In 1863, H.J. Wieneke returned to Iowa City from the Civil War, becoming a tobacconist, partnering with the Fink family in opening a highly-popular cigar shop on Clinton Street. By the end of the century, the Wieneke family had successfully cornered the penny-postcard market, working out of the popular St. James Hotel. Poppa H.J., along with his oldest son, Harry, ran Wieneke’s St. James Arcade Cigar & Notion Store, but wait – there’s more. Carrie L. Wieneke – the family’s oldest daughter – stepped up to operate her own separate retail store next door – the Arcade Book & Stationery Store. From the late 1890’s until 1916, Carrie developed her own line of penny postcards, having them printed and imported from Germany. Sadly, on Good Friday, April 21, 1916, fire totally destroyed the St. James Hotel and all of the Wieneke operations were lost in the disaster. The resilient family gathered up their insurance payouts and reopened within two years on Clinton Street, later moving their Wieneke operations to Washington Street. Obviously, Carrie was quite the survivor and her unique penny postcards of Iowa City – circa 1910 – are highly prized by collectors even to today!
CHECK OUT THE COMPLETE BLOG SERIES – Iowa City’s Top 50 Influencers – Part II
Back in 1979 – The Iowa City Press Citizen ran a special seven-page section called Chronology 1841/1979 and it featured Iowa City’s famed historian – Irving Weber – and his look at 25 People Who Left Their Stamp On Iowa City. So, here we are – forty-four years later – and now, I’m offering these two posts – dedicated to those who have greatly influenced our city over the first 100 years or so. This page features the First 25, and as you can see, each of the 25 names has a brief overview with a link(s) to read more, if you like. Enjoy!
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