George C Call

CALL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 4/12/2010 at 20:58:01

Woodbury County History 1984

George C Call
1860-1934
By Mrs Mark Cord

Mr Call came to Sioux City from Algona, Iowa, in September, 1902. He established a real estate business: his first office was in the old Toy Bank building at the corner of Fourth and Jackson Street. It was destroyed by the Christmas Eve fire fo 1904. He then moved to the Masonic Building located at the northeast corner of Fifth and Douglas, and remained there until he built his own building at Sixth and Douglas.

He and Mrs Call and their son, George, first lived at 1628 Grandview Blvd (Pearl Street, then). Eighteenth Street was the end of the street car line, and there were not many houses between there and Grandview Park.

Their daughter, Helen, was born in this house, and they lived thre for five yars, later buying he Tolerton home at the southwest corner of Sixteenth and Grandview.

He then started to develop different areas in Sioux City as the town grew. He bought and planted Call’s Summit addition, which expanded form Eighteenth and Summit and Grandview to the Park. There is a plot known as Call’s triangle where Summit branches off to McDonald Street at Twenty-first just before the Belleview Apartments. Then, with Contractors, Coomer and Small, he built houses on these streets.

He then purchased the building at Fourth and Court Street, now known as the Call’s Terminal Building. It was then the Plymouth Block, built by the Massachussetts Realty Company that had developed that part of town during the 1880 Boom years.

He then built the Jackson Hotel at the corner of Fifth and Jackson Street. The Hilton Ram p is there, now. Their home, scene of many social gatherings, especially one in 1916, a tea for the benefit of Women’s Suffrage. Mrs Call was an accompolished musician, and they had many musical gatherings in their home. She was a member of the first Concert Court Board that brought many notables to Sioux City, including Galli Curci and Harry Lauder.

Politically Mr Call was a Republican, and was a delegate to many state conventions over the years. In 1908, he was in Washington, DC, for the Rivers and Harbors Convention under President Theodore Roosevelt. Thus began his interest in the future of the Missouri River and have barges. He woked at this for many years, and it has all happened.

During World War I he was Chairman of the Coal Allotment Commission and on the Red Cross Board.

Their children, George and Hell, were eduated in the Sioux City public schools, and graduated from Sioux City High School, (now Central). George attended the University of Chicago, and in the spring of 1918, he enlisted in the army and was sent to Fort Sheridan. Helen attended Rockford College first, then graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. They both married within WoodburyCounty: George married Alice Hawthorne from Anthon and Helen married Mark Cord from Danbury. The history of the Cord family is also recorded in this Volume.

George and Alice’s children, John and Barbara (Ruisch) live in Sioux City. They have several grandchildren and great-grandchlldren. Helen and Mark’s son, Mark, Jr, and his family (he married Nancy Swanson of Indianola, Iowa) and their children, Mark III, Scott, and David live in Sioux City. Their daughter, Mary, who married C Richard Mason of Webster City, Iowa, lives in Lake Forest, Illinois, with their children, Laura and Chuck. These four met at Iowa University of Ames, keeping up the tradition of staying in Iowa to choose future husbands and wives.