The 5 W's at Foxcroft

For the last several weeks I've been dealing with the 5 W's at Foxcroft they are:

1. WORK
Of course this is the first "W" it's all we know around here. I stained the boards in the pergola. I'm using the same old lumpy stain (Oxford Brown) that I've been putting on the house. I've also now painted the capitals above the columns in the same color as the bargeboards and rafter tails. Next will be painting the columns "Lambswool" same as the house window trim.


2. WISTERIA
For Mother's Day we bought Lisa two wisteria plants. 17 years ago we planted Hardy Chinese Wisteria at our previous house, but right when it got big enough to bloom, it became shaded by the corkscrew willow that we also planted. We put our "Kentucky Blue Wisteria" along the back two columns of the pergola. I hope it grows quickly.


3. WHIMSEY
We had a planting on the driveway blow down in big winds. As I started to cut it up I got thinking about using the branches to make a trellis along the back corner around the fish pool. First I did the part on the west side of the pool. I told Lisa what I was making was "whimsey."


Then I started on the south side. The neighbors behind us had a huge limb blow down out of a maple tree, so I sawed parts off it and used them too. Then I trimmed a little from our lilacs. Pretty soon I was going down into the ravine and getting scrub from down there:


Since this is a trellis we have fall clematis on it that we planted a year ago. I've also planted some fancy morning glories, and am training up the weed morning glories too. We also have some wild grape started on it as well.

When in the ravine I found some really nice virginia creeper. I cut a piece to wrap around and make a window:


This all lead to the next "W":

4. WEIRDNESS
I was confronted by another neighbor (not one who's property is adjacent to the trellis) that said I was building a fence in violation of the City's fence ordinance. And to top it off, what I was building was ugly and a fire hazard. I was quite taken aback by this but said I'd check with the owner next door and look at the fence ordinance. The house next door is currently for sale and has been empty now for over a year. The owners said they had no problem with what I was doing, and the city building inspector visited and said what I had was a trellis and not subject to the fence ordinance. The icing on the cake came several days ago when the leader of the City Garden Club visited to see if we'd be on their tour. She loved the trellis and said the current issue of "Horticulture" magazine had one just like it.

5. WILD TURKEY
Not the drinking kind, the actual large bird type. I saw what I thought were bags of garbage on the railroad tracks when going over the Melrose Bridge on my bike. When I went back to look I realized they were turkeys. There were two male toms in full display with about 6 hens feeding along the tracks. My guess is that they are getting all the spilled corn that falls off the railroad cars. Here is a pic I took of them.


Then Sunday I was walking my mower down the driveway to mow the bottom of the front yard. I saw something move in the hostas between our house and yet another neighbor's yard. (we share boundaries with 5 houses) When I looked back I realized it was a turkey that must have been sleeping/roosting under the hostas. It ambled back into Matt's yard for a snack under his bird feeder. I went and got a picture of this one too:

Spring Arrives

It was warm enough last night that we had band practice outdoors. The pergola is just big enough for the five of us:



We got a thumbs up from Jill across the street who was out walking her kids in the stroller, and another thumbs up from a car who came to pick up a flyer for the house behind us which is for sale, again.

Here is the near back yard with the cilla in full bloom:


And the side yard where the cilla has completely taken over:


Cilla or Siberian Squill is a wild flower that is a small bulb. It is a very early bloomer, right after the snowdrops and the crocuses. Cilla spreads naturally, and was here already when we came. After the blooms are gone (in about a week) the leaves look like very thick grass. When you walk in it after the blooms are spent it is very squishy. By May the leaves are gone too.

Diamond Jubilee

One of the more entertaining aspects of maintaining our municipal website is that I've started a section celebrating town history. Since 2010 is our Diamond (75th) Jubilee, we're trying to celebrate in many ways. Of course everything I have put up so far is from Bess' photo albums. Here are a few shots:

My very favorite picture, Foxcroft totally eclipsed by the house next door, which was built by the real estate developer of University Heights. Both homes were completed in 1928. Mr. Koser, the storybook style home owner, was the first mayor after University Heights incorporated. Bess served on the first city council:



Back of Foxcroft under construction:


View from the front porch, 1928, University Hospitals and the Fieldhouse are in the distance:


View from the front porch, 1934, The UI football stadium was built in 1929:


I have lots more to share. Larger versions of all these pictures can be found here:

University Heights PLACES

Get Your Bess Fix Here

I mentioned in my last post that my neighbor, Julie, was writing a great blog. She continues to weave an intriguing tale, and makes my posting easier too. Julie has managed to plow through January to June 1935-39 in Bess' diary. I have never been able to get through more than a couple pages at a time. I admire her perseverance! Use the links below to read what Bess had to say about the Wilsons.

