The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Sunday, May 15, 2011
by Richard Johnson

MESERVEY -- For years, Watermelon Day was the big annual celebration in Meservey.

"We could have all we wanted," said Ruth WADDINGHAM, 94, a 1934 graduate of the former Meservey High School. "They cut us slices and we just ate it," she said.

That was when Meservey had a Chevy garage, a hotel, at least three implement dealers, a stockyard, a hatchery, two grocery stores, a hardware store, a pool hall, a telephone office and a roller rink - and you could buy candy at Mel SMITH'S counter in the Post Office.

There are just a few businesses left in the city of about 252 in southwest Cerro Gordo County.

There's nowhere to fuel up or get groceries, to the dismay of Meservey native Sylvia RAEKER, 90.

"We need a gas station and a convenience store," she said. "I think it would work. Just can't make it too big."

Hope is hard to squash.

And there's plenty of it here as residents prepare for the city's 125th birthday party on Saturday and Sunday, July 2-3.

There will be twice as many fireworks as normal on July 2 in Meservey, which is known for its annual Independence Day fireworks display.

"A lot of people come to the fireworks from all over. Best around," Mayor Richard MILLER said.

"It's our home," Ruth WADDINGHAM said. "Our only home."

"Great little town," Sylvia RAEKER said.

  Brothers George and Karl KAUS of Hampton bought and platted prairie land in 1886. They paid less than $4 an acre for the area, named Kausville, according to a city history at www.meserve.org/stories.htm.

Stillman T. MESERVEY of Fort Dodge promoted the Mason City & Fort Dodge Railroad Co., established in 1888, a year after the city was re-platted as Meservey in his honor.

Meservey was incorporated in 1893. Still, a weathered Kausville Café sign remains atop a boarded-up business on First Street.

Ruth WADDINGHAM'S eyes sparkle as she recalls Saturday evening music sessions back in the day.

There was a band: Ruth on saxophone and her late husband, Wayne, on drums. They earned 50-cents each to play on a hayrack.

"Just a Meservey bunch they got together," Ruth said.

Sylvia RAEKER played in the stockyard and on the fire escape at the old Meservey school.

Tramps camped in the stockyard and often ate breakfast at Sylvia's house.

"My dad never turned anybody away," she said.

She also remembers a visit by men believed to be part of John DILLINGER'S infamous gang.

"My husband (Robert) put gas in their car," she said. "Robert noticed guns in the backseat."

Donna's Lounge is still going strong (try the prime rib on Friday nights).

So are the MaxYield Cooperative, First Security State Bank, the Meservey Public Library and DCKR Horse Racing/SCHMALE Feed & Commodities, among other businesses in Meservey.

The American Legion and Legion Auxiliary post presents the big July Fourth fireworks program along with the Meservey Fire Department.

Nate PALS, 78, a former firefighter and City Councilman, leads the Meservey Area Promotional Organization (MAPO).

Sylvia RAEKER is president of the senior citizens' Golden Years Club, which meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the Legion hall.

"I'm retired but I'm on 101 things," she said. "That's what happens when you're retired. But it's fun. I enjoy it."