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| THE IOWA BUILDING - The lakeward end of this
structure was the regular "Shelter" when Jackson Park was a green and
beautiful mall. Here the young people danced on Saturday nights, and
little children romped on rainy days. Iowa was second on the list of
applications for space in the park, and was first assigned a tract on
the site of the little round restaurant which still stands near the
Victoria House. Afterward, however, the site was changed, and Iowa
was given the only State tract on the lake shore. As the Park
Commissioners would not allow the enthusiastic Hawkeyes to pull down
the costly "Shelter" their architects, Joselyn & Taylor, of Sioux
City, set about the difficult problem of enlarging the low and
rambling rustic pavilion. Mr. Joselyn was of an ancient French
family. One day while he was looking over some family relics of the
Chateau de Joselyn, a historic structure still standing in his native
country, he found it possible by an enlargement to the "Shelter" to
reproduce the chateau of his ancestors, and he obtained the consent
of the park Commissioners (the legal authorities usually in control
of the grounds) to make the additions. The area of the Iowa Building
thus became two hundred and twenty-three by sixty feet, with a
two-story west end, though preserving the appearance of the one-story
Shelter. The interior decorations of this great area were one of the
principal sights of the Fair, and were composed of cereals, with a
"coal palace" and other features. Cost, $35,000. |
