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1951
Rat Control Program Is Cited Here
A program to control and eliminate Webster City’s rats was presented to the city council at its regular meeting last evening. A survey of the city dump, business district, sales barns, elevators, factories and residential district had been made by a commercial rodent control company from Ames and their report stated that there were between 35,000 and 40,000 rats, in these areas.
1956
Raven Millwork Firm Observes 25th Birthday
Raven Millwork and Lumber Co, of Webster City will celebrate its 25th anniversary at an open house on Wednesday.
Founded In August of 1931 by Andrew Raven, the firm has been owned since 1942 by his son Walter Raven. Raven Millwork and Lumber Co. moved to its present location at 127 Second St, in 1936. The building has been enlarged three times since then. Andrew Raven is still active in the company as supervisor of the millwork manufacturing department.
1996
Group to study improvements for Briggs Woods Park
An ongoing surge of support for improvements to Briggs Woods Park began to take root Tuesday as volunteers and Hamilton County Conservation Board officials came together to form an ad hoc committee to evaluate conditions and set priorities for the future.
About a half dozen supporters turned out at Tuesday’s board meeting to ask what should be the next step in restoring and improving the acres of wooded park and lakeshore.
“What can we do… just to get it back to where it should be?” asked Rob Lowe. Their interest came from a desire to bring the park and lake back to prime condition for family camping and picnic use.
“We were the kids that used the beach and now we have kids and they wouldn’t think about going out there to swim," said Cheri Snell. The idea for an ad hoc committee came as board member Steve Doerning encouraged those interested to sit down and look at all areas of the park, come up with real cost estimates for specific improvements, and then prioritize those wants and needs.
“Quite frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t had public outcry before,” Doerning said, adding that the conservation board can only do so much with the funds it has.
2001
Preservationist says downtown can still be saved
Bob Yapp calls for moratorium on demolition of city’s historic buildings
Not one more building, that’s the advice from the executive director of the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance for downtown Webster City.
Perhaps best known for the Iowa Public Television show “About Your House,” home and commercial restoration expert Bob Yapp came to the Webster City City Council meeting Monday night to talk about our town.
The project has to pay for itself, and Yapp encourages developing community-wide plans that will make it possible for historic preservation to act as an economic development tool. Simply said of bis own experience in restoring both residential and commercial properties, “I do it because I make money,” Yapp told council members. Praising the city’s work In dynamic and sometimes strong words. Yapp encouraged council members and the community alike, to work together so that buildings now planned for demolition might be saved from the wrecking ball.
“I urge you to consider a moratorium on demolishing any more buildings,” Yapp told council members. Yapp spent much of the day in Webster City and looked over historic buildings in the downtown and throughout the community.
“I had a wonderful day. You have a beautiful city, I was very impressed,” Yapp said.
He was perhaps most taken with the old Elks building on the 700 block of Second Street. “That is one of the most significant buildings you have downtown,” Yapp said. “That is a drop dead building.”
Also pecking Yapp’s interest was the old Hilltop school. He urged the community to save the original part of the building and restore it for such uses as housing, which is now in tight demand for the community. Clearly an advocate of saving-old-buildings, Yapp said he tempers that philosophy with the realities of financial feasibility.
“I’m not one of those hysterical preservationists,” he told council members. Historic preservation, according to Yapp, can often be used as a real economic development tool, but he also acknowledged that, “especially in small town Iowa, that’s not a good enough reason to do the work.”
The project has to pay for itself, and Yapp encourages developing community-wide plans that will make it possible for historic preservation to act as an economic development tool. Simply said of his own experience in restoring both residential and commercial properties,
“I do it because I make money,” Yapp told council members. Praising the city’s work in the ongoing downtown reconstruction project, Yapp said the community has a good start but needs to work together to develop a complete long-term plan for the downtown. And, he noted, it will take more than city officials to get the job done.
"It takes citizens stepping forward, " Yapp said.