Council Bluffs, Iowa

Omaha, Nebraska borders Iowa where my dear friend Frances lives. Frances and I met at Graceland College (now University) as education students. We traveled to Mexico on a school Winter Term, and we served together as House Presidents for separate hallways in our dorm. While Frances was unable to meet me at the Lauritzen Gardens (my last blog), we did dine together. Afterward, Frances tickled my fancy as we drove to several historic sites.

The Dodge House

General Greenville M. Dodge served the US as a Union army officer, a politician, and the chief engineer of the Transcontinental Railroad for Union Pacific. His home, this mansion, was constructed in 1869. The home is open for tours, but we simply had no time to visit its interior (I’ll be back.). The mansion utilizes a Victorian style and reflects General Dodge’s wealth and cultural influence.

The Black Angel

General Dodge’s wife was on her deathbed. She experienced a dream where she stood upon a rocky shore and a boat approached through the mist. In the boat, an angel spoke softly encouraging Mrs. Dodge to take a drink from her water bowl. Twice she refused, but on the third night, Mrs. Dodge partook and attested to the fact that she became “a new and glorious spiritual being.” She died soon thereafter and believed the angel offered her immortality through the water of life.

Her daughters, moved by their mother’s dream, commissioned the statue. They chose artist Daniel Chester French, who incidentally, sculpted the Abraham Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial in DC and the minutemen in Concord, New Hampshire. Unfortunately the model he used for the angel had modeled in the nude for other artists and created controversy for herself and the statue. The Black Angel was never dedicated despite it eventually being on the National Register of Historic Places.

Frances has friends who visited the statue during their high school days to take part in nefarious shenanigans. She stayed away, but remembers the statue’s popularity.

Lincoln Monument

Can you imagine Abraham Lincoln strolling through town? On August 19, 1859 that’s what happened in Council Bluffs. Lincoln stood near this spot to take in the Missouri River Valley and decided to select Council Bluffs, Iowa as the “eastern terminus” for the Transcontinental Railroad.

The Black Angel sits just up the street, but Lincoln’s visit preceded its construction. I wonder what he would have thought of it.

Squirrel Cage Jail

Do you believe in haunted buildings? Many people are convinced this jail is haunted. Frances mentioned that on a visit when she toured with a friend, she had an overwhelming sense of dread and needed to leave her friend reading the signs while she waited outside. She could not abide the dark feeling.

The Squirrel Cage Jail is a three-story jail with circular floors. Imagine three pies stacked one on top of the other. Next envision each floor turns (like a Lazy Susan) on a central point, so the cell can turn until their pie-shaped quarters arrive where the jailer can open the gate.

Constructed in 1885, this describes the unique jail. In fact, only 18 other jails had the rotating cells, but no other jail was three stories tall. Even crazier—this jail was continuously used until 1969. Today three similar jails exist—one in Gallatin, Missouri, a two- story jail in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and this one. You can only imagine the fun Haunted Houses or Escape Rooms the town has created.

Council Bluffs surprised me with its ties to so many historic buildings and stories. I want to return in the spring, so I can take time to explore everything.