Centerville A mid-American saga
Book - 2012
"From the moment that the surveyor set down his tools in 1846 to the instant that the Flying Farmers crossed the sky at the centennial celebration, the history of Centerville, Iowa, has gifted us with a unique insight into the mid-American experience. Though the population never exceeded 8,600, immigrants from more than forty different countries created a community that was both melting pot and crucible--just like the nation at large. The town forged an identity through the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, race relations, education debates and World Wars I and II while its people survived the dark history of Prohibition, crime, the Ku Klux Klan, the Mafia and the Depression. In this definitive history, Enfys McMurry captures both t...he particular feelings of Centerville's citizens and how they reflected and participated in the larger American story"-- Publishers website.
- Subjects
- Published
-
Charleston, SC :
History Press
2012.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Physical Description
- 750 p. : ill. ; 23 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN
- 9781609496647
- Map of Appanoose County
- 1. The Square
- 2. The New Settlers
- 3. Underground Railroad
- 4. Fall of Fort Sumter
- 5. News of Civil War Fighting
- 6. Attacks Threaten
- 7. War News Improves
- 8. Death of Lincoln
- 9. The War's Effect
- 10. Postwar Expansion
- 11. County Celebrations, County Crimes
- 12. Campaign for Railroads
- 13. The Arrival and Effect of the Railroads
- 14. Coal Mining Begins
- 15. The Mines
- 16. Recreation Expands, Female Leaders Emerge
- 17. Town Fires, Town Improvements
- 18. General Drake Becomes Governor Drake
- 19. Entertainment and Circuses
- 20. The New Century
- 21. The Courthouse, the Clock and Other Public Improvements
- 22. The Big Change
- 23. Good Roads Movement
- 24. Modernization: Interurban, Mail-Order Catalogs, Airplanes
- 25. Centerville's Jews
- 26. Centerville's African Americans
- 27. Race Relations in Centerville
- 28. The John Junkin Trial
- 29. Immigrants: Diversity and Integration
- 30. World War I: Outbreak in Europe, Effects in Centerville
- 31. War Declared
- 32. The Home Front
- 33. The Great Flu Epidemic
- 34. The Boys Return Home
- 35. Prohibition
- 36. Violence and Murder
- 37. Morality and a Movie
- 38. Jazz, the Charleston, the Changing Role of Women
- 39. The KKK Arrives
- 40. The KKK Emerges into Public View
- 41. Opposition to the KKK
- 42. The Showdown
- 43. The KKK Defeated
- 44. Radio
- 45. Speed and Flight
- 46. Decline in the Coal Industry
- 47. More Coal Mine Violence
- 48. Stock Market Collapse
- 49. Bank Closures, Drought and Grasshopper Infestation
- 50. The Great Depression
- 51. Transients, Hoboes and Violence in Appanoose County
- 52. Roosevelt Inaugurated
- 53. More New Deal Programs
- 54. Organized Crime in Centerville
- 55. Fred Burke and National Gangs
- 56. World Aggressions Disturb Centerville
- 57. Extreme Weather
- 58. New World Aggressions: Hider Invades
- 59. Military Preparations at Home
- 60. The Nation Recruits, Murrow Broadcasts, the Red Cross Appeals, Company G Leaves
- 61. Roosevelt Speaks to the World, Germany Attacks Russia, First Aluminum Drive
- 62. Public Opinion Veers
- 63. December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor
- 64. The Day after Pearl Harbor
- 65. Mobilization and Rationing
- 66. Northern Ireland, the Doolittle Flight and the Battle of Midway
- 67. The Home Front: Salvage, Metal and Rubber Collections
- 68. The Home Front: Savings Bonds, Defense Stamps and Rationing
- 69. Letters from Soldiers
- 70. News from Africa, Guadalcanal, Kiska and Stalingrad
- 71. Sicily Invaded, Company G Goes to Italy
- 72. Military Aircraft and Employment Come to Centerville, Fighting in the Gilbert Islands, GIs Arrive in England
- 73. News from Monte Cassino, Anzio, the Marshall Islands and New Guinea
- 74. Preparations for Western European Invasion
- 75. The liberation of Rome, the Invasion of Normandy Gets Underway
- 76. June 6, 1944: Normandy
- 77. Fighting in France, in Italy and in the Marianas, Japan Bombed
- 78. Reports of Deaths to Appanoose County, a Fresh Invasion of France, Paris Liberated
- 79. Deaths in Germany, Italy, Palau and the Philippines
- 80. Battle of the Bulge
- 81. Fighting in the Pacific, the Philippines, Iwo Jima
- 82. Crossing the River Rhine, Battling at Okinawa
- 83. Death of FDR, Concentration Camps, Germany Surrenders
- 84. The Bomb, the Manhattan Project: Local Connections
- 85. Celebration on Centerville Square
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author