Highway 27 South

[Brooke Kohlsdorf] On this episode of Road Trip Iowa, we're traveling Highway 27, the Avenue of the Saints.

[Kohlsdorf] We explore the culture, the creativity, and the cuisine --

[Male Diner] This is some of the best food I've had in Iowa. I'm not gonna lie.

[Kohlsdorf] -- that makes southeast Iowa feel like home.

[Nate Kaeding] I'm a local local. I was born and raised just up the street on the mean streets of Coralville, Iowa.

[Kohlsdorf] Plus the historic locations and incredible collections.

[Tom Schuppert] This is Maytag. These were made in Waterloo, Iowa.

[Kohlsdorf] They made more than just washers. 

[Kohlsdorf] Next on Road Trip Iowa. 

[Announcer] Musco Lighting is an Iowa company that travels across the US and to more than 125 countries to light community recreation fields, stadiums, airports, monuments and more. While our reach is global, we're committed to our local communities. 

[Announcer] Beverly Thomassen Schultz -- honored to support local programing on Iowa PBS.

[Kohlsdorf] From Saint Louis to Saint Paul, the Avenue of the Saints is a four lane highway connecting two major U.S. cities that was originally proposed by an Iowan. In Iowa, the route is officially State Highway 27. Today, we're taking it north from Mount Pleasant to Solon. Let's take a look at our itinerary. 

[Kohlsdorf] We'll visit a festival dedicated to the history of farm machinery. Drop in on the world's oldest continually operating movie theater. Boldly go to a city celebration that is out of this world. And we'll explore the lakeside beauty of Iowa's largest state park. 

[Kohlsdorf] We begin southeast of Mount Pleasant, near Danville, at a state park named for our state rock.

[Kohlsdorf] In the gentle hills of southeast Iowa, straddling Des Moines and Henry counties, rests a hidden gem. Geode State Park is where nature shows off her sparkle. Though it is named for the round, ordinary looking rocks with dazzling crystal interiors, there are few geodes to spot in Geode State Park, and collecting them is no longer allowed. Instead, several are on display in the on-site DNR office. The park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and opened in 1937. Lake Geode, the primary attraction, was added in 1950 and offers nearly 200 acres of boating, swimming and fishing. 

[Woman on Slide] Ready? 

[Boy on Slide] Yeah!

[Kohlsdorf] Families picnic here. Campers settle in for starry nights. And even without a hammer in hand, you'll find the real beauty here is the landscape itself, shaped like a geode by time, patience and a bit of mystery.

[Kohlsdorf] Leading up to Labor Day weekend, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, hosts a reunion between antique farm machinery and the people who love it.

[Man off-screen] There he goes.

[Kohlsdorf] Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion was organized in 1950 by four people who had attended a similar event in Illinois. The first reunion featured only 15 steam engines. Today, Midwest Old Threshers Reunion welcomes around 40,000 people throughout the week long celebration to explore 160 acres of agricultural history.

[Grant Davidson] Well, typically, we have just over 1,000 tractors that come to the event, over 100 different steam engines, 200 plus antique cars and trucks. There's demonstrations with steam trains and with the tractor engines over there doing the threshing and the baling of the wheat and all the different things, you have horse demonstrations. There's demonstrations everywhere.

[Kohlsdorf] Every day of the reunion, organizers present the Cavalcade of Power, a parade demonstrating how these machines, big and small, were operated in their heyday. The Old Threshers Midwest Reunion draws people from far outside the Midwest. Every year, the Bush family travels from Lebanon, Tennessee for the chance to operate one of these classic steam tractors.

[William Bush] I think they’re a piece of history. Nobody sees them anymore. Nobody will heard of them. There's cool history to them. There's a lot of science and interesting stuff on how they work. I guess I enjoy that part.

[Kohlsdorf] Steam locomotives are complicated machines. Boilers produce steam to drive the tractor. Before any of that can happen, operators tend fires in the bellies of these beasts to warm them up for work.

[William Bush] I'd say probably the most complicated part is putting water in it. You're having to put water that's atmospheric pressure into a boiler that's 70 pounds. You know, there's a lot of science in it. 

