A Siouxland Tale of 2 Cities

Sioux City, Iowa is the county seat of Woodbury County. The courthouse located downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Landmark which happened in 1973, and was built in the early 1900’s by a local architect named William Steele. Mr. Steele also was architect of a city hall built in Hawarden, Iowa in the early 1900’s as well. The county courthouse was built with a lot of style and flare. City hall appears to be a utilitarian style of building that is not on the list of the National Registry and is not in use today. Although signs in a window from a few years ago talk about a fundraiser to try and save the non-used building. A tale of two cities? At the time the Woodbury Courthouse was built, it was a thriving city of 80,000 and growing according to recorded history. Possibly Hawarden was not as thriving although the citizens there may not have been less enthusiastic about their community as those living in Sioux City. Jerry Mennenga Sioux City, Iowa