The railroads that played such a significant part in the development of Manning are now largely gone. With the purchase of the Chicago Great Western railroad by the Chicago North Western the two roads were as one into Manning since 1968. Then in 1982 the track from Manning to Harlan was taken up and on February 19, 1983 the last train on the Chicago North Western left Manning for Carroll with the track taken up in the fall of 1983.

In the late 1970's the Milwaukee Road was also undergoing adversities. On December 19, 1977 the Milwaukee Road filed for voluntary bankruptcy and by November 1979 the line through Manning had been embargoed. On March 1, 1980 the Chicago 'North Western Transportation Company started to provide service over the embargoed Milwaukee line from Perry to Manning with that service ending April 30, 1981. In 1982 a Shippers Consortium bought the Milwaukee line from Council Bluffs to Bayard and leased the line to the Burlington Northern Railroad November 1, 1982 for operation. This service continues today and provides tri-weekly service. The AGP soybean processing plant in Manning is one of the principal members of the consortium and ship soybean meal and oil over the line. In 1991 over 3000 cars originated at the Manning plant.

The Persian Gulf War - termed Operation Desert Storm - began January 17, 1991, as the United States and its allies launched an air strike against Iraq and Iraqi-held Kuwait. In response to the international crisis, the Manning VFW Auxiliary sent more than 50 packages to Manning area service men and women who were in military service worldwide.

Rose Ann Nulle, president of the VFW Auxiliary, appointed Elaine Struve to spearhead the Desert Storm activities. Mrs. Struve filled an uptown business window with American flags, the names of service personnel, and a world map showing where each person was then located.

Elaine and her committee also placed drop-off boxes at the Manning Pharmacy and Thrifty Foods, where a wide variety of donations were given for the "we care" packages. An especially welcome donation was from local Avon dealers, who provided sunscreen for each package. The Auxiliary members spent hours packaging the personal articles, stationery, cookies, and food which were donated, adding things such as shaving kits which were purchased by the auxiliary.

A cease-fire agreement took effect April 3, 1991. Despite Iraq's military loss, President Saddam Hussein remained in power.

By Ray Thielen

"Come over to the window and look at all the water!" I exclaimed. My wife joined me as we looked west, south and east of our farmhouse with each flash of lightning to see one rapidly moving lake! The roads, fences, and growing crops were all submerged.

The night of June 16, 1990, began like most summer storms, but heavy rain, 31/2 inches in town and reports of much more to the north turned it into a night of fear and confusion for many Manning resident.

The following article appeared in The Manning Monitor of Thursday, June 21, 1990.

Saturday's Kinderfest activities were drawing to a close at 10:00 Saturday night as rain began to fall. Manning Police kept a watchful eye on the rapidly swelling Nishnabotna River that flows north to south through Manning, and the Willow Creek that travels east to west. Within the four hours of rainfall events happened quickly.

Manning received approximately 31/2 inches of rain, while heavier amounts were reported outside the city. Some unconfirmed reports stated 9 inches of rainfall. Rivers crested at approximately 4 feet above the banks and dramatic stories unfolded throughout Sunday morning as water halted traffic on highways and on many roads throughout the city cars were swept off roadways, people were stranded and businesses flooded.

"The traffic on 141 was halted about 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning," said Manning Police Chief Alan Kusel. "We didn't have it open again until 6:20 a.m. Sunday."

The minor flooding of city streets and Highway 141 quickly escalated, causing traffic problems and hampering rescue work. Workers had difficulty in getting to locations calling for assistance.

Volunteer firemen were called out at 12:23 a.m. when the flood waters threatened the carnival trailers parked near the bridge on Center Street.

The firemen responded quickly assisting with the evacuation and notifying residents along the waters pathway to move to higher ground.

A fireman said, "We got such mixed reactions. Some people immediately responded by following our directives while others felt they could keep an eye on the water and move if they had to. After seeing how rapidly a flood develops and how much debris the flood carried through Manning, I am just thankful there was no one hurt."

