History

Over a century ago, the Reed-Niland Corner opened at a major intersection in Colo. Today, the site is being preserved by a new nonprofit, Reed-Niland Corner, Inc., with celebrations planned for June 14.

Behind every great man in a powdered wig is a remarkable woman. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we’re reading about some of the women who helped shape our country at its founding. On the 'Talk of Iowa' Book Club, host Charity Nebbe and expert readers discuss 'Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation' by Cokie Roberts. The book shares stories of the many roles women played in the Revolutionary War and the founding of the United States.

The Lincoln and Jefferson highways were two of the nation's earliest transcontinental roads. These two highways intersected in Colo, Iowa, where a farmer named Charlie Reed had the idea to sell gas to motorists in 1923. He also let travelers pitch tents overnight on his property. On this episode, we learn about the history of the Reed-Niland Corner, with a former Reed Station employee, Scott Berka, who was also instrumental in the site's restoration project of the late 1990s to early 2000s. Then we learn about a new nonprofit, Reed-Niland Corner, Inc. that recently bought the site from the City of Colo to keep the history alive into the future. Later, we head east down the Lincoln Highway to Lisbon, where the McElmeel family has formed their own nonprofit to restore the Meyers Farmstead Historic District and open it to the public as Pleasant Grove Heritage Park.

In his book 'Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America’s Civil Rights,' Peniel Joseph writes how 1963 was a landmark year for the Civil Rights Movement. Now, Joseph says, the United States is experiencing rollbacks of civil rights and racial justice ideals that the turmoil and violence of 1963 ushered in. Host Charity Nebbe speaks with Joseph about his book, and how the events of 1963 help us better understand contemporary political polarization and racial and cultural divisions. Joseph explains struggles for racial justice in 1963 reverberated worldwide, at times strengthening and damaging America’s global reputation in a manner that echoes the present. (This episode was originally produced June 17, 2025.)

Major news networks used to regularly present Americans with the same set of facts. Today, it's easy to stay in echo chambers with competing realities. On this episode, we take a look at how the media we consume and the ways we consume it have intensified community divisions.

The Center Street Neighborhood — a tight-knit, predominantly Black community — was destroyed by highway construction and city urban renewal projects. Our sense of community is tied to economic opportunity, and this hour, we explore this by starting with Richard Duncan, a former resident of the Center Street neighborhood, and his wife and documentary partner, Madison Deshay-Duncan. Then we return to the wealth inequality of the Gilded Age with economist and historian Joshua Rosenbloom to see what parallels we can draw to today. Finally, union president Charlie Wishman shares how fewer manufacturing jobs and weakened unions harmed our communities.