Searching archives for news of elevator construction leads one to some interesting items and fills the mind and heart with nostalgia.

A comic strip, for instance, or a newspaper ad had a way of saying more than its creator may have suspected. And the news items evoke richer meanings

For example, on Aug. 11, 1960, The Boyden Reporter of Boyden, Iowa looked back to the same date at the turn of the century and found some automotive and elevator news.

“An automobile was a street attraction here for a few minutes this morning. It was from Sioux Falls, So. Dak. Nic Knewell and his gang of elevator boys expect to go to Minnesota next Monday where they will erect a big elevator on one of the new lines of railroad in southwestern Minnesota.”

Editors and publishers Marion J. Kempers and Charles G. Sawyer also looked back to August 5, 1910:

“Jake Eppinga has moved his family to Perkins and is occupying the Schouten property. Jake is manager of the Thorpe elevator. While working on the Betts Elevator yesterday morning the scaffolding upon which Paul Rehm and Emmet Wintermantle were working gave way and both fell some ten or twelve feet. Emmet escaped, but Paul was not so fortunate, as he struck his head on the edge of a barrel and cut a severe gash over one of his eyes.”

These items hold a significant interest from the traditional culture and values represented and the general optimism they embody. Even the lively graphic design strikes a note.

Small Midwestern towns in the midcentury period seem now like perfect gems on the lost bracelet of a bygone era.