In some locations the rushing water took motorists totally by surprise, sweeping their vehicles off the roadway.

Nikki Foutch, Steve Ridgley, Vince Enenbach, and Cory Deboth, all of Manning, were in a car traveling into Manning near the airport when the flood swept them into the ditch. They were able to climb out of a passenger window and wade in water waist deep to safety.

"if the fellows hadn't been with Nikki I doubt she could have made it by herself," said her mother, Jodi Foutch. "The water was so strong they formed a human chain and made it out. Nikki has a bruised shoulder from being slammed against the car and numerous cuts and scrapes from debris floating by."

It took volunteers nearly an hour and a half to rescue Mark Wanninger, Manning, when the Bronco he was driving was swept off Third Street between Wede's Feed and Rasmussen's ReadyMix Plant.

"Now, I can joke about it, but when it happened it wasn't too wonderful," Mark Wanninger stated Monday, June 18. "It all happened so fast. I really thought I could get across because I had just crossed the river on 141. One minute I was driving and the next minute the water just picked me up and took me with it. It was so dark I had no idea where I was."

Wanninger stated he climbed out of his window and began yelling for help. Although he cannot swim, he said he didn't panic but was forced to stand atop his vehicle. An attempt by firefighters to reach him with a tractor was unsuccessful. Jeff Mohr and Merlin Hass spotted Wanninger and joined in the rescue efforts. Help was recruited from Tony Prehm and use of his boat. Prehm and Mohr made one unsuccessful pass by the Bronco. They gathered additional rope and on the second attempt were able to pull Wanninger to safety.

Authorities received Wanninger's call for help at 2:30 a.m. and in the hour and a half that passed the river had swollen to completely cover the Bronco and was about chest high on Wanninger.

"The current was so strong, I doubt even a good swimmer could have stood any chance," added Wanninger. "I am just thankful to be alive and so glad that I was alone when it happened."

Volunteers were at the same time called to a second vehicle stranded east of Wanninger near the Wede building when Mike Gruhn and an unknown passenger attempted to rescue Wanninger in a 4-wheel drive truck. Firemen were able to get to the Gruhn vehicle with a tractor from Puck Implement.

Evacuations continued throughout the morning. Gas and electric utility personnel assisted residents by disconnecting service as basements filled with water.

Many of the 50 people who took shelter at the Lutheran Church were seeking safety, not only from the water, but also from the danger of empty propane tanks that were dislodged from the Skelgas property east of Manning. While the water level was high the tanks were bobbing up against the bridge on east street near Highway 141. As the water receded, tanks began to travel with the water flow.

Volunteers rescued many of the tanks from the water. Even though the tanks were empty, if they had struck anything or created a spark, they could have exploded.

"It wasn't as dangerous because the tanks were in water," said Jeff Siepker, manager of Manning Skelgas. "I was called about 1:00 a.m. and worked with Ron Halbur and Tom Wittrock from the fire department to fish several of the tanks from the water before they got past the bridge. We were able to chain one of the 1000 gallon tanks to the bridge. One of the 500 gallon drums was all the way down by Ramsey Transfer on the west edge of Manning."

All of the 500 and 1000 gallon tanks have been located but some of the 100 gallon tanks were still missing Monday morning. Siepker stated that none of the dislodged tanks were filled. All the filled tanks were locked in a building. The water at the Skelgas plant reached the cab on the truck parked there and was past the engine on the bulk tank. Both will have to be overhauled before they can be used.

MJM co-owner, Ron Morlok, was trying to get equipment onto higher elevation when the water reached the building. He said, "I was about to move the truck out of the building with a few things when the water arrived at the Third Street bridge. The water was forced back and in five minutes it went from 0 to 18 inches deep. I barely got the truck to safety. with 20120 hindsight I wish I had taken the truck to higher ground because I had to open the big doors on the south of the building end that allowed more water into the building."

Morlok reported a dump tank of red paint was overturned by the rushing water and left a trail along railroad avenue. He was thankful the important property was kept safe.

"Now it's a matter of getting the mud removed and parts cleaned up," said Morlok.

