as cancer, heart dis­
ease, and stroke—Iowa's three top killers. Public health 
now recognizes the multifaceted nature of risk factors 
and knows well that one-shot efforts do not bring about 
change. The task is to rally community and health part­
ners in public and private arenas to use science-based 
methods that eliminate risky behaviors, reduce specific 
diseases, injuries, and impairments, and address envi­
ronmental and system challenges. For example, between 
2000 and 2002, community partnerships and Just Elimi­
nate Lies (JEL), a youth-led movement, helped reduce 
tobacco use by 13 percent among high school students, 
and by 31 percent among middle school students.
In the 21st century, public health in Iowa has broad­
ened its umbrella to include partners that cross eco­
nomic, political, and social boundaries. A prime example 
is Healthy Iowans 2010, a strategic plan to advance the 
boundaries of healthy living and the quality of life. De­
veloped by some 500 concerned Iowans from 200 orga­
nizations, the plan was updated in 2005 by another 425 
Iowans. Organizations involved have taken responsi­
bility to see that specific actions result in reaching goals.
In 1848, Alexis de Tocqueville noticed Americans' 
proclivity for joining forces to assist one another. He 
said, "From that moment, they are no longer isolated ... 
but a power seen from afar whose actions serve for an 
example and whose language is listened to." Although 
collaboration is part of the American heritage, Iowans 
have rediscovered its value in health planning and 
implementing programs. ♦>
Louise Lex is the coordinator of Iowa's state health plan, Healthy 
Iowans 2010, in the Iowa Department of Public Health. Since 
its beginning in 1997she has coordinated the biennial Governor's 
Conference on Public Health: Barn Raising I, II, III, IV, and V, 
which brings together some 800 professionals, community ac­
tivists, and policy makers concerned with public health issues.
Summer 2005 95
