Welcome to my new project,
"Exira in 1899."
Why 1899? Good question.
The idea sprang originally from a map
I acquired showing downtown Exira in that year. It was called
a "fire map" made by a company in New York that, as
I understand it, made maps of communities throughout the United
States for insurance purposes.
I also had several old photographs
of the city of Exira and was curious if they were from this particular
era - SO - I started reading microfilm copies of the Exira paper
(The Audubon County Journal) from January 1, 1899.
It was somewhere during this time that
an idea for a web page began. "Wouldn't it be neat,"
I thought, "to have a map of the town - block by block -
on the web where people could access information about the different
businesses and, at the same time, learn things about Exira 100
years ago?"
Well, MANY hours later, I have come
up with a very rough start to my idea. There are several more
things I'd like to add, but they'll just have to come later.
Basically what you have here is a map
of the community, giving you, the surfer, a chance to learn about
"what used to be where."
You also have access to the news of
Exira based on a month-by-month approach.
And most importantly, you have a chance
to FEEL a little bit about what it must have been like to live
in a small Midwestern community at the turn of the century.
There are so many things that we have
in common with these people, yet so many which seem far removed
from today's world.
I hope you enjoy your "tour."