Others who waited out the storm were Jim, Jerry, Ryan, Virginia Rasmussen and Barry Dunshee who were sandbagging at Rasmussen Lumber. They were forced to stay at the building all night as the water swelled around them.

"We were fortunate to only get about six inches of water, mostly mud, in our basement,"

stated Virginia. "We did have a birdseye view of the entire scene from our place. We watched the Wanninger rescue, saw all kinds of debris float by and when the water started to rise in the back rooms we were able to chop holes in the floor to keep the water from entering the showroom or offices."

Some places in the waters path had very little damage. Spies Fur reported only minor water. They were able to get everything up before the flood arrived and were surprised the building didn't get more water.

Just to the east of Spies, the Golden Nugget was heavily damaged by water and mud on all the floors, baseboard high. They lost all of the carpeting throughout the ground floor and vehicles parked in back of the building sustained water damage.

According to Mike Wede, Wede's Feed, the damages to their property on lower Third Street were extensive.

"We had up to 5 or 6 feet of water in the office and through the elevator. All the grain, feed, motors, and trucks are shot. We are still open for business, but the services may be hampered for a little while until we get everything sorted out," said Wede.

Ramsey Transfer had three feet of water in their building. The desk was filled with water and the lower drawers were left filled with mud. All of the trucks were unharmed and he is thankful he keeps all of his records at home or they would have been severely damaged.

Manning Oil Company was also in the flood area. Company bulk tanks were moved around, but none were dislodged or got away. Damage at the station was not extensive, primarily mud and dirt on the driveway and in the building.

Other properties flooded during the storm were Schroeder's Truck Garage, Puck Implement and the city garages.

Mayor Gary Knueven, Fire Chief Lynn Stein, Police Chief Alan Kusel and many others were up more than 36 hours from Saturday morning until Sunday night. They worked tirelessly throughout Sunday to restore water to Manning and handle the problems that arose from what is now the worst flood to hit the town since 1947.

The flood in 1947, in the estimation of many, was not as severe as Sunday's disaster.

"Once again the citizens of Manning responded with good community cooperation," stated Knueven. "We had volunteers helping to clean out businesses and offering their time in whatever ways we needed. There is still a lot of cleaning up to do. The crews have worked more than 24 hours to restore the water and all but six houses are back on line this morning. We have called the state for financial help but we don't know what they will do yet. Thank God, no one was hurt, we are very fortunate."

1923-The First woman to be drawn for jury duty in Carroll County was Mrs. John Frahm of Manning. She drew $3 and came home.

The depressed agricultural economic conditions had a devastating effect on small town Iowa. Manning was not an exception. The early 1980's were marked by the loss of several merchants on Main Street and a decline in population. A concern for the future of the community was evident.

In 1987, a group of community members decided to see if something could be done to change what had been happening.

A community meeting was held in the high school auditorium. Over one hundred interested citizens attended.

The purpose of the meeting was to examine our strengths and weaknesses as a community in order to determine some direction for the future. The result of this meeting was the establishment of six areas of activity that hold the key to Manning's future.

1---------Economic and Retail Development

2--------- City Infrastructure

3--------- Housing

4--------- Medical Services

5--------- Heritage and Tourism

6--------- Public Services

Each area then developed a set of goals that would help the community look to the future.

a--------- Construct building for future development

b--------- Acquire land for future expansion

c--------- Recruit new businesses

d--------- Encourage German/Bavarian Theme

a--------- Resurface residential streets

b--------- Main Street Redevelopment

c--------- Enact tax abatement and Tax Increment Financing

b--------- Identify sites for housing

c--------- Develop housing projects

a--------- Physician recruitment

b--------- Establish foundation for fund raising

c---------Build a medical clinic

a--------- Plan and carry out additional fesitvals

b--------- Establish Manning information office

c--------- German Housebarn Development

a--------- Maintain strong eduactional system

b--------- Look for new ways to serve

c--------- Establish a County/State Parkground

The record will show that many of these goals have been or are in the process of being completed. Community leaders hope that this process will continue in order to evaluate, plan, and implement the projects that Manning needs in order to remain a great place to live.