• The Neighbor's Perspective
  
• More From the Neighbor's Diary
  

All those entries made me realize that I don't think I've ever posted a picture of either Helen or Bess. Here is one of the two of them in front of Foxcroft, 1929, which would have been one year after they moved in.


This photo was taken after Helen had spent the summer in France on a UI study tour. She was 19 in this picture, Bess would have been about 47. The dress Helen is wearing is one she made with fabric she brought back from Paris.

I'm Not Even The Most Interesting Blog...

...On Our Street Any More!

It was bound to happen. After nearly five years of writing Foxcroft, I knew the level of stories that I'd be able to turn out would start to slide, that the quality would diminish, and that perhaps this little project would fade away.

But what I wasn't prepared for was that I would be totally eclipsed by one of my neighbors!

Julie and her husband (referred to in her blog as the "Spousal Unit or 'SU' for short,") have lived two doors down the street from us for several years now. I had rarely run into her, more typically SU and I would be out shoveling snow at the same time. We never really did more than exchange pleasantries. I knocked on their door during the campaign, and Julie and I got talking. She told me about her mystery.

And at this point you need to hear her story in her own words...

Dear Mrs. Wilson

Before you go, let me just say that the connections between her place and ours are intricate and run deep. Once you read the above post click on the link at the top that says "how the mystery began" you'll be hooked too!

And Julie, in a little shocker, just for you: I realized last night, while walking the dog, that ECW Jr. and my stepmother were high school classmates...

Channeling Bess

So it's time to come clean here and admit that over the last 2 months I have been running for political office. At the end of August I filed for University Heights city council. Terms are two years long; we have 5 councilors and a mayor, who also serves a two year term. This means our town elections are like the U.S. House of Representatives, everyone is up every two years. Elections only fall in odd numbered years when NOTHING else in on the ballot.

Bess, who built Foxcroft, was on the original University Heights city council. The town incorporated in 1935, seven years after she built here. She was the only woman on the council, and apparently only served one term. University Heights will celebrate its Diamond Jubilee next summer, our 75th anniversary.

There were 10 candidates for 5 seats on council and 2 candidates for mayor. All the incumbents were running along with 6 challengers. We officially have 798 registered voters in town, which is falsely high. Given that we have many medical, and graduate students who live here for a short while, then graduate and move on, many names on the rolls are no longer here. I would guess our electorate is closer to 650.

When I decided to run I made a vow to walk around town at least once a week, knock on doors and talk to people. I did that and it was fascinating. I really had fun. Besides the conversations, stepping onto everyone's porch or stoop allowed me to notice details about houses that you don't pick up on even when you're on the sidewalk. We have so many 1920's-1940's homes that are in such good shape. The mid century modern homes are spectacular, and our "new" homes from the 1960's and 70's are also of very high quality. The only architectural beef I have is with our apartment complex that was build right after WWII. It is being converted to condominiums and I was saddened to see their original windows get replaced, the new ones don't fit the character of the building well.

We had one political event, a candidate forum that drew about 150 people. With so many candidates and a promise to keep the event to only 2 hours long, we were given three questions in advance. Each question, along with our opening and closing statements were to not exceed 2 minutes. Everyone held to it.

Typical voter turnout for municipal elections has been in the 200's. The record turnout was 350 in 2005 (the first year we voted here) due to a library levy being on the ballot. On Tuesday 413 people voted. That is a 51.8% turnout officially or about 64% using my adjusted numbers. Iowa City (the larger community that completely surrounds us) had a municipal turnout of 9.7%.

I was one of the winners. I'm happy and more than a little nervous. I take very seriously the public trust of my neighbors. Here are the official results. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find us.

The editorial page editor of the Iowa City paper called yesterday and asked why did I think U-H should remain a separate entity. I replied it's pretty obvious that we participate in our community life to a degree unparalleled by our neighbors, individual voices certainly matter. Who wouldn't want to live in community like that? Who wouldn't want to work to ensure its future?

