[Page 36] Selling the Centennial buttons for the Chamber of Commerce is one of the contributions of the Mason City Business and Professional Women to the celebration. Mrs. W. F. Isaacson, left, first vice president, looks on as Mrs. J. E. Osborne pins a button on Miss Eva Scott. At 10 cents each the buttons are providing a small margin of profit to help a little on the huge budget needed by the Chamber of Commerce to sponsor the Centennial celebration. Practically all of the $17,000 that makes the celebration possible was raised among the business, professional and industrial men of the community.

 Mrs. Ann Otzen Sutton, Plymouth, composed Mason City's Centennial Song, which will be sung at the opening salute of the 8-day celebration Sunday evening, June 7, at East Park by the Chamber of Commerce Chorus and on other occasions during the observance. She is shown at her piano at work on the song.

 [Page 36] One of the projects of the Centennial was production of these little pig souvenirs of the Centennial by the Mason City Ceramic Club. The pigs, made chiefly of Mason City clay, are in various colors and designs, as shown, in which Miss Lillian Sanberg, one of the club members, is exhibiting some of the club's work. They will be on sale during Centennial Week.

 [Page 37] Helping to build many of the floats for the Centennial historical parade is Warren Ruby, high school art instructor. For several weeks Ruby spent his spare time constructing elaborately tinseled spars and effects to adorn many of the floats. The workshop in his garage was filled with the results of the one man production line.

 [Page 37] The observance of the Centennial included the providing of a cachet at the Mason City postoffice. A. J. Rhutasel, assistant superintendent of the mails, is shown putting the cachet into use. Others in the picture are, from left, Postmaster Henry Pendergraft; John Vance, Centennial committee general chairman; Lester Milligan, Chamber of Commerce secretary; and Bob Altman in charge of arrangements for the cachet for the Chamber. The cachet puts this inscription on all letters mailed from Mason City, "Mason City Centennial, 1853 - 1953, 100 Years of Progress."

[Page 37] "Walkie-Talkie" radios of "H" Company, Iowa National Guard, will be used to co-ordinate the several miles of bands and floats in the North Iowa Band Festival parade. Getting the low-down on the workings of the miniature radios from 2nd Lt. David Hirsch of Company "H" are, from left, Hurschel O'Brien, starting chairman of the Band Festival parade; Jerry Burhite, Band Festival parade chairman; Vern Kimball, safety and co-ordination chairman; Hirsch, and Don Tubbesing, spacing and policing chairman. The Junior Chamber of Commerce is handling the arrangements for the parade.

[Page 27] Pictured above are the hostesses for the 100 queens who are to contribute so much to the success of the North Iowa Band Festival Tuesday of Centennial Week.

From left, they are: Front row - Mrs. Cecil Boyer, Mrs. Paul McAuley, Mrs. M. C. Paulson, Mrs. Robert Bergland, chairman; Mrs. Fred Andresen and Mrs. M. Chinkers; Back row - Mrs. Lloyd Farrer, Mrs. George D. Atkinson, Mrs. L. W. Lichtenberger, Mrs. Bernard Payton and Mrs. H. W. Crawford. Mrs. Warren DeVries, co-chairman, is not in the picture.

 [Page 28] Among those being honored at the Centennial celebration are Mrs. Helen Quick Dillon and Mrs. Margaret Quick Armstrong on their own account and in memory of their brother, the late Herbert Quick (1861-1925), Mason City's foremost contribution to literature, whose books depicted some of the dramatic scenes of the city's early life.

NOTE: Among Herbert Quick's books were The Fairyland of America (1901), American Inland Waterways (1909), Yellowstone Nights (1911) and The Real Trouble with Farmers (1924).

 [Page 31] The apparel of bygone days has been the vogue for numerous parties this year as Mason Cityans entered into the spirit of the Centennial. The picture at right is an example. It shows Mrs. William D. McCauley, left, in a 75-year-old wedding gown of lace embroidery, and Mrs. R. C. Berrie modeling a stole, a plume of ancient vintage and a 75-year-old pointed high-top lace shoes. The picture was taken at a party of the Catholic Daughters of America.

[Page 40] Floats depicting the history of Mason City over the past century will be a part of the Centennial historical parade Thursday evening of the week of the celebration. This picture of the Globe-Gazette float in the 75th anniversary celebration may give some indication of how history is portrayed in parades. It shows the origin of the first written records on stone, then parchment and finally the daily newspaper.

[Page 43] Talk about a Coronation. England has only one Queen, Mason City will entertain 111 queens. What a procession it will make when the hundred festival queens appear in a grand procession on Roosevelt Field. The above picture shows the 86 queens of last year.

 [Page 43] The Most Rev. Henry P. Rolhman, archbishop of Dubuque, will preside over the Holy Family Catholic Church observance of the Centennial Sunday, June 14, at 10:30 a. m. All churches in the community have been requested to have special services that day in observance of Mason City's 100 years.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mason City's Centennial has brought forth a Centennial March, composed by Meredith Willson, a Centennial Song, written by Ann Otzen Sutton of Plymouth. Among the poems written for the occasion is the following from the pen of Jacquelyn Temple Elder:

     One hundred years! What wonders they have wrought
     In this, our town, our friendly Mason City.
     In eighteen hundred, fifty-three, the John
     McMillins built beside a wooded stream
     A cabin small. As far as eye could see
     Stretched Iowa's prairies - virgin land - unturned
     By plow, and lovely, green, and lush with grass.
     Those pioneers - we owe them much; their courage
     Far outweighed their fears. Soon others followed
     In their wake. A settlement became the town
     Of Shibboleth. Where once it stood, arises
     Now our City with chimneys tall and church spires
     Reaching to the skies - all work of honest men
     And women with hearts aglow in civic pride.

     In Mason City, grassy parks are free
     To everyone who wishes to rest or play.
     No means of culture do we lack - with churches,
     Fine schools, and music grand. In pride we point
     To our library standing stately - beautiful.
     Our city has busy streets and broad avenues.
     Once, covered wagons slowly wound their way
     On obscure trail where danger often lurked,
     And Indian in war paint dogged their paths.
     Now highway stretch from coast to coast; from north
     To south they run, and men go fast in cars;
     While overhead, the airplanes fly much faster.
     Five railroad go to distant points; and freight
     With Mason City seals, is seen abroad -
     In foreign lands, where other tongues are heard.
     Our voices go round the earth, and on a screen
     Momentous world events we hear and view.
     A letter, once dispatched in saddlebag,
     Can travel by the air with speed of sound;
     And men now ride with ease beneath the sea.

     Across our page of life, the shadows fall;
     Wars have been fought within this hundred years;
     Again we hear the beat of martial drums
     And bid young men goodby in agony
     of tears. We live in an atomic age -
     Portentous thought which numbs the mind and soul!
     Men now and men who follow us must keep
     That faith in God which led those pioneers,
     Who did not falter. So, when our people meet
     To celebrate another century, passed,
     Our town can toast one hundred years of peace.

Unless otherwise noted, photographs courtesy of The Globe-Gazette.
Some of the photographs did not scan well. In such a case the photograph
has been substituted with a clearer copy if available.

Transcriptions and Notes by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2014