The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Thursday, September 14, 2000
by Zach Jensen

ROCKWELL - Looking at the Rockwell American Legion Hall, it appears to be just another small tavern in a small town.

There's a neon beer sign in the front window, and old, veneer-topped tables wrap around a short but well-used bar.

But, the Legion Hall is more than just a neighborhood tap. The only tavern and stand-alone eating establishment left in the town, Post 208 is the social focus of the community and a place where the memories of family members who died serving their county are kept sacred.

That's why when the front of the business, located at 322 Main St. E., began to look dilapidated, the community chipped in to make the Legion Hall something to be even more proud of.

"It is much improved," said Helen CAHALAN, who sees the post every time she looks out the window from her desk at Commercial Federal Bank. "It was really looking bad, and it was beginning to look tacky."

"I think it's great," added Nancy WATT, the town's assistant librarian. "It's a piece of our history, and it helps keep the memories of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers alive. It was looking pretty rough, but it looks much better now."

How bad was it? Ask legion hall bar manager and cook Roxanne HOLMES.

"It was all old," said HOLMES, 31, a life-time resident of Rockwell. "It was a really awful green and red, and the stuff was just slapped right up there."

The weather took it's toll, too, and about two years ago, Joe STAUDT, owner of STAUDT Construction of Greene, who is a regular customer at the post, offered to donate all the labor just to make the front of the business look new again. Six months ago, the Legion said it would take him up on the offer and the facelift then began the first week of August.

The club dipped into its savings and used $3,000 to pay for the materials STAUDT needed to fix up the front of the business. Added were new siding, new moldings and new paint. The color? What else, but the colors of Old Glory?

"We're the American Legion, said HOLMES. "We are red, white and blue."

STAUDT and his crew did the construction work. HOLMES and four Legion couples helped clean up the face of the building, and refinished the bar's restrooms. The job was finished last week, and the result looks as if every day is Flag Day in Rockwell.

NOTE: Rockwell Veterans Memorial: The Rockwell Veterans Memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 31, 2004. There are over 500 names engraved on this memorial that have served in the United States Armed Forces.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2011