Railroads connected Kalona to the rest of the world, and we hope this exhibit allows you to connect railroads to your own lives.”

Boxcar exhibit, Kalona Historical Village

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If you’re even a smidge interested in the history of where you live, you likely know our towns, established exactly seven miles apart along Hwy 22, exist because of a railroad.

That might not mean much as you scroll Instagram for the latest foodie posts or pull up Amazon to order a new pair of shoes, but when you visit the new boxcar exhibit at Kalona Historical Village, you’ll discover those things – novel foods, ordering goods – were something your forebears were into too. And that railroad made them possible.

It’s strange to think that a person living near Kalona in 1865 would have never seen or eaten a banana, something we see piles of every day for 49 cents a pound at Kwik Star. This is one of the interesting facts the boxcar exhibit points out.

To get a banana, “You will need to take your horse and buggy to Washington, IA, get a train to New Orleans, and a ship to Panama to eat a fresh banana. That would be an expensive banana! It will be 35 years before bananas are shipped to the United States,” one panel reads.

Through interesting artifacts, photography, and interactive activities, the boxcar exhibit provides visitors with a feature-length story of what the railroad did for the lives of those early settlers. “Railroads connected Kalona to the rest of the world, and we hope this exhibit allows you to connect railroads to your own lives,” the introduction reads.

Today we might toy with the idea of “van life,” but the boxcar exhibit introduces viewers to rail life, which might mean working on the train and living in the caboose, traveling by train as a salesman, or hitching rides as a hobo. All three lifestyles are given their due, and the details are fascinating.

For example, who knew that “The caboose was a home office on wheels”? “After air brakes were invented in 1869, cabooses became rolling homes for the conductor and rear brakeman,” the exhibit explains. “By the early 1900s, most cabooses had bunk beds, stoves, and bathrooms. The caboose was often decorated with curtains, family photos, and other personal touches.”

So it appears our generation did not invent the tiny home. But tiny home dwellers also don’t have to live with the world flying by their windows at 40 miles per hour the way the railmen did.

If you’ve ever walked or run along the riverfront paths in Muscatine or Davenport, you know how frequently trains pass by as you take in views of the Mississippi. Imagine that action without the flashing red lights, ringing bells, and automated crossing arms warning you of a train’s imminent arrival. Sound dangerous? It was.

“A lack of modern communications created collision risks between locomotives, wagons and vehicles. Many railroad track crossings of roads only had passive signs identifying train traffic. These static signs required drivers to look, listen, and make decisions based on their observations,” the exhibit reveals, painting a picture of riskier version of Kalona.

The railroad brought stuff, a lot of which could be ordered through the Sears catalog. A laminated copy rests inside the exhibit, awaiting your perusal. Flip through and consider the dolls, suits, washing machines, and even houses that could be ordered. We might rely on UPS delivery, but previous generations relied on BCR&N – the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad.

And then, of course, there was the food. Inside the exhibit, visitors will find a recipe book to examine, filled with recipes from both before and after the railroad came to Kalona.

Before, people could only eat what they grew, which meant, “Carrots and other root vegetables would be buried in containers of sand and stored in a root cellar that would not freeze. Through the winter you could dig out a carrot and serve it with canned meat and beans that had been dried,” which sounds like a meal better suited to a thru-hike rather than daily life. But after, “If you could order it, you could eat it.”

We’ve only touched the surface here of what visitors can see and learn at the new boxcar exhibit at Kalona Historical Village. Check it out while attending Kalona Fall Festival this weekend, and experience “the ways in which Kalona’s citizens were impacted by the railroad, from commerce and connection to diets and dialogues.”