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 Number 5 | |
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| Number 5 | |
Abe Lincoln Comes Home |
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and Don Jensen prepare to bring Abe Lincoln back into the Castle. |
| The Castle's famous Lincoln statute is finally at home in its original place on second floor. When Central high school closed its doors in 1973, Abe Lincoln was moved to the lobby of Northwestern bank. After the bank was closed, Carter Dennis, 1967 graduate, stored Lincoln in his warehouse on Sioux City's west side. After Christmas, Paul Reinert contacted Carter to see if we could move Lincoln back to the Castle. Paul and Don Jensen decided to take a look at the statue to determine the feasibility of moving him without professional help. It would be a monumental task but we decided to go ahead with the move. Gary Olsen was put in charge to devise a plan whereby we could load Lincoln into his pickup. The plan would be to put Lincoln, standing up, strapped to a 4 x 8 - 3/4 inch sheet of plywood. Then attach a refrigerator cart to the plywood, lay him flat on the ground, then with the help of about eight men, hoist him into the pickup. Gary was called to work that morning, so we were on our own. After much frustration, we were finally on our way to the Castle. Arriving on the east side, Lincoln was backed up to the Jackson street door Now we had to get him out of the pickup and gingerly lift him to the sidewalk. This is where the refrigerator cart came in handy. We were able to roll him up to the first door step. Both doors had to be opened and the center post taken out. Once inside the Castle, our next challenge was, to somehow, transport him to second floor. With a rope wrapped around a pillar on second floor for safety measure, the men lifted Abe one step at a time. Finally, after huffing and puffing, we were able to use the refrigerator cart and roll Lincoln over to the pedestal on second floor. Now the real challenge was before us. How to get him upright and onto the pedestal. After much deliberation, it was determined to lift the base onto the edge of the pedestal. From this position, we would all grab hold of the plywood and gently lift until we had Lincoln in an upright position. Once on the pedestal, we removed all of the equipment used to move him and proceeded to walk him into position. Now, after a 27 year absence, Abraham Lincoln is finally home. |
Siouxland "Y" Returns to Castle Dungeon |
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After a successful seven weeks of indoor Roller Blade Hockey, Siouxland "Y" returned to Goodson Hall for another session of hockey Along with hockey, there was an indoor soccer tournament for kindergarten and first graders in the Sioux City area. Chris Fischer, Siouxland "Y" activities director, organized the two events which started on January 15 and ran through February 26. Monday and Tuesday evenings were practice sessions for roller blade hockey with tournament games all day Saturday. Friday evening for two hours kindergartners and first graders enjoyed playing indoor soccer. This was a first time experience for some of the boys and girls. Moms, dads, grandparents, and friends enjoyed watching and giving loud yells of encouragement to their young ones as they attempted to improve their skills in each of the sports. Siouxland "Y' has brought in a host of visitors to the Castle's "Julie Goodson" gym, also known as the "dungeon" or plain gym. Chris Fischer has already confirmed that he wants to come to the Castle next year with the same programs and possibly enlarge to other activities. |
Castle Editor Has Varied Experiences in Journalism Don became a Castle board member in June of 1997 when he retired from the Sioux City Schools. He spent 50 years in the school print shop first as an assistant to the printing teacher, then was certified to teach printing in 1966. He began teaching vocational print in 1970 at Central. When Central closed down in June of 1972, down stayed in the building and continued teaching until the fall of 1973 when he and his summer helpers moved most of the print shop to the Central Annex. He was in charge of printing three high school newspapers and four junior high papers. He worked with many journalism advisors and gained valuable experience during those years. He gained a journalism credit from the University of Iowa through correspondence. Along with his newsletter responsibility, which include writing, editing, typing and layout, Don is also a volunteer in the Castle Association's office as membership chairman and receptionist and assists as financial secretary. Tour guide is another activity that keeps him busy here at the Castle. He is also director and developer of the print shop museum located in Central's old print shop. He enjoys doing the newsletter and assists in many other activities where help is needed. Therefore in closing, if