https://www.facebook.com/1423566071306020/

Around Atlantic

Home
United States
Atlantic, IA
Around Atlantic

Atlantic’s Living Archive

Preserving and celebrating the history of Atlantic, Iowa. Including people, places, events, photos and community news.

This page is about anything related to Atlantic, Iowa and it's surrounding communities and people. Let's focus on the positive and embrace our common interests rather than debate our differences. Post submissions and ideas can be emailed to [email protected]

Page Administrator: Nick Harris, Brocker, Karns and Karns Insurance

08/28/2026

The Great Flood of 1958 on Olive Street

This striking photograph captures the Great Flood of 1958 along Olive Street, looking north out of Atlantic on the road now known as County Road N16. Floodwater stretches across the surrounding countryside and covers much of the roadway, while a handful of men stand at the edge surveying the damage. Today, KJAN would be located farther up on the left, while the Atlantic Little League complex would be on the right, both within the flooded landscape seen here.

Atlantic has experienced several similar floods in the decades since this photograph was taken. I remember one during the 1990s when floodwater again covered the Little League grounds in much the same way. Although the buildings, ballfields, and surrounding area have changed considerably since 1958, this photo is a reminder that the low ground north of Atlantic has always been vulnerable when heavy rains cause the Nishnabotna to spill beyond it’s banks.

*original photo from the ANT in comments

08/27/2026

Story Hour at the Carnegie Library

Sometime in late 1964 or early 1965, sixty-eight Atlantic first graders gathered at the Atlantic Carnegie Library for an afternoon story hour. The library offered separate programs for kindergarteners through third graders, and city librarian Mrs. Stanley Koerth estimated that more than 200 children would participate during the month of February. Representing all three Atlantic elementary schools, the children filled nearly every chair in the room. Among them was Julie Martens, now Around Atlantic Preservation Circle Member Julie Knudsen, the third child from the left in the front row, who attended Jackson School.

Julie also remembers the chalk drawings visible on the walls behind the children. They were created by history teacher Wally Roscoe and depicted familiar landmarks from around Atlantic, although they were likely lost during a later remodeling of the library. The photograph preserves a wonderful glimpse of a time when a trip to the Carnegie Library for story hour brought children from across Atlantic together and helped introduce another generation to the joy of books.

Do you have a memory of the library?

*original ANT photo in comments

Atlantic Public Library

08/26/2026

When the Waters Rose: The Great Flood of 1958

This photograph captures the frightening reach of the great flood of 1958 at the Sunnyside Park intersection on U.S. Highway 6, along the western outskirts of Atlantic. Taken on Wednesday, July 2, with the camera pointed northeast, the image shows a broad expanse of muddy water covering the low-lying land beside the highway. Trees, fences and roadside signs, including the “daisy fresh!” bread advertisement and a sign for the Calumet Cafe, stand surrounded by floodwater, while the highway remains just above it.

The flooding followed an extraordinary overnight rainfall on July 1–2, 1958. More than 12 inches fell across portions of southwest Iowa, with Audubon recording 12.53 inches in a single 24-hour period. The East Nishnabotna River and its tributaries rose with terrifying speed, washing out roads and bridges and devastating communities including Audubon, Exira and Hamlin. Nineteen people reportedly lost their lives, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in Iowa history.

Atlantic and the surrounding Cass County countryside escaped the worst of the loss of life and structural destruction suffered farther north, but the floodwaters still inundated farmland and disrupted important roads around the community. The original newspaper caption called it a “Dismal View From Sunnyside,” an appropriate description of a familiar entrance to Atlantic suddenly transformed into a vast sheet of water. For those who witnessed it firsthand, the great flood of 1958 became an unforgettable chapter in southwest Iowa history.

I have a ton of photos from this flood. Do you want to see more?

*original ANT photo in comments

08/22/2026

Precision, Pride and Trojan Spirit

This photograph, believed to have been taken around 1984, shows members of the Atlantic High School rifle and flag corps dressed and ready to represent the Trojans. With coordinated uniforms, western-style hats, flags and ceremonial drill rifles, the group added color, movement and precision to football halftimes, parades and marching-band performances.

Being part of the corps required more than simply carrying a flag or rifle. The students practiced synchronized routines, carefully timed tosses and formations designed to complement the music of the marching band. Photographs like this bring back an era when Friday nights meant the sound of the band, a field filled with Trojan pride and countless hours of practice coming together under the stadium lights.

Do you recognize any of these young women, or remember watching the Atlantic rifle and flag corps perform?

