Bit of History -- February 25, 2026

Many people may remember the old Branding Iron restaurant in Ridgeway which opened for business in 1987. It was located just north of the new Centennial Park, where City Hall now sits. The restaurant was the result of an initiative by the Ridgeway Improvement Corporation, started by a group of Ridgeway businessmen twenty years earlier. This group had been responsible for building 26 new homes in Ridgeway during that time and assisted with other projects such as a baseball field and improvements to the water tower. They saw opening a restaurant in town as an extension of their mission. Francis Shepard, president of the group was quoted as saying: “Anything good for the town we will do.

The former Middleton Sundries building was donated by Max and Jane Fordyce to the corporation. They then leased the building to Dave and Kathy Madden who operated another restaurant at the Lamoni sale barn. They renovated the building with funding from the Ridgeway Improvement Corp. and opened for business a short time later.

The Branding Iron served Ridgeway as a community gathering place for 5 and a half years. They saw many family get-togethers, class reunions and community meetings during that time. In March 1993, however, the Maddens closed the restaurant here and reopened in Trenton. Although others expressed interest in opening another eatery at that location, at that time, it was unsure if or when that would happen. (Bethany Republican-Clipper articles dated, May 20, 1987 and Mar 24, 1993).

Bit of History --- February 18, 2026

From the Ridgeway Journal dated February 17, 1910:

On Saturday, March 5, a special train was expected to arrive in Ridgeway at 11 am. This train, sponsored by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, featured speakers and exhibits to provide education on “dairying”. The train included “an Arms Palace Car, containing some of the most improved dairy bred animals to be used at each stop to demonstrate the essential points to be observed in selecting and breeding great economical and profitable milch and butter producing cow” and a baggage car that had “ miniature silos, cow testing machines, dairy literature and other necessary equipment for demonstration.”

On hand to talk about dairy farming were men from the Department of Agriculture, the Iowa State Dairymen Association and other experts in the field. These men are recognized as authorities on subjects pertaining to dairy farming, who will lecture on the subject of breeding and caring for the dairy herd and making the farms more productive and profitable. All of this was free to the local farmers and they were strongly encouraged to take advantage of this educational opportunity to learn more to improve their herds, milk production and their farms. They were encouraged to bring their families as well: “Bring your wives, sons and daughters along. They need the training as well as you, for they are to be the farmers and farmers’ wives of the future.”

The train was due to leave Ridgeway at 12:00 when it would “depart for Blythedale and other northern points.”

Bit of History -- February 11, 2026

For this week, I have a continuation of the column titled “The Women’s Department” published in the Feb 2, 1893 edition of the Ridgeway Journal:

This was an editorial on the trend of “short skirts”. “The Missouri and Kansas woman suffragists lately met at Kansas City and advocated skirt reform. Many ladies wore dresses three and four inches above the ground and surprised their friends by the youthful appearance the short skirt gave them.” The shorter skirts had been tried before “when women’s rights were first hinted at by a bold few”. Some, like Dr. Mary Walker, went so far as to change over to “the entire male garb.” Ultimately, “many who wore short skirts in the ‘forties’ after a few years put on longer and heavier skirts than before.’

The trouble was that the shorter skirts meant exposure. “The lower extremities must be clothed to the shoe the greater part of the year in our climate or disease and death ensue.” The editor advocated skirts just long enough to cover the top of the shoe. “Skirts not touching the ground and never showing the top of a high shoe are now worn by thousands of women who never think or say anything about it.” The tradition of girls wearing short skirts until age 16 then suddenly changing to long skirts” was also evolving so that the change to longer skirts was done gradually and “many never wore a really long skirt”.

“No working woman can move easily in a long skirt, especially going up steps. She usually has her hands full and her feet get on a long skirt...Women are too sensible to waste strength foolishly.”

Bit of History -- February 4, 2026

The Women’s Department of the Feb 2, 1893 edition of the Ridgeway Journal was edited by Mrs. C. T. Jaqua, Editress and contained this adorable little story:

This piece was written by “Laura” and detailed how she and her grandmother worked on tying a quilt. Her grandmother had already completed the “calico” (what we would now call the quilt top) so they took it into the parlor “where the carpet was very clean” and spread out on the floor in preparation to be tied.  Before they could start, however, “There was a crack at the front door that let in lots of cold so grandma said we must stop that. She got strips of thick cloth, and I got two table knives. With the knives we pushed the cloth in the crack and then the cold wind quit coming in.”  

Grandma taught Laura how to tie the quilt and they worked together until Grandma had to stop to fix dinner. They finished it and then Laura wrote:  “She will finish the comforter on the machine and then baste a binding of a width of calico across the end that will be at the head of the bed and keep the comforter from wearing out so soon.”   Laura had to ask for help with the “big words” and finished her little story with:  "I see the Journal let Mr. Hazelbrush get his big sister to spell his large words and little sister to spell his little words, so I hope no one will mind because I asked grandma about the big words in this. I hope you will print this and not mind me being so small.    Laura.”

Unfortunately, there is no way to know who Laura or Grandma were as no last names were printed.