Always the Bridesmaid

I had high hopes for my green tomato pie in today's University Heights Chautauqua Pie Contest. Regular readers may remember that in last year's inaugural contest I finished second with my mulberry pie.

I thought green tomato would be a winner. I made sure to put extra flour in the recipe so it wouldn't be runny like last year's mulberry pie was. The crust I made last night was the best I've ever done. Perhaps my downfall was that I forgot to put tin foil around the pie pan to keep the edge of the crust from getting too well done. Maybe using last year's tomatoes, in the basement freezer since last fall, wasn't a good idea, but anyway the result is once again I came in second out of two entries.

And I couldn't be happier for the second place finish, because first place went to youngest daughter. When driving to the store yesterday for baking supplies she asked if she could make a pie, I said "Sure, what kind?" She thought and answered "Cranberry." We bought a bag of frozen cranberries. When we came home I got out two bags of frozen apples, each one just enought for a pie. She read the directions for apple pie, and did all the mixing and measuring. She added half the cranberries to each set of apples and she made "CranApple" pie.



The winner is shown above with her first place ribbon and the wonderful facepainting done by Mary Richard. Mary won the cake contest with an incredible chocolate cake with a gardenia on the top!

Controversy Rages!

According to the screaming headlines of our local paper:

Proposed University Heights Development Controversial

Here is a view of the proposed commercial building at the front of the site:



Here is the condominium tower to the back of the site:



Here is an arial view of the property with the adjustment made to Sunset Street:



I went to the third and final open meeting that the developer had scheduled to tell community residents about the plan and solicit feedback. I wrote about the first one here: A Grocery Store! This one had about the same number of people as the first, it sounds like the second one was similar.

Lots of people are dead set against this. They do not want the community to change. I guess as a relatively new resident of the community, and someone with young children, I view it a little differently. I think in general the proposal is a good one. I think the commercial development is very good, and understand that to make it profitable and viable the upscale condominium has to be there too.

Just a few quick ideas

* Shouting at a developer, and interrupting a presentation at a voluntary meeting to share information is just plain stupid and rude. I don't care if you are a doctor or lawyer (as two of the worst offenders were, I kept looking around for an Indian Chief to join in with them) The time to engage in those tactics will be at Planning and Zoning Comission and City Council.

*The inital proposal for the residential tower was 9 stories in the middle, stair-stepped down to 6 on the wings. Their presentation at the final meeting was 7 stories stair-stepped down to 5. People are going crazy over how this will stick out. But Kinnick Stadium's new pressbox on the eastern border of University Heights is taller than the 9 story tower. I haven't heard people complain about that.

*I suggest that if this gets approved the first thing the city council does with increased tax revenue is create a fund for the purchase of the woodland on the north edge of town to create a permanent green space there.

A Grocery Store!

Well that's what I heard when I went to a public meeting to listen to a development proposal being made for the St. Andrew's church site two blocks from us.

Here is the media's write up complete with snarky comments that so drearily seem to define our dialogues:

Residents discuss condo idea

A little backgrond: University Heights (our fair city) is 1000 souls surrounded by Iowa City. Immediately to our east outside city limits is the UI football stadium:

and the largest teaching hospital in the known universe:

(I am not exaggerating either)The picture above is a tiny bit of the original structure which is now nearly invisible due to building around it:

At our far western border was a private club named "The University Athletic Club" which was created 50 years ago, in an era of restricted alcohol sales, some would say as a way for wealthy alumni to have a stiff belt before/during/after football.

The "Athletic Club" has been University Heights ONLY major commercial entity since it's inception. Last fall the University of Iowa BOUGHT said private club in order to have a catering/banquet hall facility to replace the flooded Iowa Memorial Union. This will likely reduce our city budget by at least 10% due to the loss of commercial property tax revenue since the UI is tax exempt.

Connecting the hospital and the Athletic club to areas to the west and east is Melrose Ave, which is four lanes wide from I-380 up to the University Heights city limit where it narrows to two lanes, and then immediately after crossing the railroad bridge back into Iowa City again goes to four lanes. This road neatly splits our small community in two. It is a major arterial road for the greater metropolitan area.

Prior to UI's purchase of the athletic club quiet negotiations were underway for a developer to buy St. Andrew's Church which is adjacent to the Athletic Club. UI had a right of first refusal and passed, in 2007, on the property for 4.3 million, according to the developer. The congregation has now bought land for a new church and the developer has made preliminary plans for this project. Lots of things need to happen including changing Sunset/Melrose intersection by filling in a steep ravine and re-routing Sunset.