*original photo in comments

08/21/2026

From Railcar to Road: Herring’s Super-Service

Published in the December 5, 1929, Golden Anniversary Edition of the Atlantic News-Telegraph, this advertisement celebrated the changing face of transportation in Atlantic. “There Were No Filling Stations 50 Years Ago,” its headline proclaimed—but by 1908, when automobiles were still a novelty, Herring’s was already supplying gasoline to the community’s pioneering motorists. The advertisement went on to explain that “super-service” had not existed five years earlier, but by 1929, one stop at Herring’s could prepare both automobile and driver for the road.

Herring’s Super-Service stood at the corner of Second and Poplar streets, with its brake and lubrication department adjoining the filling station. The business sold White Eagle balanced gasoline and offered Alemiting and lubrication, battery recharging and repair, tire and tube service, brake testing and relining, radiator antifreeze, Hermoline motor oil, and an assortment of accessories. It was the kind of full-service station where attendants did far more than pump gasoline, they inspected, adjusted, repaired, and maintained nearly every part of an automobile.

Behind the service station stood the Herring Brake Service building, while the large brick Herring Automobile Company building dominated the background. Its enormous painted signs advertised “Ford Motor Cars” and “Fordson Farm Tractors.” During the Model T era, partially assembled Ford automobiles arrived in Atlantic by railroad. Herring’s workers unloaded the components, assembled the cars locally, and prepared them for sale, making this building both an automobile dealership and a small assembly operation.

The photograph used in the advertisement preserves an entire chapter of Atlantic’s early automobile history in one view: the service pumps in front, the repair facilities behind them, and the towering Ford building beyond. By 1929, Herring’s had grown alongside the automobile itself, helping Atlantic make the transition from horses and wagons to a community increasingly shaped by gasoline, paved roads, and the freedom of the open highway.

*original photo and photo of advertisement in comments

08/20/2026

Breakdancing with Atlantic PAL

Taken around 1984, this photo captures members of Atlantic’s PAL—Police Athletic League—group showing off their best breakdancing poses on an outdoor stairway. Wearing matching red PAL shirts, the young dancers stretched their arms into the exaggerated “robot” and “wave” positions that became instantly recognizable during the breakdancing craze of the early 1980s.

Breakdancing was everywhere at the time, appearing in movies, music videos and television programs—and Atlantic’s youth were eager to join the fun. This playful photograph preserves a moment when a national pop-culture phenomenon found its way to Atlantic, bringing local kids together through music, movement and plenty of personality.

*original photo and additional photo of group in comments

Around Atlantic Preservation Circle members Jon McEntaffer and Adam Christensen are the young boys at the bottom of the stairs!

Do you recognize anyone?

08/16/2026

When Pamida Was Atlantic’s Hometown Store

This photograph brings back a familiar sight for generations of Atlantic shoppers, the Pamida Discount Center on Sunnyside Lane. With its large roadside sign, pharmacy and seasonal garden center spread across the front of the building, Pamida was the kind of store where families could purchase clothing, toys, housewares, hardware, prescriptions and countless everyday necessities, all without leaving town.

Pamida’s history began in 1963, when Jim Witherspoon and Lee Wegener opened their first discount store in Knoxville, Iowa. The company concentrated on serving smaller Midwestern communities often overlooked by the national retailers. Its unusual name was created from the first two letters of Witherspoon’s three sons, Pat, Mike and David. Many of its early stores operated as Gibson’s Discount Centers before being converted to the Pamida name during the late 1970s.

The Atlantic location appears to have opened as a Gibson’s Discount Center around 1977 or 1978 and became Pamida by approximately 1979. Located at 1101 Sunnyside Lane, the store served Atlantic and the surrounding countryside for roughly three decades. An exact closing date has been difficult to confirm, but photographs taken inside the building in December 2009 show that it had already been closed for some time, although merchandise and fixtures reportedly remained inside.

Pamida disappeared nationally following its 2012 merger with Shopko, when most remaining locations became Shopko Hometown stores. Atlantic’s store had already closed and was never converted. Still, for many local families, Pamida remains part of the shared memory of shopping in Atlantic, a place for school clothes, Christmas toys, prescriptions, garden plants and those unexpected purchases found while wandering the aisles. One of my favorite memories of Pamida was the Brach’s candy display, where you could pick out your favorites one piece at a time. Did you shop or work at Atlantic’s Pamida, and what memories of the store have stayed with you? Can you believe we had Pamida, K-Mart and ALCO to choose from at one time?

