Iowana+Dairy+Farm

Original Author: Rachel Baraks, A&S 195 SP12 Revision Author: Founded in 1910 by Davenport businessman Col. George Watson French, the Iowana Dairy Farm,which was located outside Bettendorf Iowa,was one of the most prominent dairy farms in the country for many years. Col. French was one of the founders of the implement-manufacturing plant, French and Hecht, located in downtown Davenport (Schipper 206). He originally started Iowana as a hobby, but it soon grew to be a profitable business and a model for dairy farms across the Midwest. One of themainpurposes driving Col. French when establishing and constructing Iowana was to consistently “demonstrate the dignity of the profession of farming” (When). Col. French viewed Iowana strictly as a “business proposition run on business ideals” (When).This unique view of dairy farming helped Col. French to devise strategies to develop Iowana and ultimately led to its growth. Iowana became a symbol within the dairy farm industry of how productive a large farm could if it was well organized and managed properly. Business strategies implemented by Col.French as well as clever marketing and promotional tacticshelped Iowana to flourish for many decades. The Iowana Farm was well known for its pure bred Holstein and Berkshire dairy cows. Iowana’s Holsteins were recognized as “one of the largest and best herds in the Mississippi Valley and throughout the west” (When).Through careful breeding techniques, Iowana raised the standard for dairy cows across the country. Their cattle continually won awards at farm and animal shows (When). The Holsteins and Berkshires bred at Iowana were in such great demand that they actually shipped herds of cows to states as far away as Washington, Oregon, and Arizona (When). At its peak Iowana housed some six hundred animals including cattle, chickens, hogs, and horses (When). Around 50-60 cows were milked daily by hand (When).A unique feature of Iowana was that it contained nearly 100 acres of alfalfa which was used as feed for the animals (When). It was popular belief that Iowana was located in a region of the Midwest which was not conducive to growing alfalfa. Through diligence and hard work, however, the farmers there were not only able to cultivate alfalfa but were extremely successful. The farmers also grew corn as another means to feed the livestock, andall of the processing facilities were housed within the farm. All of the milk produced at Iowana was bottled onsite and then delivered throughout the Quad Cities (One). They also delivered butter, cottage cheese, eggs, pork sausage, bacon, ham, and ice cream. Each week the homeowner would leave their empty milk bottles on their porch and the milkman would take them away replacing them with new filled bottles. Although it originally only delivered to residences on the Iowa side of the Quad Cities, as business grew they expanded to include both sides of the Mississippi river (Schipper 206). Through its delivery service the Iowana name became a staple in households throughout the Quad Cities. During the 1930s, Iowana expanded and built a store within the city limits of Bettendorf Iowa. It was a small wooden ice cream stand located near a baseball field and ice skating rink. The Iowana ice cream stand sold a variety of ice cream but was known for the “Iowana Special” which was a special fruit and nut flavor (Schipper 206).In the late 1930s Iowana built a new modern processing facility next to the ice cream stand. The building was extremely innovative for its time. Instead of having windows, the plant used glass blocks to diffuse light, eliminating shadows (Schipper 206). The building also had air conditioning and housed the only ultraviolet-light irradiator in the state (Schipper 206). Using ultraviolet light to treat milk helps maintain a higher level of vitamin D, and Iowana was a pioneer of this process in the Midwest. Though the pasteurization of milk was not yet required in the 1930s, an ad from 1937 states that Iowana offered both raw and pasteurized milk (Schipper 206). Soon after Bettendorf acquired its own high school in 1952, Iowana replaced their ice cream stand with a diner (Schipper 206). The diner quickly became a favorite spot for teenagers to get together, and photos of the diner can be found in Bettendorf yearbooks from the era. It was also during the l950s that Iowana developed their mascot Princess Iowana and their collector milk caps Io-Wampum. Princess Iowana, dressed in Native American attire, appeared in commercials and at supermarkets and promotional events throughout the Quad Cities often with her pet chimp Fo-Fo and her friend Trader Milt (Wundrum 231). She also hosted a Saturday morning cartoon special which was broadcast on the local TV channel WHBF; and she performed in several Iowana sponsored children’s shows at the Capital Theater in Davenport Iowa (Wundrum 231). At all of these promotional events, children were encouraged to bring their Io-Wampum milk caps and stamps which could be traded in for prizes. Io-Wampum was printed on the milk cap or on the carton or box of each Iowana product. An ad from the 1950s shows how much Io-Wampum each product was worth, with ice cream being the leader at 10 Io-Wampum stamps (Wundrum 231). Children would bring boxfuls of caps and stamps which had to be diligently counted by Iowana employees before being traded in for prizes (Wundrum 231). Princess Iowana and her Io-Wampum collector caps reigned until the closure of Iowana in 1973. Ownership of the Iowana farm changed many times throughout its years in operation. Although the dairy continued to operate into the early 1970s, in 1954 many of the farm buildings were demolished to make way for ALCOA (Wundrum 231).In1955, the French family sold the remaining parts of the Iowana farm to Bowman Dairy Co. of Chicago (Wundrum 231). Ten years later, in 1966, Dean’s food bought the Bowman Dairy Co, and in turn became owner of the Iowana farm (Wundrum 231). Dean’s food operated Iowana until 1973 when it was determined to be no longer profitable for them to continue. At the time of its closure, Iowana was delivering to some eight to nine thousand homes in the Quad Cities area and employed between seventy-five to eighty people (Wundrum 231). As of today, the only remaining building of the Iowana farm is Col. French’s 26 room mansion which was built in 1926 (Schipper 206).It was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1999 (Schipper 206). Although it is no longer operating, during its sixty years Iowana made a large impact on the Quad Cities and embedded itself into the Quad Cities culture.
 *  The Iowana Dairy Farm **

“One of Iowa’s Leading Dairy Farms”. //The Daily Times// 22 October 1929. Print. Schipper, Kristen. //Bettendorf Iowa: The First Century 1903-2003.// Bettendorf: The City of Bettendorf, 2003. Print. “When, Why and How of Iowana Farms”. //The Davenport Democrat and Leader// 21 June 1914. Print. Wundrum, Bill. //A Time We Remember: Celebrating a Century In Our Quad Cities.// Davenport: The Quad City Times, 1999. Print.
 * Works Cited **

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