Parkersburg, IA Historical Society

10/15/2026

The grants just keep on coming! AUREON, an affiliate of Dumont Telephone Company, presented a grant in the amount of $1,700 recently to the Parkersburg Historical Society to assist in the first floor storm window project currently underway. J.D. Siebert from AUREON, and Roger Kregel from Dumont Telephone made the presentation to Board members, Becky Thorne & Deb Brungard. We so appreciate all the support that we have received this year from our generous donors towards our projects at the Wolf Mansion.

10/13/2026

Our generous friends at the Parkersburg Legion Post #285 and Sons of the Legion each made a donation to our porch reconstruction project of $1,000 at last evening's historical meeting. Mike Timmer and John Heffner made the presentations. Thank you so much for your continued support of the Historical Society and the Wolf Mansion!

09/28/2026

Gary Papenheim of the Meyer Trust was on hand September 14th at the monthly Historical Society meeting to present a grant of $5,500 to be applied to the new storm window project currently underway at the Wolf Mansion. Six new curved glass aluminum storm windows are being fabricated and will be installed in the coming weeks on the Dining, Parlor and Music Rooms on first floor. The LEXAN panels that had been installed in the 1980's had outlived their useful life and was badly discolored restricting the view of the leaded and stained-glass windows. The original 1895 curved brick molding was also badly dry-rotted and will also be replaced. Wadsworth Construction of Decorah, Iowa will be doing the work in the coming weeks before cold weather sets in. Total cost of this project is $26,000. The Meyer Trust had given an earlier grant of $9,000 which brings their total giving to $14,500 toward this project. Many thanks to the Meyer Trust for their continued support of the Historical Society over these many years.

08/20/2026

A couple of weeks ago we asked if anyone would be willing to make a cover for our 3 tiered serving tray. Our good friend, Judy Hewitt volunteered to design and make this really nice tarnish proof bag with a draw string. It's perfect! Thanks so much Judy!

08/19/2026

We are excited to announce that the Historical Society was awarded this HRDP Grant from the State of Iowa in conjunction with the Kothe Memorial Library. The Society had in our possession 611 back issues of the Parkersburg Eclipse dating from 1875 with issues up to 1917. None of these pages had ever been microfilmed in past projects and it was a treat to be able to contribute these pages to be preserved for all to enjoy. The papers have been delivered to Advantage Archives in Cedar Rapids and will be microfilmed and digitized within the next few weeks. Once that process is complete, they will be added to the digital archive collection found on the Kothe Memorial Library website and can be searched by keyword or by individual pages. This project fills in a very important gap in the historical record of Parkersburg's history during the 1880's up through the early 1900's. We are very appreciative to the Iowa State Historical Society for selecting us for this project and the Kothe Memorial Library for their assistance in filing the application for the grant.

08/17/2026

A great day to pick up mail for the Historical Society today. $8,500 in donations toward our porch project in the box this morning! Giving has been creative. We had 1000 bushels of grain donated, stock transferred to our Schwab account along with qualified distribution checks. It's a great time to get on board with our project and the $200,000 matching grant that we currently have going. Every dollar you donate becomes $2.00. All gifts are tax deductible. Please don't let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Thanks to all our faithful donors!

08/15/2026

Judy Hagen Cheney stopped by the Wolf Mansion today and donated her grandfather Hagen's 1938 Model 142 Air Castle Table Top radio. These were sold through Spiegel Catalogs of Chicago. It lights up and crackles a little but doesn't play. May see about having it restored. Thanks Judy!

08/12/2026

The Landscape Fairy's stopped by yesterday and gave our roses a little haircut and spruced up the Plaza. We love our volunteers! Thank you BK & LK!

08/11/2026

We had the pleasure of having these lovely young ladies, Ellie Reints & Emma Haan present a report to the Historical Society Board this evening regarding the National DECA Conference they attended in April in Atlanta, Georgia, representing A-P High School and the State of Iowa. It was a terrific presentation and the Historical Society was pleased to play a small part in their trip with a small financial donation. These young ladies and their friends worked very hard as we presented four Murder Mystery Theaters at the Wolf Mansion over a two year period raising approximately $5,000 in support of the Front Entryway & Porch reconstruction project. They used that production as a model for their project in DECA. We wish them well as they head off to college and the next chapter in their life begins. We trust you will always remember "where you from!"

08/04/2026