you come across small or glaring errors in this newsletter, we do what we can with what we have. Handicapped Elevator at Castle Becomes High Priority for Future Remodeling PlanAt a meeting with the city building inspectors, it was noted that a plan for the entire building must be submitted to the city before any remodeling can start. First on the agenda and highest priority would be a handicap elevator. Estimated cost for a three stop elevator was approximately $72,000. In looking over the original building plans, it was determined that the most logical location for the elevator would be inside of the north hallway, This would eliminate the necessity of a handicap ramp, since it is ground level. The shaft would be installed near the staircase, which would minimize construction and damage to the building. Linda and Don formulated a plan that would raise the funds for the elevator by dividing the total cost into 3 areas; ground floor, first floor, and second floor. Ground floor requires 750 participants giving a gift of $32; first floor 400 giving $60; and third floor requires 300 donating $80. These dollar amounts would not necessarily be limited to the specific amounts. It was anticipated that some donors might consider a larger contribution. A letter explaining the purpose of Project Hope was mailed to all association members and non-members on the computer listing. Letters were also mailed to reunion chairpersons, of recent reunions, requesting the latest up-to-date membership list of their class. Linda and Don have been busy retyping the list of class members into a data base so that a mailing can be made using pre-cut mailing labels. The data bases are sorted by zip codes for bulk mailing. Recognition of all donors will be in the form of a plaque displayed in the hall. | Class Reunions Scheduled to be Held next Summer and FallJune 23 .............. 1935 class July 7-8 .............. 1960 class July 28-29 .......... 1970 class Sept. 22-24 ......... 1950 class These are the class reunions that have contacted CHOA office for confirmation. Check our webpage for other information about your reunions. globalindex.coml CastleWeb/ IMPORTANT NOTICEThe COHA Office 610-13th Street Sioux City, IA 51105. In our mailings, if we have the wrong address we are charged for each piece of returned mail. Thank you for helping in this matter. Sheriff's Deputy Brings in HelpSunday afternoon, January 23, he arrived around 12:30 p.m. with 13 men to help clean up the Castle. Gary Olsen, maintenance person, provided brooms, shovels, and sweeping compound for the men. Starting on the fourth floor, the men swept out five classrooms and the hallway, went to the third floor and cleaned out 17 classrooms and the entire third floor hall. On second floor, 19 classrooms and the offices were swept plus the entire second floor hallway. As they finished each floor, the men gathered up all the "sweeps" plus litter on each floor and brought it to the north stairwell. Why the north stairwell? Gary Olsen has "jerry rigged" a pulley system that will allow two people to lower the buckets of "sweeps" and other litter down to the first floor, thereby saving many, many steps. Also a full pickup load of debris was taken to the city land fill. Total man hours spent on the cleanup was 60 hours and 175 pounds of sweeping compound was consumed in the process. Our goal is to have the building as clean as possible before the tours and reunions start this spring. With the help of the community service men and the sheriff's deputy, we are well on our way of achieving our goal. Deputy Ingram will be bringing another crew back to the Castle late in March or early part of April. Weather permitting, the second floor hallway ceiling will be scraped and painted. The office area on second floor has a prime coat now, and if there were time, a finish coat would complete the new look for the office. Outside work would include raking, taking out bushes around the upper part of the front yard. If you attend a reunion this spring, summer, even fall, or just a tour, notice the 'new' look inside the Castle. OPEN HOUSE Sunday, May 7, 2000 2-4 p.m. Closing program at 4:00 p.m. with a local High School Choir and recognition of former Central faculty members |
Project Hope UpdateAs of this writing we have 107 individuals giving a total of $7,035 plus a $1,300 pledge which raises the total to $8,335 On the last day of February an ad was inserted in the Sioux City Journal explaining the purpose of Project Hope. It was our intent to encourage the citizens of Sioux City to participate in this exciting endeavor. 2 Board Members Attend | Lincoln Statue History The large statue of Abraham Lincoln was a gift from the graduating classes of 1911 - 1912. When Central closed in 1972, Lincoln was moved to the lobby of Northwestern bank. When the bank closed, he was moved to the warehouse of Carter Dennis. COHA Board Members |
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