[Kohlsdorf] The Midwest Old Threshers Reunion is a tradition in reuniting antique farm equipment with people who cherish them. Highway 27 travelers have a chance to experience this antique working group firsthand in Mount Pleasant during Labor Day weekend.

[Grant Davidson] Where are you going to come and find all this agricultural heritage in one place and at this scale? It's just a great, friendly atmosphere here.

[Kohlsdorf] In Washington, Iowa, on the east side of this classic small town square sits what Guinness World Records calls the oldest continuously operating movie theater in the world.

[Michael Zahs] It started as an opera house. An opera house was a multi-purpose building. High school graduations were here, you know, lots of programs were here. They seated about 700 people. Now it seats about 300. At that time had two balconies. Now it has one. It was a big deal. And people supported the local entertainment venues.

[Kohlsdorf] What began as the Graham Opera House took on a new life in the late 1890s, when local farmer and inventor Frank Brinton assumed management. Brinton became a world traveling showman, displaying early movie technologies for paying audiences. That meant people here in Washington were treated to the latest motion pictures available. In 1931, the Graham Opera House became the State Theater. 50 years later, a discovery in the basement of a nearby farmhouse unlocked a story fit for the cinema.

[Michael Zahs] I cleaned out a basement in August of ‘81, and in that basement was one of the largest collections of early motion pictures in the world, about 140 and also over 1,300 magic lantern slides.

[Kohlsdorf] Zahs had stumbled onto Brinton's collection of rare turn of the century images and film reels, including two works by legendary French filmmaker Georges Mélies, long thought to have been lost. An Iowa City film team captured the story in the celebrated 2017 documentary film Saving Brinton, bringing new attention to the State Theater and its record longevity.

[Michael Zahs] I had said for a number of years that I think we probably have been showing motion pictures longer than the rest of the world. And finally, some people kind of took up my dare and started doing the research. And they found that there had been motion pictures shown here since 1897. And then after we got that recognition here on stage, I found that they started showing motion pictures here the year before.

[Kohlsdorf] Acquired by Fridley Theaters in 2001, the State Theater has been lovingly restored and remains a vital part of this community.

[Michael Zahs] We're the best audience in the country, and I really think that we're out on the farm all week, and you'd come in and you wanted to be a good audience, and you laughed even if you thought it was silly instead of funny. But we were a good audience, and we still are.

[Kohlsdorf] Next, beam me up. We head to Riverside, where each year Star Trek fans gather to celebrate a birthday that's still 200 years away.

[Kohlsdorf] One far off day in the 23rd century, a charismatic and daring future Starfleet captain will be born right here in Riverside, Iowa. Or so the story goes.

[Kohlsdorf] Riverside celebrates that birthday each year at Trek Fest.

[Travis Riggan] Yeah, I would say it's a yearly reunion with Trekkies from all around the country, even sometimes the world. Last year we had 26 different states being present here for our small town event. We're a town of a thousand people, and we bring in an additional 500 to 600 people for our event every single year. It should be on the bucket list of every single Star Trek fan. There's a costume contest. There's a parade that they go through our heart of our town. I would say this is one of a kind.

[Woman in costume on stage] It appears we're having trouble with Tribbles again.

[Man in costume on stage] We are the landing party, party.

[laughter]

[Travis Riggan] So we've had Walter Koenig, who is the original Chekov. We've had Nichelle Nichols, who is Uhura. We've had George Takei, who was Sulu. Shatner came during Invasion Iowa, but it wasn't during Trek Fest. But I mean, our town for two weeks was huge for that. This year we had Dominic Keating, Connor Trinneer, we had Terry Farrell, who's originally from Cedar Rapids, who played Jadzia Dax. I mean, the list goes kind of on and on.

