Prairie du Chien Wisconsin and McGregor Iowa

 By Bruce Shawkey

Lots to do in and around Prairie du Chien, Wis.. One of the things to do is tour Fort Crawford. It contains remnants of a military hospital which offered care for sick and wounded soldiers beginning in 1831. Dr. William Beaumont, the post surgeon, helped found the study of medicine when he researched digestion at the fort during the 1830s. The building contains several exhibits, including an 1830s ward room explaining Dr. Beaumont's experiments, artifacts discovered at the fort barracks, and an antique pharmacy and dentist office.

Then, there's Villa Louis, home to fur trader Hercules Dousman (1800 – 1868). Through his various enterprises as a fur trader, lumberman, land speculator and frontier entrepreneur, Dousman would acquire a fortune.




Right across the Mississippi River, in McGregor, Iowa, was another attraction, Moody's Musical Museum.

It featured a collection of mechanical pianos, orchestrations, and other musical instruments. The museum included a saloon player piano, hand organ, calliope, mechanical player harp, and a mechanical bird that sang. It also featured "The Wild Wild West in Wax" and "Sam" the Mechanical Man playing a Honky Tonk piano. 

In the late 1960s, the museum's owner, Mr. Moody, moved the collection to Arizona, and the museum is no longer there. Our family visited the museum several times during its final years of operation in conjunction with trips to Prairie du Chien. 

Here is one person's recollection of the museum:

What I remember about this fascinating place, as a much younger person ,was on the inside: a black jail, a saloon player piano, hand organ, a calliope. a mechanical player harp and a mechanical bird that sang. It was one of the most interesting places to visit. Mr. Moody had many collections - but in the late 1960s he packed up everything and moved it to Arizona. What became of it there, I do not know. Records indicate Mr. Moody was born in 1911 and passed in 1993.

Here's a newspaper account:

For a number of years, Moody's Antique Shop. near the entrance of Pike's Peak park, attracted hundreds of persons to the area annually, but it was not until two years ago when Ira Moody moved his shop to McGregor and opened Moody's Museum that the place became important as a tourist attraction. Located on Highways 18 and 13 in McGregor (the former M. X. Geske property) the museum's ancient threshing machine, old time jail and old time car are traffic stoppers that interest many McGregor visitors. Once inside the museum, the tourist finds Ira's collection of early day America of great interest. A "barrel piano," old time saloon player piano, hand organ, German calliope. music boxes, mechanically played harp, and a mechanical bird that sings are among the musical relics. A complete country store, with an old meat block, tea boxes, shot dispensers and drug items, take up another corner of the museum. Some of the prized 'colored said paintings' by a Lansing artist, an old family sleigh. a high wheel bike, Gregor McGregor's buggy, a model pioneer railroad and a gun collection are some of the other outstanding items in the museum. And on hand to explain each collection and give its history is Owner Ira Moody, who still continues his interest in antiques and is constantly adding to his collection. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Some Costco History

Image
 By Bruce Shawkey Time for another Costco run. This time to the Costco outside Verona. First off, lunch in the food court.  Quarter pound hot dog and a Pepsi for $1.50. Cheapest lunch around. The Costco hot dog was introduced in 1984, one year after Costco's opened in 1983. The original hot dog was made by Hebrew National, and was sold at a hot dog cart outside a Costco location in San Diego. The price was set at $1.50 at its introduction, and has remained at $1.50 ever since.  As of 2018, Costco sold a yearly average of 135 million hot dogs, more than every Major League Baseball stadium combined. Next, shopping for supplies, starting with the rotisserie chicken.    The  chicken is one of the things Costco is famous for.  Costco has been selling rotisserie  chickens   since 1994   when sales of rotisserie chicken started becoming popular at grocery stores. The cooked bird debuted at $4.99, which is the same affordable price tag it sport...
Read more

Head Cheese

Image
 By Bruce Shawkey Jones Dairy Farm in Fort Atkinson used to sell a product called Head Cheese. (left). Apparently,, there is so little demand for it any more, they no longer sell it. Head cheese (Dutch: hoofdkaas) or brawn, is a cold cut terrine or meat jelly that originated in Europe, possibly Germany or the Netherlands. It is made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig (less commonly a sheep or cow), typically set in aspic, and usually eaten cold, at room temperature, or in a sandwich. Despite its name, the dish is not a cheese and contains no dairy products. The parts of the head used vary, and may include the tongue but do not commonly include the brain, eyes or ears. Trimmings from more commonly eaten cuts of pork and veal are often used, and sometimes the feet and heart, with gelatin added as a binder. Variations of head cheese exist throughout Europe and elsewhere, with differences in preparation and ingredients. A version pickled with vinegar is known as souse. Historica...
Read more

Raymond "Skip" Henderson

Image
 By Bruce Shawkey I met Raymond "Skip" Henderson about 1986. He was (and is) a watch collector. He lives in New Orleans, and scours the antique shops along Royal Avenue in search of treasures. He also combs the local garage sales and flea markets. One time, he found an old lamp and lampshade. He inquired as to its origin. He was told the shade was made from human skin and was an artifact of the Nazi persecution of the Jews. It was $35, and Skip decided to buy it.  He held on to it for about a year and then decided to get rid of it. Said Skip, "I mean, you take it out of the box, man, people do not want to be in the same room as this thing." Skip sent the shade to a friend in Brooklyn, Mark Jacobson, who writes for New York magazine. Jacobson paid $6,000 to have it tested at a leading genetics laboratory. The results confirmed every ones' suspicion. It was made from human skin.   The story ends there. Skip did not wish to have the lampshade returned to him. Skip ...
Read more