Other famous people with Iowa ties

CORNING — Knowing he was speaking in the town where late-night television host legend Johnny Carson was born, Jeff Stein spent more than an hour Friday afternoon telling the audience in the Corning Opera House the stories and successes of other people with Iowa ties.

A Humanities Iowa presentation, Stein is a broadcaster and historian. A native of Toledo, Iowa, he received the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History for his work preserving broadcasting history. He is also a recipient of the Iowa Broadcast News Association’s Jack Shelley Award, the highest honor in Iowa broadcast journalism. He taught mass communication at the college level for 25 years and is heard daily statewide on News/Talk 1540 KXEL.

Stein said his presentation was inspired by hearing information from an almanac while listening to the radio during his youth. During his radio career he has created the Iowa Almanac, a historic moment in Iowa based on the date and aired in various stations across the state.

Stein explained in more detail some of his work.

Onawa candy store owner Christian Nelson had a youth in his store in 1920 with a nickel. The child was undecided to purchase chocolate or ice cream. That inspired Nelson to experiment with fluid chocolate in a way to coat a bar of ice cream. He wanted the chocolate to harden as it was applied. The final product was named I Scream Bars. Nelson would eventually meet Russell Stover in Iowa City. Stover is the founder of the famous boxed chocolates. Stover’s wife Clara came up with the name Eskimo Pie for Nelson’s chocolate covered ice cream. At times in the 1920s, the royalties were $30,000 a week.

Today, the treat is known as Edy’s Pie and is under the Dreyer’s brand name.

In the same decade on the other side of the state in Muscatine, diner owner Fred Angell was making sandwiches. In May 1926, Angell offered one of his creations, loose browned ground beef on a bun. He offered it to a delivery driver who said it was “made right.” That was the beginning of the restaurant chain selling the sandwiches with a slightly different spelling Maid-Rite. Stein said the Angell family is also credited for creating drive-thru service. His restaurant was building was adjacent to an alley. Knowing the popularity of the sandwiches, Fred’s son cut a hole in the wall facing the alley so people could conveniently drive to the window to pay and receive their order.

Maid-Rites and restaurants are still in operation today.

Mildred Day graduated from Iowa State University in 1928 studying home economics. She was hired by Kellogg’s, the cereal company, to work in a test kitchen and to offer cooking schools as a promotion. Using the brand’s Rice Krispies cereal, Day was part of the team to create what is now known as Rice Krispie treats, a combination of the cereal, marshmallows and butter. The snack was a hit in 1941. In 2001, Iowa State students created the world’s largest treat weighing 2,480 pounds.

Stein explained more than food.

In Fort Madison, jewelry store owner Walter Sheaffer grew tired of the mess created by fountain pens. Sheaffer began designing a lever-filling fountain pen to prevent a mess. The pen writing business began in 1913. His pens have been used in historic moments. Stein said a Sheaffer pen was used Aug. 8, 1945, to sign the documents that approved the creation of the United Nations. During America’s space exploration in the 1960s, Sheaffer company designed a pen that could be used by astronauts in space knowing the lack of gravity, so the ink would flow throught the pent, was an issue.

Minnesota born Art Fry moved to Worth County, Iowa, during his childhood. According to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Fry graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He took a summer job as a technician at 3M Corp. and spent 40 years as a product development specialist.

Fry was a member of a church choir in 1974. He wanted a better way to mark the pages in the hymnal of all the songs planned to sing during rehearsal. The common bookmark was not always reliable as it could fall out while turning pages. He asked 3M about a product in the works based on a transferable adhesive that would not damage the surfaces used. That product eventually became the Post-It Note in April 1980.

For more about Stein, go online to https://totallyiowa.weebly.com/