[Kohlsdorf] In 1984, City Councilman Steve Miller had an idea to attract attention to this rural Washington County town. Miller, a Trekkie, had noticed Star Trek author Gene Roddenberry gave his captain, James Tiberius Kirk, a home state, Iowa, but not a hometown. Miller introduced and the City Council adopted a resolution proclaiming Riverside, Kirk's official future place of birth. Since then, countless Trekkies have transported to this community of around a thousand people for the parade, the museum, the costumes, the memorabilia, the encounters, the fraternity, and for Kirk himself.

[Travis Riggan] We're doing this because it's a unique thing, right? It's not because everybody's a Trekkie. It's like what this does for the community and bringing in this business, it's just massive and huge, and the potential is unlimited what we can do with it, so or as one would say, is out of this world, possibly.

[Kohlsdorf] We're jumping off the Avenue of the Saints for a quick detour west to the Kalona Creamery, where fresh local dairy products have been produced since the the 1940s.

[Emily Baxter] There's so much history in this building. It is a place to stop. There's so much here that supports local. So, all the products we have here, you'll see different meat from local Iowa places, different cheeses from local Iowa places. It's a local country home store.

[Kohlsdorf] Originally founded as Twin County Dairy and more commonly known as the Kalona Cheese Factory, this local landmark sits a few miles north of Kalona on Highway 1, in the heart of Amish and Mennonite country. It was rebranded Kalona Creamery in 2017 after being acquired by the Open Gates Group, a collection of area companies working together to produce and distribute local organic dairy products to all 50 states.

[Woman off-screen) Thank you. There we go.

[Ben Blaha] Welcome to the Kalona Creamery storefront. We've got our whole milk. We've got our kefir chocolate milk, cottage cheese and yogurts. Over here we're going to have our fresh cheese curds. We're going to have some cold brews and cream cheese spreads. And then some fan favorites for those visiting are going to be our fresh fudge selection here. We've got quite the variety.

[Ben Blaha] And then definitely a fan favorite here is going to be the ice creams fresh made in house.

[Kohlsdorf] In addition to fudge and ice cream, cheese curds are made right here on site, and patrons can watch the process through these large windows. The facility has processed up to 2 million pounds of milk per day, and while that's an impressive quantity, the attraction at this roadside stop is the quality.

[Emily Baxter] Our local farmers, the majority are Amish and Mennonite, which means they use traditional farming, so they're not using big equipment. They're not spraying with chemicals at all. This is organic milk, USDA certified. We also don't homogenize. Back in the day when you'd get milk delivered to your house and have that cream layer on top. That's what our milk is like. Our cream floats to the top.

[Kohlsdorf] We're taking the Avenue of the Saints to Iowa City, where two local legends have teamed up to preserve a classic diner tradition nearly a century in the making. Just blocks from the University of Iowa campus sits the Hamburg Inn No. 2. Since the 1940s, this cozy diner has served as a gathering place for students, writers, and locals alike. Inside, you'll find Formica tables, old photos on the walls, and a menu that spans farm fresh eggs and pancakes to smash burgers and signature pie shakes thick enough to stand a spoon.

[Boy Diner] My favorite one is French silk. It's the best thing ever.

[Male Diner] My first time, Jamar told me to come. This is some of the best food I've had in Iowa. I'm not gonna lie.

[Female Diner]  I'm in Iowa City here with my sister who lives nearby, and I asked her before I go back I wanted to have the best pork loin tenderloin sandwich, and she brought me here, and it was excellent.

[Kohlsdorf] The original Hamburg Inn sold nickel burgers on Iowa Avenue near the Old Capitol. This location opened on North Linn Street in 1948, hence number two. After an ownership change in 2016 and tough pandemic years, the eatery's future looked, well, shaky. That's when a hometown hero called an audible.

[Nate Kaeding] I'm a local local. I was born and raised just up the street on the mean streets of Coralville, Iowa. Grew up in the 80s and 90s here and went and played college football here in the early 2000s and a lot of great memories of the Hamburg Inn.

[Kohlsdorf] After his career at Kinnick, Nate Kaeding was drafted by the NFL's San Diego Chargers. He would spend nine seasons with the team, becoming one of the most accurate kickers in the NFL. But eventually this Hawk flew home. In 2023, the Hamburg Inn became the third restaurant venture for Keating's current team, Gold Cap Hospitality.

