Muscatine, Iowa

Choosing Muscatine, Iowa to be the first stop on our WIT tour was no accident.  It's a little city about 60 miles south of where we live.  We've all been there for one reason or another...and, like I said -- we were looking forward to our Salvatore's lunch!   We knew Muscatine had several claims to fame.

For one thing, it was the home of the one of the richest and most famous Iowa residents --  Roy J. Carver (1909-1981).   Our MOST famous Iowan would be, of course, Herbert Hoover...our only President.  But Roy Carver had a WAY bigger impact on this state.

Carver was an engineer who became a multi-millionaire, and his foundation and trust continues to have an impact on Iowa -- decades after his death.   His foundation recently gave another $45 million to the University of Iowa.   Mr. Carver was the consummate entrepreneur founding three successful enterprises—Carver Pump Company, Carver Foundry Products, and Bandag Company. He and his wife Lucille became generous philanthropists -- and that's quite the understatement.

For a little insight into how he MADE HIS MILLIONS (turns out, he mighta been kind of a shyster) -- you really should read his obituary in the NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/18/obituaries/roy-j-carver-71-iowa-businessman.html

Maybe the second big thing we knew about Muscatine was that it was the CENTER of pearl button manufacturing...back in the day...

The History center is only open on Friday and Saturday during the winter.  WE WANT TO GO BACK...

Because, this industry was unique...and VERY interesting...how they used to collect all these Mississippi river clams, and then make millions of pearl buttons...for decades, it was a vital industry.  Unfortunately, it died the moment some jerk invented the zipper...

But -- the MOST INTERESTING thing we learned during our WIT stop in Muscatine was quite unexpected.  About a man none of us had ever heard of before....