I give the developer credit for having public meetings, I am delighted at the thought of a walkable grocery store, that is the thing we gave up in moving here that I miss the most. Here is our old grocery store, which was half a block away through the back alley from our previous house:

Go HERE: Dirty John's to read about this Iowa City institution

Here is the developer's proposal(a bad PDF)Of course what is driving many people crazy is that there will be 36 condo units above the commercial property to the front of the lot and the NINE STORY residential condo building to the rear. It must be said that this developer was part of a plan to build a similar residential structure on the Athletic Club property 3 years ago which was defeated by community opposition. So those folks were out again in full force last night. I'm not opposed to the project.

I think the project as a whole would be beneficial to the community, and I'm guessing that if developed to the scale proposed, it would likely double our city property tax revenue. My suggestion would be to take whatever increase we get in revenues and put it into a fund to buy the wooded ravine to the north of town and get us some protected green park space. If projects like this would stop further regional sprawl by building denser near the center of the greater metropolitan area I say more power to them.

The kicker in all this is that the congregation has yet to vote on moving, and at even the most optimistic scenario, phase I, moving the road, wouldn't begin until fall 2010, with construction perhaps not starting until 2012.

A Few Other Local Bloggers

There are LOTS of blogs in Iowa City, most are started by students, and fizzle out pretty quickly. I don't search a great deal for other local bloggers, but here are three local blogs that I really do like. One has barely started, one is VERY prolific, and one falls in between.


Barely started is "The Old Mellicker Place", I happen to know the author, as is evidenced by the link to me, but I hadn't known he'd started bloggging. I really hope Mike continues with the project, His writing and insights will be excellent, and he's a nice guy to boot.


Prolific is "The Prairie Urbanist". Donald is a fellow University Heights resident, and writes his blog through our local Iowa City paper, The Iowa City Press Citizen Donald writes on politics, biking, and numerous local and national issues. His recent post, Does University Heights Have a Future echoes what I've been thinking about ever since the University of Iowa announced they would acquire our largest commerical property in town, thereby taking off our tax roles. If his predicition of our eventual annexation by Iowa City comes true, perhaps he can be an ally in the creation of local historic districts within town. If you run across this, Donald, you'd probably like to read my post on University Height history, and our original town slogan: The Coral Gables Subdivision of Iowa City.


In between is the blog I've been aware of the longest. Flossie was the first local person to contact me via Foxcroft. Here is her blog: "Flossie At Home" She and her husband also live in a wonderful older home, not far from the Mellecker place. A self described "graduate student, editor, and homebody" Her blog is a great reason why Iowa City was declared a City of Literature by UNESCO.

So here's a little waves a greeting to some special neighbors.

City of Literature!

It was announced this week that Iowa City has been named by the United Nations' Education Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) a "City of Literature." They are the third city so designated, joining Edinburgh, Scotland, and Melbourne, Australia, in receiving this title. Certainly Foxcroft seems to have had a small part to play in Iowa City's literary story, and if you believe the legends, it had a major role!

The FACTS:

The major impetus behind Iowa City being such a writer's haven is the University of Iowa's Writer's Workshop. The initial director of the workshop was Wilbur Schramm, who built his home across the street from Foxcroft in 1934, which was 5 years before the the official beginning of the workshop. He was an English professor, with an emphasis in writing. (Read the link on his name above to see what else he is famous for)

Schramm's wife, Betty, had been a sorority sister of Helen's. Helen's mother, Bess, had a degree in English from Upper Iowa University in the early 1900's and did graduate work in English at the University of Iowa while her husband Walter completed medical school and taught anatomy at UI roughly from 1905-1909. She was a highly educated woman, especially for the times, and a voracious reader. Given their mutual interests and the fact that they were living on the edge of town with few other neighbors it is no surprise that the Schramm's and Fox's all became close friends. This is evidenced by journal entries and letters I have read. It is not too much to surmise that most of Schramm's visitors and houseguests (Carl Sandburg, Wallace Stegner, William Carlos Williams, etc)also visited Foxcroft.

I found a great deal of Schramm memorabelia in the house while emptying it. Items included a copy of his biography of Francis Parkman with the inscription "For Mother Fox with the sincere hope that she reads no further in this volume." I found a brochure that describes the "Arts at Iowa" including the first use of the phrase "Writer's Workshop" from the summer of 1939, and numerous poems that were sent as Christmas Cards, the latest being from 1979.