[Nate Kaeding] We got a great reaction. I mean, this has been such a beloved place. I think people generally were excited, but that we also felt a fair amount of pressure. We worked with Dave Panther, the old owner, as well as looking at a bunch of old photographs and trying to find a real tasteful way to kind of bring it back to life, lighten things up, put some new light fixtures, some wallpaper, kept the cool memorabilia and the photographs from people visiting here. Dave Panther, the previous owner, founder, his founding family of the Hamburg Inn, was really a genius marketer and knew in the early 2000s, late 90s that Iowa had this really special place first and first in the country for the caucuses. All the candidates coming to town with them come local and national media. There's no better way as a business owner than have a bunch of cameras show up. He came up with this coffee bean caucus idea, which is you put a big jar of coffee beans, you come in, you've got all the candidates, their own little mason jar, and you take the coffee bean, put it in the jar, and you get to place your kind of straw vote, right?

[Kohlsdorf] The Hamburg Inn’s iconic political status was verified when it was featured in an episode of NBC's The West Wing.

[LynNell Hancock] My family moved here in 1962, and we lived right around the corner from here. My dad, on Saturday nights would order hamburgers by phone from Hamburg Inn No. 2, and then he'd say, Little Nell, let me time you so you can run back here and get them. It feels like the old diner. It's a little more lively than it used to be, but the floor is still the same, I think. And the booths and the color, which is very retro and funky and just feels like home.

[Kohlsdorf] Featuring more than 80 vintage automobiles, the Antique Car Museum of Iowa takes visitors on a ride through motorcar history. Located within Iowa City's Xtream Arena, this one of a kind exhibit is the perfect stop for automobile enthusiasts.

[Tom Schuppert] Brooke, welcome to the Antique Car Museum of Iowa.

[Kohlsdorf] Thank you for having us. This place is a car lover's dream. Tell us a little bit about the mission.

[Tom Schuppert] Our mission is to preserve the history of cars throughout time. Our oldest vehicle is 1899. Our newest one is 1965.

[Kohlsdorf] Some of the first cars you notice when you walk in are some of these old Fords that you have set up.

[Tom Schuppert] Yes, these are the model A Fords. This is our model A collection. Over here, this is a typical model T. Well, we have a special one over here that is worth mentioning.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, let's go take a look.

[Tom Schuppert] This is one we like to feature. This is a Mason. These were manufactured in Des Moines.

[Kohlsdorf] Oh, really?

[Tom Schuppert] What's unique about this is they only made them for eight years and they didn't make that many, about 1,500. Only six remain today. Three of them are in Iowa. These put out a pretty good beam of light. But you always had to have a box of matches with you because you had to light everything.

[Kohlsdorf] Tell us about this thing behind us. It also says Mason, right? 

[Tom Schuppert] Yes. You could order it with two bodies. It's called a 2-in-1 car. The magazine ad says that you can go to church Sunday in your car and then go to work Monday morning in your truck. The bodies are interchangeable with just six bolts.

[Tom Schuppert] We call this the blacksmith shop and this houses the motor buggies. Motor buggies were made to be affordable as possible. Many manufacturers already had the buggy making part down, so now they're just putting engines in them, usually under the floor. Wooden wheels were still cheap. Rubber tires were expensive. Plus a lot of people in rural areas were buying these because of the high ground clearance. Their roads were never paved, of course, so these did well in muddy conditions.

[Kohlsdorf] It's interesting history. I'm noticing Sears. Am I seeing that right?

[Tom Schuppert] Yes. That's a Sears automobile. You ordered it out of the catalog. So you had ten days to return it and there wasn't any truck delivery. So it was left at the railroad depot. But when you got it, all you had to do was put the wheels on it, put gasoline in it, and you could drive it home.

[Tom Schuppert] This car is fun to talk about. This is a Brush. The man's name was Alan Brush. He made cars for five years. He's trying to make them affordable. So both the axles, the firewall, the seats, the floor, even the entire frame is made out of wood. 

