Elkader, Iowa

Clayton County

19-24690

Elkader is a small town situated on the Turkey River ( with the status of "City" ) and the administrative seat of Clayton County in the U.S. state of Iowa. In 2010, Elkader had 1273 inhabitants

Elkader is a regional cultural center and has a number of historic buildings from the 19th century, an opera and several museums. Is named the city after the Algerian freedom fighters Abd el-Kader.

Attractions

Elkader has a number of historic buildings, built in the 19th century or at the turn of the century and 1976, the United States have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Elkader Opera House is a 3 -story brick building, built in 1903 in place of an older building destroyed by fire. His concert hall has 455 seats and meet regularly to ensembles from the Greater Minneapolis - Chicago. The Clayton Courthouse ( Courthouse ) 1867 - built in 1868. The brick building in the "Italian style " was in 1896 supplemented by a clock tower on the roof. The Carter House Museum provides an insight into the lives of Iowa in the middle of the 19th century and represents to clothes, furniture and everyday objects from this period. It is located in a house built in a neoclassical style consisting of 18 room mansion built in the 19th century. The Davis House is the oldest building Elkaders. It is a red brick house, which was built by the city's founder Timothy Davis 1845-1850 for themselves. Since 1960, it serves as the seat of the local funeral home. The Price House is a large two -story brick house that was built before 1870. The Schmidt House was built in 1867 as a duplex for the families of Wolfgang Schmidt and John Blasius. The two of them were immigrants from Bavaria, 1865 settled in Elkader and a brewery founded. The Stemmer House is a red river stone building, which has a large wooden veranda and decorated with woodwork facade in Victorian Gingerbread style. It was built in 1889 by J. C. Stemmer. The Keystone Bridge is a 115 m long stone arch bridge over the Turkey River. It was built in 1889 and is considered the longest of its kind west of the Mississippi

The Catholic St. Joseph's Church consists of two buildings. In addition to the large built in 1898 the church itself still a 40 year older stone as " old rock church" designated building, which previously served as a church and the oldest Catholic church building of Elkader is there.

History

Elisha Boardman and Horace Bronson were the first farmers, who in 1836 settled on the Turkey River in the area around Elkader. Bronson built together with farmers from the surrounding area and the first schoolhouse. Timothy Davis, John Thompson and Chester Sage designed the plan for a community that was officially founded in June 1846. They named their community after Abd el-Kader, a well-known contemporary freedom fighters who fought at that time the French colonial power in Algeria. As early as next year, the site had a grain mill, a saw mill and a general store. In 1856, more shops had settled and the population had grown to 500 residents. In the first decades after the foundation of Elkader competed with the neighboring communities of Garnavillo and Guttenberg to the administrative office of the County. From 1880 Elkader was then the final administrative seat of Clayton County. In 1886 the city received a railroad connection to Milwaukee and in 1888 was the construction of the Keystone Bridge over the River Turkey started. 1891 Elkader received the status of an incorporated community. In 1900, Elkader had 1300 inhabitants and four daily newspapers including a German -speaking.

Published in 1983, the United States Information Agency in its Arabic-language magazine Al Majal one written by Donna Menken contribution to the founding history Elkaders. On these the, born in Muaskar, the birthplace of Abd el -Kader Algerian Benaoumer Zergaoui was attentive and visited Elkaders in the same year. In 1984, Elkader then a twinned with Muaskar.

As the Northeast Iowa was hit by severe flooding in the summer of 2008, the Turkey River reached a historic high in Elkader. Finally, he flooded a seawall and then large parts of downtown. The Algerian government of Abdelaziz Bouteflika subsequently donated $ 150,000 for the reconstruction.

Demographic data

According to the census in 2010 lived in Elkader 1273 people in 577 households. The population density was 353.6 inhabitants per square kilometer. In the 577 households lived statistically 2.1 persons each.

The racial the population was composed of 98.7 percent White, 0.1 percent (one person) Black or African American, 0.3 percent Native American and 0.2 percent Asian; 0.7 percent were descended from two or more races. Regardless of ethnicity were 0.3 percent of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

18.9 percent of the population were under 18 years old, 56.7 percent were between 18 and 64 and 24.4 percent were 65 years or older. 53.8 percent of the population was female.

The median annual income for a household was $ 48,452. The per capita income was $ 25,170. 8.8 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.

Others

Elkader holds the cold record for Iowa ( 2002). On February 3, 1996, a temperature of -43.9 degrees Celsius was measured in Elkader.

Documentation

• Empire special - Islam and America on Al Jazeera English, includes video clip of Elkader ( 43:20 - 45:10 min)
• Out and About Iowa, Elkader report on the category Out and About Iowa of The Iowa Journal ( mission of the Iowa Public TV )
• Couscous and cultural diplomacy. Radiodokumenation, ABC ( 360documentaries ) 10 September, 2011 (mp3, 25 min)