Albert Galliton & Olive Park

PARK HALL WHITTEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/13/2010 at 17:57:50

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Albert Galliton and Olive Julia Whitten Park
By Arlene McFarland

Albert Galliton Park was born February 15, 1880, to Joel Albert and Amanda Jane Hall Park near Nab, Indiana. Albert’s schooling was in a red brick one-room school in Indiana where he went through tenth grade. Albert and his younger brother, Arthur, left Indiana in 1902 for Champaign, Illinois, to find work. In 1904 Albert went on to Missouri when he couldn’t find work in St Louis. In September of that year, Albert came to Mt. Pulaski, Illinois, and worked at the same job as Arthur. In 1907, the farmed together. Albert had a horse, buggy and $50 and Arthur had a horse, buggy and $250. They rented 160 acres that summer. Arthur married that fall and Albert continued to rent the farm for two more years.

In 1909, Albert came to Woodbury County, Iowa, where he farmed for two years prior to marrying Olive Julia Whitten on October 15, 1910. Their first daughter, Amanda Elizabeth, was born January 11, 1912, near Sloan and Laura Helen arrived March 30, 1913.

In the spring of 1914, Albert, Olive, and their two small daughters loaded their farm machinery and livestock in railroad boxcars and moved to a farm near Marysfield, Saskatchewan, Canada, to break the virgin soil. Their first son, Wesley Albert, was born there, November 17, 1914. Olive and her three young children came by train to spend Christmas, 1914, in the Whitten home in Sloan. While the family was gone in early January, Albert was gassed in the house in Canada when the chimney was plugged with freezing snow during a storm accompanied with temperatures down to 60 degrees below zero. His arms and feet were frozen when neighbors rescued him five days later. Both feet and two fingers had to be amputated.

After returning to Sloan, Albert designed and built the K.T. Garage in 1917. The original design was unique in that there is no center support for the large structure (approximately 80’ x 120’). He was agent for GMC trucks and Buick cars until he sold the garage in 1926. In 1928 he and his three sons, Wesley, Robert Arthur, born May 17, 1916, and Frank Andrew, born May 18, 1918, resumed farming until his death in 1938.

In addition to raising a family of five active children, Olive belong to and actively supported the Birthday Club, the Missionary Society and the Tuesday Study Club. She was Superintendent of the Primary Department of the Church School for many years. In this capacity she composed and directed many Christmas programs and recitations. Music and books were life-long companions for Olive. Olive played the piano and organ in First Congregational Church from her teen years until her hearing began to fail in later years of her life. She also gave lessons to many young people of the community.

One cold Saturday evening in 1927, a Harold Lloyd film, ‘The Lucky Devil’, was playing to a packed theater (about 412 Evans). The entire Park family was in attendance, something Albert rarely did due to his lack of mobility with canes. The highly flammable nitrate film caught fire and spread rapidly. The film was thrown from the projection booth onto the sidewalk directly in front of the main entrance. Elizabeth and Albert passed people out through the windows. Albert was one of the last persons to leave the theater and was having difficulty finding the exit due to the smoke and heat. The exit was covered by a curtain through which Marion Calhoun reached and lifted Albert out and placed him on the ground outside. It was truly amazing that no lives were lost in the fire. The fire was so hot that it broke out the windows in businesses on the west side of Evans Street. The Park family home at 501 Evans was temporarily endangered due to a strong southeast wind. The family moved all their possessions out of the upstairs so they could evacuate if necessary.

Albert died July 26, 1938. Olive continued to live in the family home until her death, January 9, 1956. At this time Wesley purchased the property and rented the home out in apartments. In 1972, the house was demolished and a brick four-plex apartment building was erected on the site.