I Grew Up In Boone Iowa

 In past years I've referred to my hometown on occasion. Really, though, there isn't much in the way of excitement about Boone. Isn't that the way it is with most midwestern communities? Still, in the 50's and 60's for me we were the center of the universe.

It was a given we could ride our bikes all the way from 1st street to 22nd street and back and it was no big deal. My bicycle was my life. I'd throw my baseball glove onto my bike handles and away I'd go.

I've recently discovered on Facebook a site called 'I Grew Up In Boone Iowa'. People write on it and ask questions like: Does anyone remember the Lincoln Restaurant? It got the name because it was located on the Lincoln Highway which ran from the East Coast all the way to California. It, the highway, was also referred to as Highway 30. It's sort of like Route 66 but there wasn't a TV show made about it. The Lincoln had the best fried chicken ever. Someone once told me the food was so good even hens and roosters were dying to get in.

For a town of 12,000 Boone, at one time, had three movie theaters. Of course, televison was still in it's infancy and if people wanted the news they'd go to the theater and after cartoons and before the main feature Pathe' News would give the events of the week ranging from WWII info to God knows what.

My dad told a story to me, I don't know it it's true or not, that after the Rialto and Princess were up and running a third theater was being built. There was a contest run for a local to come up with a name for the new cinema and the winner would receive a lifetime pass. I'm not certain what some the suggested names were but with my local knowledge it could have easily been called Ike or Eisenhower. He married Mamie who was a town citizen. The Northwestern would have been an apt name. That railroad and its tracks ran smack dab through the center of town. It also employed the major bulk of our population. When the time came to announce the winner the name selected was, tah dah, The Boone Theater. I've heard the people were so incensed with this new name they promptly burned the place down. I'm just kidding on that but I bet mentally this happened to everyone except the lucky person who came up with the original moniker.

We also had a newspaper called The Boone News Republican. It was delivered on a daily basis. The paper was a 'must' for anyone it town. Obituries were highly significant but in a town that size when a person met there demise the entire city knew about fifteen minutes before said person succumed. The best feature about the Boone News was the sports section. Boone Little League, Babe Ruth baseball, and the high school sports teams garnered top attention.

I recall a night when I didn't have a basketball game the head sportswriter asked if I'm take over the phone and take down scores and story lines from the surrounding schools. That was big time stuff for me and also the neighboring towns to see their results in the newspaper. I'm not certain if the BNR publishes more than two days a week these days. What a shame. Such is progress.

Boone isn't all that special but in the big scheme of things it was better than most and not as bad as others.