Let’s start this page with a few interesting collectibles from my earliest days in Wayland.
(M-0065) July 1951 – Yup- there it is – a little wall calendar displaying my birth month. Then, of course, there’s the Norman Rockwell’s artwork featured on the Saturday Evening Post of July 14, 1951, showing a concerned father explaining the ‘facts of life’ with his embarrassed son.
(M-0023) Here’s a 1951 50-cent piece minted in Philadelphia.
(M-0025) And a ticket stub and B/W pic from the 1951 Major League Baseball All-Star Game held in Detroit on July 10, 1951 (my birthday!)
(M-0024) No, when I was born in Mt. Pleasant (Henry County) in 1951, they didn’t issue me this Dog Tag, but I thought it was still a cool collectible to add to my collection. So, in memory of Buster, our Boston Terrier... this tag’s for you!
(M-0061) (M-0062) A 1951 Henry County License Plate Yes, I collect license plates as well, so I have one for me, and one for Sandy (Indiana – 1950). (L-0079) Plus, here’s a cool Iowa Highway Map from 1951. Click here to see it in more detail.
Though I was born in Mt. Pleasant (the nearest hospital), our Boller family lived in Wayland, Iowa from my birth (1951) to the summer of 1957. (Read more here.)
(S-0038) A pre-cancelled stamp in Wayland, Iowa and (M-0109) 1952 Wayland phone book featuring the Bollers on page 3.
Here’s our little house in Wayland, Iowa (above) – located at 304 W. Front Street. The clippings (below) from the Wayland News are my first public “appearances” – ringbearer for a Hulme family wedding in 1955, and my tonsil removal in 1956. Must have been slow news days in Wayland!
The Boller family moved to Mt. Pleasant in 1957 (more details here.)
(P-0142) (P-0279) Here’s a postcard (above left) of the Henry County Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital in Mt. Pleasant. Yes, this is the place where my brother, Eric, and I were born (1946 & 1951) and the place of my 1956 tonsillectomy! Here’s a postcard (above right) featuring the Mt. Pleasant Post Office. Click here to read more about how this building was involved in my Boller heritage.
(P-0143) Mt. Pleasant Elementary/Jr. High School. By the time the Bollers lived in Mt. Pleasant (1957-1966), the old High School had become the Elementary & Junior High School, where the notorious “I got a B, but deserved an A” incident occurred with mom, my 7th- grade English teacher!
(P-0094) (M-0100) Click here to read about Mt. Pleasant’s claim to fame – The Old Settlers & Threshers Reunion.
Now…for some random postcards and covers from the 1950’s…
(C-0146) Here’s a postal cover postmarked July. 10, 1951 – my birthdate . . . on the USS Tanner! (C-0147) 105th Anniversary of Iowa Statehood cover – postmarked on Iowa Statehood Day Dec. 28, 1951 in Des Moines.
(P-0146) Old Capitol – called the Administration Building in 1951 (P-0141) “Greetings from Iowa” – postmarked on August 22, 1951 when I was only a little over a month old. (P-0145) SUI Natural Science Building (Macbride Hall).
(P-0204) 1951 Iowa State Fair postmarked August 31 – I was going on two months. (C-0148) 1854 – 1954 Iowa State Fair – 100th Anniversary – postmarked August 24, 1954 in Fairfield, Iowa. Did you know the world-famous Iowa State Fair actually began in Fairfield? Read more about The Iowa State Fair here.
(P-0148) (P-0149) Message Reply Postal Card Set 1951- 2¢ George Washington/Martha Washington. On January 1, 1952 postcard rates increased from 1-cent (penny postcards) to 2-cents. Here are two unique First Day Postal Card Sets issued on December 27, 1951. These card sets were used by businesses where the cover card was for mailing and the tear-off response card was pre-paid, which encouraged a customer to respond to the mailing.
How can any celebration of the 1950’s be complete without a tribute to the 1956 Hawkeyes. My dad saw his first Iowa football game when he was age 5 (1926 – in Old Iowa Field) and I saw my first Iowa football game when I was age 5 (1956 – Iowa Stadium). Iowa won the Big Ten title that year and won the 1957 Rose Bowl in Pasadena. (P-0151) Below is a postcard from the 1957 Rose Bowl.
(M-0071) In the late 1950’s, the only record I owned was, of course, a Hawkeye Football LP called, Hooray for the Hawkeyes. (L-0063) Here’s a 1959 Rose Bowl Game Program featuring Iowa vs. California. Of course, the Hawkeyes prevailed 38-12 in Pasadena! Take a listen to this fantastic LP Record here.
(M-0066) Meredith Willson’s Iowa Fight Song debuted on his NBC-Radio show, The Big Show, on December 31, 1950 with a 47-piece orchestra and sixteen singers. The song was then introduced on campus on February 12, 1951 at the Iowa-Indiana basketball game. Click here to hear a rare recording of that 1950 radio debut.
(M-0048) (M-0046) (M-0047) And so, we end our journey through the 1950’s with these fun MJB Coffee and Boller Beverages collectibles! Read more here.
Kudos to the amazing resources below for the many quotes, photographs, etc. used on this page.
Marty ring-bearer, Mount Pleasant News, April 5, 1955, p 2
Marty tonsils, Mount Pleasant News, May 22, 1956, p 5
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