Greetings Family and Friends,

A new state, that would be Iowa, and a new capital city, that would be Des Moines. But on the drive in from Omaha, a stop at the birthplace of the Duke, aka John Wayne, that would be Winterset, Iowa. The town lies southwest of Des Moines about equally south of I-80 as well as west of I-35. Very easy to visit and then resume one’s journey.

Winterset is a small midwestern town that quite simply looks the part. Walked around the central part of Winterset a bit but not a whole lot, as the weather was still of the sultry variety. Snapped just a few photos: the postcard worthy – county courthouse, the just as one would expect it – general store, and the every town used to have one of these – movie theater (appropriately named the Iowa). 

The John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset is a combination of a modern building housing galleries showing memorabilia from John Wayne’s professional and personal life and the house where he was born and spent roughly his first three years. Both are very well presented and cared for – I was quite impressed.

In one of the galleries, a number of personal effects of John Wayne are exhibited, including a specially modified station wagon. Apparently it was modified to allow him to more easily get into the car given his height. This gallery also has several pieces from the “Alamo”, a seminal film in his career. I especially enjoyed the diorama depicting the Alamo. In the other main gallery, various memorabilia are broken out by decade or genre for the films of John Wayne. On the personal side, two aspects of his life caught my attention. First, as illustrated by the preserved bookcase, is that the Duke was a lifelong reader. Second, as shown in the display related to his boat, the Wild Goose, is that his favored environment was not the backcountry but rather the open sea.

The house is overseen by a docent who provides background on John Wayne’s birth as well as the story of the house itself. The docent at the time I visited was Carla, who loved taking questions and thus being able to provide additional information to visitors. One interesting tidbit is that the delivery of the 13 pound baby required a doctor to come to the house, and the doctor happened to be a woman doctor which of course was quite unusual for the period (1907). The family left Winterset around three years later due to the father, a pharmacist, pursuing his dream of owning his own pharmacy.

As to the house, very little if anything has changed over the years in terms of its structure. During the time the family lived there, it was prior to indoor plumbing and electrification. But in terms of restoration by the museum, that consisted mostly of restoring the wood floors and other woodwork as well as new wallpaper. The front door, for instance, is the original and is now well over 100 years old. However, all of the furniture was brought in to best reflect what would have been likely for the period and the family. As to grounds, the garage, while quite picturesque, was not on the property at the time the family lived there but rather was situated across the street. The gazebo came to be sometime after the family lived there. The outhouse would not have been where it is depicted now, but most likely would have been just outside the kitchen according to Carla.

In Des Moines itself, the Iowa capitol building is both traditional and non-traditional. The former, in that it has a dome and a golden dome at that, and the latter, because it has four additional domes (green) surrounding the main dome. Since I was actually staying in town and not simply driving through, I decided to see what I could see on the inside. Good choice on my part and was directed by security to the State Law Library as it is considered, at least by security, as the gem of the capitol building. And yes, it is a gem, but not merely due to it containing over 100,000 volumes. Most likely due to its Potteresque appearance. Check the photos out in the gallery below. I kept a close eye on the stunning spiral staircases for any magical movement but I may have become distracted by the other enticing architectural and decorative aspects of the library. Elsewhere, I was able to see the floor of the Iowa House of Representatives, but not the Iowa Senate. As a bonus, discovered the capitol building exhibits an enormous model of the “Big Stick”, the USS Iowa (BB-61) – a battleship which is now a museum ship in Los Angeles.

That’s it for now. As always, feel free to share this link with anyone who expresses an interest. Next stop is in the state known for its abundance of lakes.

Until later,

Papi