During the great depression we hired a man to help on the farm for $16 a month. We paid this with money received from cream checks from the 6 cows we milked. We sold 12 dozen eggs at 9 cents a dozen each week. With this we bought 2 gallons of gas at 20 cents a gallon for the car. This took us home and back to town the next week. The rest of the cream money went for flour, sugar, salt and coffee. We grew our own garden and butchered our own pork and beef.

Elsie Wilhelm

Manning Community Betterment efforts, which began during the mid 80s as a result of Manning's sagging economy, prompted concerned citizens to examine the city's assets and to set direction for its future. As a result, Manning's German heritage was identified as one of the community's strengths and was targeted for preservation and promotion.

By this time Manning's annual Children's Day noted its 100th celebration in 1983, and moved into it's second century of celebration.

It was in 1987 that Weihnachtsfest, Manning's second heritage festival began. With the Christmas season approaching, citizens were concerned by the number of empty business buildings along Manning's Main Street. Ideas began to surface as citizens sought ways to make Main Street more attractive for the coming holidays. Enthusiasm ran high as more and more ideas were shared and planning was quickly underway to present an event similar to the traditional Christmas festival held in Germany.

The festival, which began the Saturday following Thanksgiving, was nine days in length in 1987. Festivities were found along Main Street all day Saturday and Sunday, and on Wednesday evenings for three weeks.

The empty buildings had been suddenly filled with holiday attractions that lured people inside. The festival provided variety; crafts, entertainment, contests, foods, and displays, as residents shared Christmas traditions common to our area.

When the 1987 celebration was over, the experimental event was deemed an overwhelming success and planning for the second annual Christmas festival was immediately underway.

With the Wednesday activities dropped from the schedule, the festival continued to span three weekends through its second, third, fourth, and fifth celebration in 1991. With each celebration came new ideas and changes. Entertainment programs changed from year to year including such programs as German/American dancers, Ballet Iowa, cloggers, polka dancers, German singers, and instrumentalists. Additional attractions and activities for the festival included a volkswalk, craft demonstrators, sleigh rides, walking-talking Christmas tree, and numerous others.

Decoration of the community was a major project, especially the Main Street area. The Chamber of Commerce was active in a project in which they purchased white lights to outline all buildings along Main Street, as well as all churches and other community buildings in Manning. Six-foot nutcrackers appeared along Main Street. Christmas trees were placed in flower planters along the street, and business owners cooperated with the decorating by hanging greenery and lights on the outside of their stores.

Through the support of many community organizations, and numerous volunteers, the festival continues to bring a joyous holiday atmosphere to Manning each year. The celebration enjoys continual growth, drawing people from throughout Iowa and surrounding states.

After 100 years of observance, Manning's Children's Day celebration was reflecting the many changes that come with time. The celebration, that had originally begun as a oneday event held midweek, had gradually grown to a three-day weekend observance. Scheduling with carnival rides had become more difficult and had forced date changes and higher cost. By the mid 80's attendance at the festival was suffering.

Concern grew for the preservation of the over 100-year-old German tradition unique to our community. Late in the 80's committee members began work to renew interest in the festival. Efforts were made to emphasize the special tradition we had. It was during this time the German word "Kinderfest" came into use, while the Children's Day title began to phase out. The committee began promoting participation in the traditional king and queen contest. Tickets were offered to all participants and, in 1989, a prince and princess division was started as an incentive for younger children to participate. The festival also tried different locations, moving onto Main Street, and then back to South Main, around the city park.

The Manning Heritage Foundation became actively involved with the festival in 1989 and efforts were made to draw more community participation. All local organizations were contacted. Each was asked for suggestions, and to become involved. Many groups responded.

Preparations for the 1990 festival reflected major change. The community was working to produce a festival that provided old-fashioned family fun with reduced family cost.

The committee worked to make better use of the MCC recreational opportunities, and better use of the city park. Plans were underway for local organizations to set up game/activity booths, food booths, and to provide simple, organized games for children at no cost.