The best find, however was from a photo scrapbook. It is a portrait of Wilbur and Betty Schramm. The picture below was taken in 1938, eight years after "American Gothic" became an immediate sensation by placing third in an art contest sponsored by the Chicago Art Institute:


This picture was taken, presumably by either Helen or Bess, on the front yard of Foxcroft. Schramm was Grant Wood's best friend while Wood was on the faculty of UI!

The LEGEND:

I have heard from several sources that the idea of a writer's workshop was born in the library at Foxcroft over conversations between Schramm and Bess about how to create a place that would encourage the creation of great literature. I have absolutely no proof that corroborates this in the slightest. But there are still quite a few boxes of things to look through!

A Cool Thing About Elevation

With Lower City Park flooded this year we couldn’t get our usual shelter to cook out then watch fireworks. Iowa City decided to move the fireworks to Hubbard Park and to set them off after the last Jazzfest concert, with a scheduled start about 10:30. That would be too late for us. Lisa heard from one of the neighbors that you could see the Coralville fireworks from Finkbine golf course, near our house.

We packed up popcorn and drinks and rode the two tandem bikes to the driving range a little after 9:00 last night. No one else was there and we settled in on the bench above the range. Thirty seconds after we sat down the golf course sprinklers went on and doused us. We moved.

After half an hour of younger daughter asking if it was dark enough yet, we finally saw a tiny glow barely above the tree line off to the north. “IS that IT?” screamed the six year old.

“No, I think that’s the North Liberty fireworks.” I said. We watched them for a few minutes Then we saw tiny flares, barely above the tree line to the west.

“IS that IT?” screamed the six year old.

“No, I think that’s the Tiffin fireworks.” I said. We watched between the two for a few minutes. Then another set of fireworks started, barely above the tree line to the north, but east of North Liberty’s.

“Is THAT it?” screamed the six year old.

“No, I think that’s the Lake Macbride fireworks.” I said. We watched between the three places for a few minutes.

Suddenly a big firework explodeed MUCH higher in the sky. “Those are Coralville’s!” I said. We oohed and ahhed appropriately. Older daughter was very disappointed that being so far away we could barely hear the explosions.

After 20 minutes of watching there was suddenly a VERY LOUD explosion BEHIND us (to the east). We looked back and realized we could see the Iowa City fireworks too. Our heads were on swivels going between Coralville and Iowa City.

I told the girls, that’s the cool thing about being at the highest point in Johnson County, we could see 5 community’s fireworks all from the same place. Younger daughter commented on the way home that, “I will never ever forget this night!”

Runner Up!

Yesterday was the 3rd Annual University Heights Chautauqua. The new wrinkle in this year's event was a baking contest. There were four categories: Cakes, Cookies, Bars, and Pies. I don't like to brag, but I took second place in the pie category:

And as I said to elder daughter, the fact that there were only two entries does not diminish the prize in the least. Every other category had at least 5 entries, prizes were awarded to top three in each. The winning pie was a multiple berry pie with strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. What was really fun was that after the contest everyone got to taste each entry. Everyone that is except for those of us who were performing as part of the program, since the band was on stage at time. The girls and Lisa said that everything was very good.

For the record I made mulberry-rhubarb pie. We had seen several mulberry trees on our Ride the River bike tour last Sunday. Saturday morning I got up early and went out with a very large bowl and a tarp. I spread the tarp out under the tree and shook the branches. Then I carefully shook the berries on the tarp into the bowl. Here is my bowl when I got home:

It is a big bowl, I had over 8 cups of mulberries after I washed and picked through them. Sadly I didn't take a picture of the finished pie! Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups mulberries
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped rhubarb
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix together mulberries, rhubarb, sugar, and flour.
2. Pour into unbaked 9 inch pie shell. Dot filling with butter or margerine, and add top crust.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
   Bake until pie is done, about 30 minutes.

MY SUGGESTIONS TO CHANGE THE ABOVE

• add at least 1/2 a cup of flour, mulberries make a runny pie, I think that contributed to my second place finish!
• I baked closer to an hour rather than 45 minutes.

On Saturday after I picked mulberries, Pete came over and we built the frame for the porch over our new footings:

Next will be working to get ready to put the decking back down.

There Goes the Neighborhood?

