Since our very start, Clear Lake City Park has been one happening place. In 1870, James Dickirson gifted this beautiful property to his Clear Lake Village. When Clear Lake City and Clear Lake Village incorporated to become Clear Lake in 1871, this park was front and center of the new town. In the early years [...]

In 1871 Joseph Hewitt’s Clear Lake City, south of the outlet, and James Dickirson’s Clear Lake Village, where our downtown of today stands, were joined and incorporated as Clear Lake Iowa. That same year the railroad and the telegraph arrived in town. These events set the scene for a booming tourist industry that followed and [...]

History is a combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Ugly was raising its head in the early to mid 1920’s in North Iowa. The Ku Klux Klan was gaining prominence in the USA. For a time they had a foothold in Clear Lake and Mason City. The Clear Lake Reporter wrote in [...]

Did you walk a mile to school through snowstorms? Uphill both ways? They just don’t make em like they used to. Are you missing the snow? The way it softens the landscape and muffles the sound?  There is an excitement in the predictions of “the big one”. People rush to the grocery store , gas [...]

This history segment is brought to you by the Clear Lake Public Library History Room. More stories about our past are waiting here for you to discover them. In recent years Clear Lake has undergone substantial revitalization projects to restore her good name. Multiple groups and countless activists joined together to bring back the Clear. [...]

From their initial performance at Bayside in 1936 through 2008, the Clear Lake Drum and Bugle Corps played “Ode to Joy” or “The Corn Song” for countless audiences. John Kopecky was the founder and first director of the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps. In 1942, the Corps joined forces with the Boy Scouts to [...]

On Monday February 17th, our nation recognizes Presidents’ Day. Clear Lake had its own Presidents Day on February 10th 1996. The hectic days leading up to President Bill Clinton’s visit to Clear Lake Farmers Coop were full of unusual happenings. Employees who went to their daily coffee groups were told that the FBI had been [...]

Clear Lake has a long history of supporting local students in extracurricular activities. From auditoriums full of play and music goers to gyms packed with cheering fans, our community gathers in collective pride. In 1968 that Clear Lake enthusiasm was on full display for the first boys basketball team to get a berth to the [...]

The music didn’t die on February 3rd 1959. Far from it! Clear Lake and our beloved Surf Ballroom have celebrated the everlasting music of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), and Ritchie Valens for 49 years. In the wee hours of February 3rd 1959, after the rocking Surf concert, pilot Roger [...]

Here’s a fun fact; ice fishing was illegal in Iowa from 1898-1950. Yup- really. Scott Grummer, DNR Fisheries Management Biologist, confirms this surprising fact. In addition, ice shacks were outlawed two years earlier in 1896. Several reasons initiated the ban. Many were worried that if female fish, full of eggs, were harvested in winter that [...]