Main Street takes on a festive look during Kinderfest when wooden Kinderfest boys and girls are placed on each light pole and colorful welcome flags and American flags line the street.

Increased emphasis was placed on the tradition surrounding our young royalty. A crowning ceremony was planned, with previous year winners appearing in a parade and each crowning their successor at the close of the celebration.

Plans were made to expand the annual children's parade to feature the former royalty and add clowns, costumed characters, balloons, more music and excitement.

Plans for the 1990 festival were all in place,

and when the first day of the festival ended, Saturday, June 16, the community was feeling good about the sampling they had seen of the new, old-fashioned event. But before the new planned events for Sunday's parade and other activities could be enjoyed, the flood came.

The rain began in the evening and through the night city personnel and officials responded to the dangers that faced the community. By morning it was clear. This was not a day for celebration. Kinderfest events for the day were cancelled.

In order to follow through with prize drawings and bring Kinderfest 1990 to a proper close, activities were quickly rescheduled for the following Sunday in the city park. Without the extravagance of the parade and carnival rides, community members enjoyed a day of oldfashioned socializing. Children enjoyed games. The traditional target shoot and ball toss were held and royalty for 1990 was crowned before a moderate crowd.

Although response to the 1990 festival was definitely marked by the flood, a very positive attitude was gained. The community was well pleased with the changes they had seen and plans for the 1991 festival suddenly exploded with enthusiastic participation by local groups.

Early in 1991, a Kinderfest sweepstakes was held offering $40,000 worth of prizes. The purpose of the event was to generate revenue for the festival -- money that would be used to underwrite the cost of the carnival and allow the festival to sell 25 cent and 50 cent rides. The community responded with support and the sweepstakes raised approximately $9,000 for the festival.

Three months later, the 1991 festival proved to be a tremendous success. The crowds in the city park swelled as both young and old enjoyed the local game booths, food, low cost rides, free entertainment, a petting zoo, huge parade of children, closing ceremonies, and much more, all in the presence of perfect weather.

Enthusiasm remains high as plans are made for Manning's 1992 Kinderfest and Weihnachtsfest. Due to the magnitude of the festivals, both committees hold meetings year around to handle preparations.

With the state's new emphasis on promotion of Iowa tourism, communities have been urged to "do what they can" to promote themselves. The Manning Heritage Foundation has become involved with the Western Iowa Tourism Region, coordinating with state tourism plans and learnning how it can improve our local events. State grants, financial assistance of the heritage foundation and community donations have played a key role in the success of the festivals. While the foundation continues its work to promote Manning's two annual festivals, "the possibilities of an Oktoberfest and Musikfest are being explored and discussed.

Regardless of the support of the state, the region, or the local foundation, one fact remains clear: the festivals would not be possible without the tremendous support of Manning's people and their willingness to volunteer.

Royalty

Continued from page 43

When the Manning UFOs invited car enthusiasts to gather and show off their cars in August of 1986, it was the start of a new annual event for the community. Known as the Manning Show and Shine, the car show has grown steadily. When the group hosted their seventh annual event in 1991, it drew nearly 100 entries, of all makes and models, to the Manning ball diamond. The UFOs award trophies in sixteen classes.

In August of 1989 Manning's first annual Figure 8 Races were held. This first set of races were held south of the ball diamonds, between the diamonds and the sewer access road. This location soon proved to be too small and in years since the races have been held west of town near the city development area.

The races are sponsored by the UFOs. Merlin Rohe, Keith Rohe, and Kenny Rohe are also largely responsible for getting the races started and keeping them going.

Each racing event will draw 60-70 cars, with 810 cars running in each race. The races have proven to be a major success and after the first year were expanded to two events, one in August and one in September. Further plans for the future races are already in place.

When I taught school in Aspinwall there were no gravel roads, even Highway 141 was all deep ruts and there were times in the spring and winter when my Model T Ford had to be left parked at Ehrichs Garage.

Elsie Wilhelm