New condo project in works in Iowa City

University Heights residents worried about traffic

This was the blaring headline in today's Press Citizen.

In a nutshell: University Heights is surrounded by Iowa City. At one border with IC there is a nine acre tract of empty land. This land is heavily utilized in the fall as a spot for "tailgating" at University of Iowa football games. Several years ago developers tried to buy the land and market "sports condos" but the venture fell through. More recently someone tried to buy the land and then rent large chunks of it to corporations for tailgating with 10 year leases until the city of Iowa City stepped in and said that the area wasn't zoned for it.

Why does U-Heights (my fair city) care about this? Because there are three streets that dead end into the property which would be it's only access points. All three are located in University Heights. My guess is that residents are concerned that traffic will greatly increase, city of UH will have to upgrade roads, but all tax benefit of the development will go to Iowa City. The land has a fairly rugged topography, water drainage will be an issue, thereby not allowing any access from Iowa City.

As a relative newcomer to town all I have to fall back on is history. In reading Memoirs of Iowa's Only Socialist Mayor David Belgum writes of a plan to develop the area in the 1960's. At that point University Heights City Council was ready to vacate all three streets thereby leaving no access to the property! In the end the developer gave up then too.

Lots of comments to the story on the P-C's website, let the fun begin.

I Like Hillary Well Enough...

...but I wish she'd stop calling me at dinner time.


Bill Clinton made his very first campaign appearance for Hillary in Iowa City last July

For that matter, the daily email from John Edwards and Joe Biden are getting a little old too. While I'm whining, I'm tired of the two old guys in the barber shop talking about Dodd, during his commercial that runs during the 10:00 news. I'm even ready to snarl at the ubelievably earnest Obama volunteers who phone to invite us to picnics.

As a matter of fact, the only candidates not bombarding my family right now are Richardson and Kucinich.

I supported Kucinich at my local precinct caucus in 2004. We were viable! (arcane Iowa Caucus term that no one else cares about) This time around we will be in a new precinct. That should be interesting.

Our old precinct (Iowa City 20) had college student rental houses, senior citizen apartments, and a Catholic rectory all included in it's area, quite the diverse group. Our new precinct is the entire town of University Heights. Our county is HEAVILY Democratic. I think we Democrats get the biggest "public" structure in town, the Presbyterian Church. The Republicans will likely get a room at West High School, which is not located inside city limits, but is in Iowa City. In know that in 2004 the Republicans met at the elementary school that is inside city limits, but since people parked on the streets around it for more than the posted 1 hour time length, they all got ticketed!

One kind of cool spin off of the caucuses are the Iowa Electronic Markets. These are "futures" markets for political events. Here is the link to the Presidential 08 Market.

The two "futures" currently trading are the popular vote percentage for each major party (as of 11/13/08 Dem- .530 Rep. .493) and winner take all market (as of 11/13/08 Dem- .612 Rep. .397)

I am looking forward to January 4th. (The day after the caucuses)

You Know it's a Home Football Game Weekend When...

...The Port-O-Potty guys drop off the bathroom for the neighbor's driveway:


Yep, I was just out shooting my last walnut-in-the-driveway picture, and couldn't resist getting this one.

The good news is that this season they deliver every Friday before a game and pick it up on the Monday after. Last season it sat there from the end of the August to the end of November. The only people in favor of that were the neighborhood kids, who found it tremendously convenient.

Maybe I'll get a shot tomorrow of the neighbor's yard piled with cars and people tailgaing. I think he's managed to squeeze in even more than last year.

Go Hawkeyes, beat Michigan State's Sparty tomorrow!

CORAL GABLES SUB-DIVISION OF IOWA CITY

I was moving the barrister bookcases last week so I could start on painting the library ceiling. The bookcases were moved into the house in 1928 and probably hadn't moved since, judging by the dust. As I was lifting off a section I came across an advertising piece touting "University Heights: The Coral Gables Sub-Division of Iowa City." The piece is big, 21" x 27" and folds up to be mailed. The lots are advertised as being $500 and up. I know I have an earlier one somewhere that says $300 and up. I think this was produced in 1925 or maybe as late as 1926. The maps have Foxcroft shaded in pencil, likely done by Bess herself. Koser Brothers were the developers and Mr. Lee Koser, the real estate half, built his home next to Foxcroft, and Mr. George Koser, the lawyer half, moved his home from Manville Heights to just down the street. The writing pushes all the modern advances and notes that "A future home here, overlooking the Golf Links and some of the largest buildings in the world. Drive out and inspect this location." Well, the Golf Links are why our street is named "Golfview," but in 1929 the golf course was moved farther west and north so that a new Iowa football stadium (currently known as Kinnick Stadium) could be built. The largest buildings in the world would be the new University Hospital, which was at it's competion in 1925 the largest structure in terms of area covered in the U.S.

