Ottosen, Iowa

        I recently attended an Ottosen All School Reunion.  It was fun to see old friends and neighbors from the area, but it was also sad to see the changes. 

        I went to elementary school in Ottosen.  I was in sixth grade the last year for Ottosen Consolidated.  The next year Ottosen merged with Bode and Livermore to form Twin Rivers School.

        Ottosen is a small town located in North-Central Iowa.  It is surrounded by some of the richest and blackest soil in the world.  The town was probably never larger than 100 people when I was a kid, but it had a main street with a grocery store, restaurant, pool hall, gas station, and post office.  The largest building in town was a three story brick school which would have been 100 years old this year.  There was a feed store close to the school that also sold pop and candy.  I went there on Monday noon recess and could get a lot for my nickel.  There was a blacksmith and a Co-Op Elevator.   Ottosen businesses served the residents of the town and the area farmers.  Today all the businesses are gone except for the post office and Co-Op elevator. 

        There also was the Commercial Club which is now called a community center.  Local businessmen and farmers donated all the materials and labor to build it in 1948 with no government or taxes involved.  This building was a Quonset corrugated metal building which is shaped like a half of a metal cylinder with a concrete floor.  It was not fancy or pretty, but provided a lot of space for the money.  It is still functional today and is where the school reunion was held.

        I was raised on a farm a couple miles from Ottosen.  Our farm was 240 acres which was large at that time.  A typical farm was 160 acres or a quarter section of land.  Farmers rotated crops of corn, soy beans, oats, hay, and pasture.  Most farmers raised cows, pigs, and chickens.  There were usually four farmsteads with families on each section.

        Most of these farmsteads are now gone.  Single fields of 160 acres or more grow corn and soy beans.  There is very little livestock and the livestock operations that do exist are large specialized operations.  Some farmers do not even live on the land.

        The farming operations are very efficient and feed the world, but most of the people are gone.  We have lost the rural way of live.  I feel fortunate to have been raised in that environment.  Almost everyone worked for a living.  Nobody looked to the government for a handout, nobody had medical insurance, but no one lacked health care.  Little welfare was needed, and when needed, the county, towns, churches, and private neighbors provided the help.  There was very little government involvement. 

        When a farmer got hurt, the neighbors helped with the farm work.  Some farmwork, like bailing hay, was very labor intensive so several farmers would own a bailer together and work together. 

        A person’s word meant a great deal and most business was done on a handshake.  Dad rented the farm where I was raised.  He farmed it for sixteen years, but never had a written lease after the first two years.  A handshake was good enough. 

        I am grateful for the experiences and what I learned growing up in Ottosen.  It was a wonderful time and place to be a kid.  I wish today’s youth could experience it.   How do we rekindle that work ethic and community spirit? 

        The following is the dedication to my book, Business Fits.

This book is dedicated to all the small farmers and small town business owners that played a huge part in making this

country great.  Unfortunately, they are both disappearing.

http://BusinessFits.com