Boone

BOONE	Pop. 12,451 Alt. 1,134	Control, Corner 4th and Story Streets.
Marshalltown 51.2	Carroll 55.2	Hotels, garages. Local speed limit, 15 miles per hour, enforced. Five banks, C&NW, CM&St.P Railroads, express company, telephone company, one daily newspaper, interurban, Chamber of Commerce. Free camp site in city park. Boone is situated near the Des Moines River, which at this point, passes through a narrow gorge. The country is broken and picturesque and the hills are heavily timbered on both sides of the river. The scenery produces a restful change for the traveler after many miles of comparatively flat prairie east and west of this point. Both county and city were named after Col. Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, who commanded a company of U.S. troops passing north and south through the site of this city in an exploring expedition, in 1835. The "Daniel Boone Trail," running from St. Louis to St. Paul, follows approximately the route taken by Col. Boone and crosses the Lincoln Highway here.
Gravel		L.H. Local Consul, H.N. Street, 7th and Keeler.

- A Complete Official Road Guide of The LINCOLN HIGHWAY Fifth Edition (1924)

East of Boone.
A terrific old service station, now on U.S. Highway 30. It has loads of potential if someone could renovate it. There are few cottage service stations with as much character as this one.

Boone.
At the intersection of Mamie Eisenhower Avenue and Snedden Drive, entering Boone on the Lincoln Highway from the east, is a concrete corner marker. The "LINCOLN HIGHWAY" legend never faces the sun, so images are difficult to capture. On the west (right) side the sign reads "COUNTY ROAD."

Boone.
The Topper Motel with its spectacular neon high hat sign. Sadly, the sign was removed and destroyed in 1997.

Boone.
A wonderful old neon sign for a long-time Boone business. Look at the Topper Motel sign in the last frame. Any chance the same person was responsible for them both?

Boone.
Look familiar? One of the most common photos of Boone from the Lincoln Highway era was this pose of the Des Moines River Valley, and it hasn't changed much. One significant revision, however, was to reposition now "old" U.S. 30 a little further north. In fact, the pavement in the right half of the frame is a fairly recent revision, as the original Lincoln curved into view just to the left of the warning sign post, where you can still find the road grade.

Boone.
Continuing down the road in the last frame in 1920 would take the driver to the Rose Ferry Bridge to cross the Des Moines River. With the construction of a newer bridge, the Rose Ferry grade was abandoned - but not forgotten! The roadbed is navigable as it diverges from the new paved road... for a little while. Well before it reaches the river's edge, however, the path de"grades" into a jumbled mess of weeds and washed-out gullies.

West of Boone.
As the Lincoln Highway left Boone, it crossed the Des Moines River on the Rose Ferry Bridge. The Civil War era bridge itself was probably removed in the 1940s, but the east and west pilings - made of stone, not concrete - are still visible if you get off old U.S. 30 and look for them. Clearly the best time is in April, before the abutments are completely overtaken by foliage, and visitors by mosquitoes. A dry spring helps too - note the third exposed piling in the middle of the river. This is the west piling. Continuing southeast down a fair dirt road leads you to the abandoned Nic-O-Let amusement park site of the 1920s.

West of Boone.
The east piling, worn down a little more than its brother across the river, but more fun to visit because it takes serious effort. Note the stones in the upstream end of the piling come to a point. County director Ty Casotti reports this was because when the river plain was flooded and frozen, melting ice floes coming downstream would break apart on the point, rather than threaten the bridge. The west piling had no such point, probably because it was on higher land that never flooded.

West of Boone.
This is the steel truss Lincoln Highway bridge that replaced the Rose Ferry Bridge in 1922, a stone's throw to the west. It was U.S. Highway 30 until 1955 when the current four-lane downriver was finished. A narrow structure, it served the local community's traffic needs until 2000, when it was demolished.

West of Boone.
The Nic-O-Let park was all the rage in the early 20th century, with music and fun on the riverbank. Now it's gone, with nothing but some concrete shards and bricks. However, the enormous swimming pool, like most holes in the ground, was merely filled in. This is the diving board mount, and although there's no way to tell that it was once the deep end of the pool, you can still find the outline of the entire structure.

"Boone was especially thrilled by the arrival of the [1919 Army] caravan because one of the observers was a young tank corps lieutenant colonel named Dwight David Eisenhower, who had married a local girl.

Col. Eisenhower Coming. Boone is more than ordinarily interested in this caravan, since one of the big men in the convoy is a nephew of Miss Eda and Mr. Joel F. Carlson of this city. Lieut. Col. D.D. Eisenhower of the U.S.A. He is making the trip across the continent with the convoy and while in Boone will be the guest of his uncle and aunt.

Boone greeted the caravan in style. Many cars went to Ames to meet the caravan and escort it to Boone."

BOONE COUNTY

Boone