08/15/2026

School Days Again

These photographs capture the familiar excitement, and a little uncertainty, of the first day of school at Lincoln Elementary in Atlantic, probably sometime around 1972. In the top photograph, children cross Seventh Street carrying paper sacks, books and the supplies they would need for the day. A teacher and older students serve on school patrol at the corner, helping the younger children safely make their way to the building.

The bottom photograph shows kindergartners in Mrs. Hazel Sievert’s classroom on their very first day of school. Some appear curious and eager, while others look a bit unsure about the unfamiliar room and all the new faces around them. Their name tags, small chairs and classroom tables bring back memories of a time when kindergarten introduced children to classmates who would often remain friends throughout their school years.

The clothing, hairstyles and large-framed glasses help place these scenes in the early 1970s, but the emotions are timeless. Every new school year has brought the same mixture of excitement, nervousness and possibility as another generation stepped through the schoolhouse doors. Do you recognize any of these Lincoln Elementary students, or remember your own first day of school in Atlantic?

❤️ Look at all the kids walking to school!

*original photo from the News Telegraph in comments

08/14/2026

Gone Fishing

With all the rain Atlantic and the surrounding area have received over the past couple of weeks, this photograph seems especially fitting. Five youngsters have climbed aboard an aluminum fishing boat sitting in an Atlantic front yard, complete with fishing poles and plenty of imagination. Judging by the children’s clothing, hairstyles and the overall appearance of the scene, the photograph was likely taken sometime in the late 1970s, perhaps around 1979.

The photo was taken by Phil Chinitz, longtime editor for the Atlantic News Telegraph. It captures the kind of childhood moment that required little more than an old boat, a few fishing poles and a willingness to pretend. The boat may have been sitting on dry land when Phil snapped the picture, but after our recent rainfall, perhaps these young fishermen were simply preparing well ahead of time.

Do you recognize any of these children?

Happy Friday!

*original photo in comments

08/13/2026

American Buildings: Twenty Years of Steel and Jobs in Atlantic

This April 1988 advertisement offers an incredible look back at American Buildings Company and the many Atlantic-area residents who helped operate its local manufacturing plant. The company’s history began in 1947, when Willard B. Joy established Steel Builders, Inc. in Columbus, Georgia, during the post–World War II building boom. Renamed American Buildings Company in 1964, it grew into a major manufacturer of custom-engineered steel-building systems used for factories, warehouses, agricultural buildings, stores and other commercial structures across the country.

American Buildings opened its Atlantic plant in April 1973, as confirmed by the advertisement celebrating the operation’s 15th anniversary in April 1988. Atlantic was well positioned for such a facility, with access to Highway 6, nearby Interstate 80 and a regional workforce experienced in welding, machinery, trucking and construction. From Atlantic, completed steel-building components could be loaded onto trucks and shipped to contractors throughout the Midwest and other parts of the country.

The departmental photographs reveal the size and complexity of the Atlantic operation. Employees worked in rigid-frame fabrication, sheet metal, endwall production, warehousing, shipping, maintenance, engineering and plant administration, along with a full night shift. These workers were not simply producing identical metal sheds. Each building was engineered for its intended size, use and location, and the Atlantic employees fabricated the structural frames, panels, trim and other components that became a complete building package. The large number of workers pictured demonstrates what an important industrial employer American Buildings had become for Atlantic and the surrounding area.

Available evidence indicates that the Atlantic plant closed around 1993, after approximately 20 years in operation, although the exact final production date has not yet been confirmed. Some employees relocated to the company’s newer operation in Virginia, while others found work with Atlantic-area manufacturers or started businesses of their own. American Buildings itself continued operating nationally and eventually became part of Magnatrax. In 2007, Nucor Corporation acquired Magnatrax and retained American Buildings as one of its steel-building brands. The company remains in operation today, although it no longer has a manufacturing plant in Atlantic.

The former American Buildings warehouse still stands at what is now considered 1501 Owner Avenue in Atlantic, the same location and the same large industrial building used by the company. A number of different businesses have occupied the property since American Buildings closed, including Skyjack, and today the building is occupied by Elkhart Plastics. This 1988 advertisement preserves more than the history of a company; it preserves the faces of the local men and women who spent their working days inside that building. Do you remember American Buildings? How many former American Buildings employees can you recognize, and what other businesses do you remember operating from the old plant?

Thanks to our monthly sponsor, Nishnanet!

*original photo in comments

Address

Atlantic, IA
50022

Telephone

7122436777

Website

facebook.com

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Around Atlantic posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Around Atlantic:

Want your business to be the top-listed Finance Company in Atlantic?