sioux city 1945 to 1995 - russ gifford · in 2010, sioux city was the 4th largest town in iowa....

SIOUX CITY –1945 TO 1995

WHY CONSIDER LOCAL HISTORY?

Consider this:

What decides if a community is willing to take on a challenge like job growth – or embrace a national program that promises improvements?

Much of that is determined by a community’s ‘shared memory’of how it worked out ‘the last time we tried that.’

Yes – their local history.

WHY CONSIDER SIOUX CITY HISTORY?

The people of a community decide which direction to take – and much of that decision is based on ‘what happened last time.’

AMERICA – EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Bust and boom and bust – and Sioux City rode them all.

SIOUX CITY 1893-1950Sioux City was largely dependent on the strength of the Stockyards, and the manpower in Sioux City.

TIMELINE

1945 1976 1992

THREE THINGS TO CONSIDER

•What major events happened in Sioux City during the last half of the 20th

century?

•Were these local or national events?

•Was Sioux City’s growth luck, or planned? Does that matter?

SIOUX CITY

• WWII erased much of the poverty issues Sioux City faced in the Depression.

SIOUX CITY AIR FORCE BASE - 1942

• WWII also brought a lot of new faces to Siouxland.

4TH STREET

•At its peak, the base hosted 940 officers, and over 5,000 enlisted men.

SIOUX CITY AIR BASE

•Some of them came back after the war.

SIOUX CITY AIR BASE

• Some of them came back after the war.

POWS

Italian Prisoners of War were held in Sioux City for a time

Railroads were important in the 1940s – and the network of rails brought small town people to Sioux City daily.

It also provided the city with a connection to the rest of the country.

But the Missouri river would remain an important lifeline as well –

seen here BEFORE it was channeled

POPULATION 1950

In the post war era, Sioux City was growing quickly.

In 1950, Sioux City was the second largest town in Iowa.

City Population

Des Moines 177,000

Sioux City 84,000

Davenport 74,500

Cedar Rapids 72,000

Co.Bluffs 45,500

1950

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

Sioux City, 1950, looking northeast from Prospect Hill

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

A close-up. Note the horse fountain ? Relocated to Cook Park!

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

Looking southeast from 4th & Pierce: The KitKat Drug Store (Later Key Drug)

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

A close up of the front of the store.

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

Looking north from the same corner. Martin Hotel on the right.

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

Same shot. Remember Phillips Cafeteria? And note the clock!

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

The reverse shot – looking back 2 blocks down Pierce Street.

TIMELINE DATES

1938 1941 1945 1950 1951 1953 1955 1957 1959

Auditorium

planned.

Bonds let

Auditorium

finished

1949 – Swift

Packing plant

explosion kills 21

City Celebrates

100 years !Sgt. Rice

burial denied

Korean War

begins.

Ike takes

Office

Airbase opens in

Sioux City.

Khrushchev in

Iowa!

Donna Sue

Davis

Kidnapped,

murdered.

1952 Floods!

WWII

Begins

Buddy, Big

Bopper, and

Richie

Red Scare

after China

falls.SC Voters

choose City

Manager

government

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

•Aug. 28, 1951:Memorial Cemetery refuses to bury Sgt. John Rice

• (Infuriated, Pres. Truman has him buried with honors at Arlington.)

BUT…

• April 13, 1952:Missouri River floods

ELEVATED RAILWAY

Looking west on

Hwy 20 out of

South Sioux City, Nebraska.

APRIL 13, 1952

• "Some 600 blocks were flooded in Sioux City. Thousands of persons were evacuated, packing plants and business establishments shut down.“

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

Sept 9, 1950: New Sioux City Auditorium

SIOUX CITYOf course, the new $2 Auditorium is a controversy without the flood.

1938 – Designed, could not get Federal assistance

April 1941 - Bonds issued. Basement dug as WWII starts

1943 - war shortages finally halts construction

1947 – new bonds, and post war inflation doubles cost!

1949 - A third bond is required – total cost $2.7 MILLION

SIOUX CITY

Lots of things appear to have been ‘overlooked.’

Electrical outlets with no wiring.

Parking lot, with no pavement.

Many see the cost overruns of the Auditorium as signs of graft and corruption.

Sept 17, 1953

A mysterious

5:30 AM bomb

blast will rip open

Sioux City’s

secrets!

‘Why target a fruit

seller’ asks Sioux

City Police Chief.3515 Pierce Street

(picture by Newman, Sioux City Journal)

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SAnd the trail of

graft and

corruption led

to one

building in

Sioux City.

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SMark Sabel, who was home with his wife and

infant child at the time of the blast, can offer

no answers.

The one answer he does give will get him in

trouble later:

All of his income comes from his wholesale

fruit dealership, he declares under oath

during a police interview. Mark Sabel

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SWhy target a wholesale fruit dealer?

Sabel had been of interest to police before

this, as his name had been mentioned in

discussions of bars that were seen to operate

‘after hours’ without fear of police busts.

Rumor had it that Sabel was the man to see to

‘avoid problems.’

Harry Elsberg, tavern

operator, goes to jail for

failure to testify.

