It starts with the Bunker Mill site that dates to 1842 and continues through K…

By FSB

It starts with the Bunker Mill site that dates to 1842 and continues through Kalona’s changing faces as the 21st century approaches.

Officially a calendar, the Farmers Savings Bank Celebrating a Century is a brief history the town and the bank’s 100 years together.

One of the more interesting aspects of Kalona is its signs and the calendar’s inside back cover shows the Signs of Progress from 1950 to 1999. In the nearly 50 years, it shows that Kalona clearly was never just a one-horse town.

One of the earliest photos shows the Lone Star Hotel, owned and operated by Abner Boone in the 1880s. The hotel is long gone, its site now occupied mainly by the Kalona Cooperative Telephone Company and the Kalona Chamber of Commerce Building. The Boone Family arrived in Kalona in March of 1879 when there was only a depot to mark the spot.

Of course, the depot is no longer exactly where it was, but it still exists. The March page in the calendar shows the depot as it appeared in 1921, 1965 (when some people started suggesting it be torn down) and in 1970 when it was moved to the Kalona Historical Village site. Ironically, the depot probably looks better today than it ever did.

Other sites are still very familiar, but not unchanged. Reif’s Family Center is now in the 6th generation of the same family and still anchors the southwest corner of B Ave. and 5th St. But the 1920s photo shows a town with dirt streets, wooden sidewalks and a center flag pole.

In 1925, you could see a movie in downtown Kalona. Now occupied by the Gambles Hardware store, the site was both a theater and a roller skating rink.

The Eclipse Lumber Company, which burned in 1939, was rebuilt. It could be the same office today, except that it is now Kalona Builders Supply. The 1936 photo shows that Kalona still did not have any paved streets, not even in the downtown area.

Once upon a time, Kalona had a municipal band and in August, 1937, it lined up to practice outside the Baptist Church. The band is gone, but the church is still very visible and now houses the Kalona Antique Company.

Besides the photos, there are brief histories of the buildings, as well as a short account of how the town and the FSB grew up together.

Copies are available—free-at the bank.