Dallas County

by Darcy Dougherty-Maulsby

Overview

No Iowa county has influenced American history more than Dallas County. It propelled Harry Truman to an unlikely victory in the 1948 presidential campaign, following a fiery speech he delivered to 100,000 farmers on a sweltering September day at the National Plowing Match near Dexter. Just 15 years earlier, a shoot-out near Dexfield Park marked the beginning of the end for infamous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde and the notorious Barrow Gang. Dallas County, located just west of Des Moines, has produced several major-league baseball players (among them Bob Feller and Hal Manders), a US congressman (David Young), and Nile Kinnick, the 1939 Heisman Trophy winner and University of Iowa football legend whose grandfather George Clarke, of Adel, served as Iowa's governor from 1913 to 1917. Today, Dallas County is one of the fastest-growing counties in America and remains a region of opportunity with a rich heritage of small-town living, farming, coal mining, and the immigrant experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467126304
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	09/04/2017
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	292,678
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Iowa native Darcy Dougherty Maulsby lived in Dallas County, near Granger and Woodward, in the early 2000s. Through her writing and marketing firm, Darcy Maulsby & Co., she shares the stories and history of Iowa. Dougherty Maulsby is also the author of Calhoun County and A Culinary History of Iowa.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 6

Introduction 7

1 Adel: Dallas County's First Town 9

2 Redfield: A Crossroads of Local History 25

3 Dexter: The Original One-Horse Town 39

4 Dallas Center: Nurtured by Banking and Agriculture 53

5 Van Meter: Baseball, a Mystery, and More 59

6 Perry: Northern Dallas County's Largest Town 71

7 Waukee: The Key to Good Living 87

8 Woodward and Granger: Growing along Highway 141 97

9 Tiny Towns and Ghost Towns: Memories Live On 109

10 A Posse to a President: How Harry Truman, Bonnie and Clyde, and Dallas County Changed American History 119

Bibliography 127