SIOUX CITY – THE 1950’S

But the case quickly expands, and at issue are the purchasing practices of the City –

• Fire Trucks purchased without a bid.

• Purchases of new Parking meters where the low bidder was changed after the fact to the previous bidder – who later added ‘additional items’ that brought the total price back to the higher, original bid.

• Like the work that was paid but left unfinished at the Auditorium, the community ‘smelled a rat.’

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SThe case widens:

Mark Sabel

Commissioner

Nicholas

O’Millinuk

Commissioner

Clem EvansCommissioner

Drew Fletcher

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

Indictments included:

• Three Commissioners

• Five Tavern Operators

• A Parking Meter Salesman

• And the parking meter company

• A ‘Fruit Broker”

• An Equipment salesman

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SInfractions included:

• Kickbacks on city purchases

• Protection from Liquor Raids

• Influence peddling

• Conspiracy charges

• Accepting Gratuities

• Corrupting bidding processes

• Bribery

• Perjury

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SResults:

• 23 persons indicted:

• Two Commissioners plead guilty of accepting gratuities, get fines and suspended sentences.

• City Purchasing Agent resigns.

• Equipment company pleads, along with salesmen.

• 6 Tavern Owners guilty.

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’S

But what about Sabel?

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SBut that isn’t the final

word:

•Both Sabel and

O’Millinuk will plead

guilty to lesser charges.

•Sabel will spend a year

in prison.

•Almost everyone

charged will be

convicted of something

SIOUX CITY: THE 50’SChange

• The depth of the scandals surrounding Sioux City would bring great changes to the City.

CITY MANAGER

•The City manager form of Government brings a professional group into the offices of City Hall. The scandals cease for almost a generation.

CITY MANAGER

•The City manager form of Government brings a professional group into the offices of City Hall. The scandals cease for almost a generation.

•Not peaceful at City Hall – just not a scandal.

CONNY BODINEBodine, hired in 1958, begins appointing professionals to run the City Departments.

He would serve longer than any other City manager, and come back as finance director, and finally, mayor.

DONNA SUE DAVIS

• Kidnapped from her crib on the night of July 10, 1955.

DONNA SUE DAVIS

• Kidnapped from her crib on the night of July 10, 1955.

• This is the second child kidnapped and murdered in Sioux City in less than a year.

TIMELINE DATES

1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1970 1976 1980 1990 1993

Rockefeller

Commission

study

recommend

City Manager

form of

government –

voters agree

Floyd River

Channel starts

All-American City

status

Disabled United

flight crashes in

Sioux City

More labor

issues – IBP

breaks Union

IBP in

Dennison

IBP –

Dakota City

Zenith

Opens

Polio

vaccine

reduces

polio

cases in

Siouxland

Gateway

2000

IBP Strike 1969

Immigration

issues

Holman and

NY bribes

Kennedy

Elected

Aalfs moves

manufacturing

south

Zenith

departs

I-29!!

Missouri

channelized!

Rivercade!

Urban Renew

downtown!

Dakota Dunes

THE PROMOTERS• The promoters now are the media – and in 1962, Sioux City gains All -American City status.

•Rivercade starts in 64?

SIOUX CITY1967 – Zenith constructs a $3 million, 220,000 sq ft. facility.

Turns out TV, radio, and stereo components!

DEVELOPING SIOUX CITY

IBP opens Dakota City

plant – 1967

“We tried to remove the

skill.”

SIOUX CITY 1967No one knew it at the time, but it would lead to the end of the Stockyards.

IBP• The Dakota City plant is a revolutionary idea – boxed beef

•But labor troubles arise – and in August, 1969, 1200 strike in Dakota City.

IBP• The strike will last 8 months, and before it is over, there will be

•56 shootings

•20 bombings

•1 firebombing

•1 death

SIOUX CITY

Names for the second half of the 20th Century:

Government:

Conny Bodine

Loren Callendar

Business:

Currier Holman

Ted Waitt

232

July 19, 1989

111

died.185 lived.

232

“God saved

him. I just

carried him

out.”

GATEWAY 2000

POPULATION NOW

In 2010, Sioux City was the 4th largest town in Iowa.

City Population 1950 Population 2010

Des Moines 177,000 203,000

Sioux City 84,000 82,700

Davenport 74,500 99,600

Cedar

Rapids

72,000 126,300

Co.Bluffs 45,500 62,200

SIOUX CITY POPULATION

Growth?Year Population

1950 84,000

1960 89,200

1970 85,900

1980 82,000

1990 80,500

2000 85,000

2010 82,600

POPULATION

What Happened?

Again, boom and bust.

Gateway rode the market to incredible

profits in the 1990s –

And when the bubble burst, they never

returned to glory.

WHY SIOUX CITY HISTORY?

In Sioux City History, that is perhaps the one consistent trend.

Why?

Can we change it?

THE BIGGER PROBLEM

• Since 2000, Siouxland has lost ‘home office’ status major companies, and their related jobs:

• IBP

• Terra Chemical

• Gateway

• MidAmerica Energy

THREE THINGS TO CONSIDER

•What major events happened in Sioux City during the last of the 20th century?

•Were these local or national events?

•Was Sioux City’s growth luck, or planned? Does that matter?