[Kohlsdorf] Really? 

[Tom Schuppert] Yes.

[Kohlsdorf] Was it popular?

[Tom Schuppert] It was. It was fairly popular. Everybody was trying new innovations to bring down costs. It was cheaper than steel. Now it's the other way around.

[Tom Schuppert] This is Maytag. These were made in Waterloo, Iowa.

[Kohlsdorf] They made more than just washers.

[Tom Schuppert] They did. They only made the cars, though, for three years. They weren't successful at it. So they refocused their attention on washing machines.

[Tom Schuppert] This is a car that surprises a lot of people. Tell me what you see here.

[Kohlsdorf] Ooh, batteries.

[Tom Schuppert] People are surprised that there was some 224 electric car companies in the United States before 1929. They all had this Cinderella carriage appearance with the tall windows. And the reason for that is because I believe it was 80% of the buyers of these cars were women because you didn't have to start them and you didn't have to shift and they were quiet. For the first 20 years, it was a toss up between steam and electric and gasoline, but gasoline proved to be the most convenient.

[Kohlsdorf] You have so many automobiles here. Who owns all of these?

[Tom Schuppert] The museum owns ten of them. There's 90 altogether. The other 80 belong to people here in town. And they bring them down here just to show them off. And they're protected in here.

[Kohlsdorf] Well, some of these cars are pretty old. Do they all run?

[Tom Schuppert] Actually, there's four that don't run. All the others – 

[Kohlsdorf]  Only four? 

[Tom Schuppert] Only four. We do have a car over here if you want to go for a ride. It's a 1924 Ford and we could take it outside if you like.

[Kohlsdorf] Let's go for a spin.

[Tom Schuppert] Okay.

[Kohlsdorf] Take a detour off Highway 27 north of Coralville for one of the state's most beloved nature escapes, Lake MacBride State Park. A tributary of the Iowa River, Lake MacBride State Park, is named after University of Iowa botanist and conservationist Thomas MacBride. It was founded in the 1930s as part of America's great era of land preservation. Today, it's a peaceful blend of history, habitat and recreation.

[Ron Puettmann] Lake MacBride is one of Iowa's largest state parks. We've got a 900 acre lake and about 2,200 total acres in the park. We were created by the Civilian Conservation Corps back in the 1930s. They sold cottage lots at a place that we call the Cottage Reserve, and the sale of all those lots generated $90,000, which basically allowed them to make Lake MacBride State Park. We've got 1,000 acres of timber in the state park and a lot of trails that go through the woods.

[Ron Puettmann] Fishing is probably our number one lake activity. Recreational boating is probably second. We do have a ten horsepower limit in the summer, so we do get a lot of paddle sports out here kayaks, sailboats and paddle boards, that sort of thing.

[Ron Puettmann] Our state parks were created back in the 30s by Thomas Houston MacBride, you know, the namesake of our park to set aside places like this for people to enjoy. One of the most important things that we've done in the state of Iowa. So keeping our state parks alive and vibrant and healthy for future generations, that's so important. It's just a beautiful place to work. Every day, you know, we get to see this beautiful resources, the giant oak trees and see the lake every day while you're working. And I just love it out here.

[Kohlsdorf] The Avenue of the Saints connects Saint Louis to Saint Paul by blacktop. In Iowa, it's a pipeline through our state's past, present and future. 

[Kohlsdorf] We fired up some nostalgia at the Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion. Savored the local flavors at Kalona Creamery. Enjoyed a famous pie shake at Hamburg Inn No. 2. And we took a spin in a model T at the Antique Car Museum of Iowa. 

[Kohlsdorf] A trip down Iowa 27 takes you from the familiar to the unexpected and back again. For more on the history, culture, and landscapes along Iowa's highways, join us next time on Road Trip Iowa.

[Announcer] Musco Lighting is an Iowa company that travels across the US and to more than 125 countries to light community recreation fields, stadiums, airports, monuments and more. While our reach is global, we're committed to our local communities. 

[Announcer] Beverly Thomassen Schultz -- honored to support local programing on Iowa PBS.