Here is the text from my favorite portion, which is on the side not pictured above. It's a mixture of facts, hype and a dash of greed thrown in for good measure:

BIG MONEY IN
WEST SIDE REAL ESTATE
West Side real estate now offers the best opportunity for good investment since the beginning of Iowa City. The immediate building program of the University on the West Side is almost equal to the amount of buildings done by the University on the East Side during the past fifty years. The resale value of Real Estate on the West Side has been as high as 300 to 400 per cent. (this does not however include buildings, because their value is governed by cost of labor and material.) On March 1, 1918 we purchased an acre of ground from the Cannon estate for about $2,000. 1921 we sold this acre for $4,000, and last year this acre was divided into lots and sold for a total amoun of around $14,000. About 12 years ago Byington's Addition was laid out, covering the ground now occupied by the Quadrangle and new Field House. Lots were offered for $300 to $500. Only a few lots were sold until the University purchased the land for $5,000. Today a lot would be worth $5,000 or more. Around 1920 we were offered the land now covering Melrose Circle for $5,000. Today, this land, now divided nto lots could not be purchased for less than $23,000. About ten years ago we sold a lot on Melrose Avenue and South Grand Avenue for $800. Two years ago the University paid around $5,500 for this lot. In the year 1921 we were selling lots on Melrose Avenue for $700 to $800 that are now priced around $4,000 and $5,000. On March 1, 1916 we sold thirty acres of the land now a part of University Heights, for $350 per acre, and in 1923 ---only seven years afterwards--- we purchased it back at $1,000 per acre. Many other illustrations could be given of the wonderful increase in value of property along Melrose Avenue, and yet the building program of the Univerity on the West Side has just started. It is now too late to buy lots close in on Melrose Avenue for $700 or $800---the time was 1920. Now is the time to buy lots on Melrose Avenue in University Heights to sell in 1930. Unless you buy you cannot sell. Unless you take some chance you cannot reap the profits. The building program of the University on the West Side is assured and for that reason an investment in Rest Estate on the West Side near University Campus must increase in value.

The football stadium is currently undergoing an $89 million dollar renovation, and an undeveloped chunk of ravine between Iowa City and University Heights sold last year and is going to be developed into sports condos starting at $200K.

The lay of the land...

Here is a map of our neighborhood. Our lot, is the irregularly shaped gold part in the middle. Our street basically is a dead end, the curve to the left onto Glencrest is really a path to the driveways of the two houses on the street, 7 and 11. The black area is not a road. but is a steep heavily wooded ravine.

As I said our lot is irregular. Here is what the lot was like in 1928 when Bess built. The yellow shaded area is now a part of 26 Prospect. Our house was the first completed on the street, 305 next door was finished shortly after. None of the homes on Prospect were built until approx. 1948. Originally this was wide open land. The yellow leg faces south and was Bess' garden. It was sold in about 1960.

Here's our latest dilemma: The house at 30 Prospect has just gone on the market and it's yard is a giant "T." I was contacted by their realtor about possibly buying the top of the "T" to add to our yard. The total area is roughly 50' by 120'. Their asking price is $100K. Since we would most likely use it as garden space, it would be very expensive vegetables. The owners of 11 Glencrest are interested too, as they would get an even more gigantic yard, plan to knock down the small rental that is on the site and build their huge retirement ranch home.

So as if we didn't have enough to think about with finishing upstairs, a new roof, extensive restoration, we now can obsess about spending a pile we don't have on getting a bigger yard. Hopefully we could buy a small portion of the "T" and take out the scrub trees on it that would allow for sun to come into the area.

The kicker in all of this is that due to our proximity to the University of Iowa football stadium, the current owners of the "T" were able to park about 25 cars back there for home games at, I believe, $20 a car for 7 home games, hence the high price of the lot. The realtor also mentioned that if someone bought 30 Prospect and the entire lot they could run a driveway along the east edge of 30 to allow someone else to build back in there.