Big Building, Big Dreams

Many of you may know I'm originally from Ossian, Iowa and I still get my Ossian Bee, the local newspaper, to keep up on the news.  While catching up on Ossian news last night I perused the City Council minutes, to find out one of the largest buildings on Main Street had been donated to the city.  The Dessel building as it is known, has been sitting empty on Main Street for approximately 25 years according to the article. It is the second building in from the right in the photo above. 

Now this may not seem particularly newsworthy, but as I kept reading it stated, "A lengthy discussion ensued regarding liability, insurance, maintenance, possible uses for the structure, and possible demolition of the building."  Now this got me a little riled up, as I have been dreaming more or less about having my own little letterpress business in this building and residing in the second floor.  Now, this is obviously just a dream at this point, but now that they are talking demolition, it really breaks my heart. 

An excerpt from Reflections of a Golden Era, Ossian, Iowa shares this about the Dessel building: 

"The year 1898 found much new construction in Ossian.  F. W. [Dessel] started the construction of the "Dessel Building." This building is 42' x 100', 2 stories in height with a brick and stone front. The huge limestone blocks which are at the 4 corners of the basement area were quarried from the Fred J. Figge quarry south of Ossian in the Silver Springs area."  It goes on to mention that the walls are 6 bricks wide and the Dessel business closed in 1962.  

I would really hate to see the building go.  It could be utilized in so many different ways.  I just hope the city reconsiders or perhaps sells it off to someone wanting to utilize and preserve the building. 

Hometown Vintage Style

In postcards that is. Over Memorial Day weekend, Matt and I spent some time in Okoboji, Iowa at their various flea markets and antique shows/shops. We go antiquing quite frequently, but I've never really found any memorablia from my hometown, mostly due to the fact that Ossian is only home to 850 people.

Well in Okoboji I ended up purusing the booth of a woman with about a zillion postcards. She had the Iowa postcards separated by town and to my surprise found not only one, but three postcards from Ossian.

I guessing the top one was a stock "Good Luck" postcard, with the gold painted on later for which ever town wanted them.

The middle postcard has a house that looks very familiar, but has no clues as to its location. The writer indicates "I suppose you know this house without me telling you." Too bad you didn't tell me. I think it is a house on E Broadway, near the railroad tracks, but I'm not certain.

The colored house at the bottom I think is actually now on what is known as Becker Ave. The house still stands there and is home to some former neighbors. They worked on restoring the house and they might have even had a copy of this postcard, as the paint scheme is very similar to what it is painted now.

Any Ossianites out there recognize these homes? Do they still stand? Am I correct in their location?

I'm Famous!

Well kind of.......by Ossian standards......... :)

I've been accepted as an Emerging Iowa Artist for the Des Moines Art Festival, so I made the front page of the Ossian Bee. I've yet to see the actual newspaper but you can check out the online edition here. Thanks everyone for the kind words about my acceptance as well :)

Great Northern Midwest Printer's Fair

Today I took a little roadtrip over to Mt. Pleasant for the Great Northern Midwest Printer's Fair. I was on the lookout for a press, but alas I did not find one. I did meet some nice people and got to see the Printer's Hall which was pretty cool. They even have the press and paper folder from my home town newspaper. The giant Babcock Reliance. Maybe by next year's Printer's Fair I'll have my own press.

Busy Busy and New Design

So I've been awful about posting lately. School has been taking priority thus far and I've also been dealing with personal things as well. Just recently went home to help my family move to the new house. Kind of sad to pack up from the only home I've lived in, but somewhat exciting to move into a new place.

Even though I've been busy, I took some time tonight to go to my friend Lacee's Mary Kay party. I've been using Mary Kay since I started wearing make-up (I won a free make over). They recently changed the design of their compacts and I was blown away with the design. My old compact was obviously a few designs ago. The new design is sleek and modern and I love how they used the pink. I ended up spending probably more than I needed to, but it was a fun time.

Ossian Fest!

Last weekend was the grand ole Ossian Fest. Matt and I took the trek back up home Thursday night in preparation for Ossian Fest on Friday. Woke up for the free breakfast (pancakes and Brockman's sausage is the best!) and then wandered around town, grabbed a couple of 19 cent ice cream cones and checked out the flea market. Later that evening we grabbed a piece of curb and watched the parade. Here are some pics of the fabulous Ossian Fest Parade.
This was crazy! This man had trained all of his ducks to march in line with him and every one of them had different little costumes.
And the classic shriners in their clown get-up.
And here's one of my great uncles driving his restored tractor.

All in all Ossian Fest was a great time. Good times with friends and classic Ossian Fest goodness :)

Home Sweet Home

Oh home sweet home. This weekend I went up to my parents for a few days. The main excuse for my visit was to clean out all of my stuff since my parents are moving. Now they are only moving across town and by across town, I mean within walking distance as Ossian's population is just over 850. Even though they'll still be in the same town and within walking distance of the old house, I find myself being a little recluse about the whole moving thing. It's the only house I ever knew growing up. Plus it is a beautiful house and one of the older homes in town. The house was built in 1900 and two other houses on the street were built with the same floor plans.

While I was cleaning out my room, I snuck into the little dormer connected to my room and forgot how much I loved the pattern on the floor. I can only hope the future owners enjoy the pattern as much as I do. Until then, it will still be my home sweet home :)