Zearing, Iowa 1956 History

from Main Street and Center Street and placed elsewhere. Motion carried.

For a number of years the Jefferson Highway had been routed through Zearing on Center Street. Zearing had provided a free camping ground for travelers at the north end of Center Street bordering the county road.

Highway 65, which took the place of the Jefferson Highway, was routed west of Zearing. That left Zearing's Main Street without a direct outlet to the highway.

Agitation for an extension of Main Street due west to the highway started in the 1930's. However, it was 1951 before the State of Iowa started to build the extension. Work on the extension started early in June. Wet weather interrupted the work many times. The new route was officially opened for traffic the first week in August, 1951.

Some of the leading advocates of the project were William C. Young, William H. Brown, Kenneth L. Cerka, Dwight Elmo Johnson, Everett L. Johnson, Kermit L. Helland, and Mayor John Coe.

Mail hauled to Zearing by star route carrier, Merval E. Morain, Ames, Iowa.

Express office at McCallsburg, Iowa.

Grain hauled into Zearing by trucks and in wagons drawn by tractors.

Nearly all of the families in our community own one or more automobiles.

Freight hauled by truck companies and by M. & St. L. railroad, Roland Branch.

Livestock hauled in and out of our community by trucks. Passenger busses stop at Cerka Motor Sales on Highway 65. Gasoline transported into Zearing by tank trucks.

Isaac B. Norton was enthusiastic about race horses. He built a race track on his land. According to Leyrl Norton Edens, the track was constructed in the 1880's. She states that the track was used before 1888. A news item in a Nevada newspaper during the 1880's told about horse races at Zearing.

Effie Guthrie Craft said that she worked at the Norton home in 1896. She stated that Isaac was working on the track at that time. It is probable that he was improving it so that it could be used as the center for Zearing celebrations.