MASON CITY — The inscription "LeMars Printing Company, Mason City, Iowa" on an old metal ballot box caught the eye of Dallas County Auditor Gene KRUMM.

KRUMM was cleaning out a former polling location at the Perry Police Department when he spied the metal box which looks like an old aluminum trash can with a hinged lid and a slit in the center of the lid.

"We went up and picked it up. There was a lot of old stuff we don’t use anymore," KRUMM said.

The ballot box was among the election materials stored away. KRUMM estimated the ballot box hadn't been used for 15-20 years.

"Then I looked at the writing on there and saw that it said Mason City and I said I've got to get a hold of (Cerro Gordo County Auditor) Ken KLINE. I knew it would have more value to him than someone in Dallas County," KRUMM said.

KLINE got the ballot box last week.

"I accepted it on behalf of the (auditor's) office," he said. "It's a neat little piece of history."

The history is as much about LeMars Printing as the ballot box.

The LeMars Printing Co. moved to Mason City in 1907 to take advantage of the telephone directory printing needs of North Iowa pioneer, B. C. WAY.

The building on South Delaware Avenue was designed by local architect E. R. BOGARDUS and built in 1908. It was located just north of what was then the U.S. Post Office (the former City Hall).

In 1921, a corporation was formed combining LeMars and the Klipto Binder Co.

In 1961, the company was renamed Klipto Printing and Office Supply Co. It was then purchased by Ron LARSON of Larson Printing in 1994.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker April of 2011