History of the Iowa District
CHAPTER 1
Iowa District History 1923 – 1965
Optimist International first formed Districts in 1923 the year of the opening of Yankee Stadium and the recording of the 1st Country Music Hit “Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane” by Fiddlin John Carson.
Iowa was not a District at that time, but it was within a District.
District #9.
District #9 was comprised of the states of Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and the Province of Manitoba in Canada.
The first Optimist Club in Iowa was organized in Waterloo in 1929; followed by Des Moines in 1934 and Cedar Rapids in 1937. And many more were to follow.
Twenty-one years speed by with many more Clubs joining the wave of Optimism in Iowa and elsewhere in District #9.
Wisconsin was large enough by 1958 that it separated from District #9 and emerged as their own District and the remainder of the District was assigned number thirty-five.
Effective July 1, 1964, by action of the International Board of Directors, the official name of the thirty-fifth district was changed to the “Dakota-Minnesota-Manitoba District”.
The name of Iowa was purposely omitted due to the forthcoming change at the Duluth, Minnesota convention. This convention took place in May of 1965 when Herman’s Hermits hit #1 with “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” and The Iowa District was created with an official birth date of July 1, 1965, when Mr. Tamborine Man by the Byrds was still a #1 Hit on Billboard charts, making Iowa District Number Forty.
There were five zones and twenty-five clubs totaling 1,148 members in the District at the time. Iowa was comprised of these Clubs:
1929 – Waterloo
1934 – Des Moines
1937 – Cedar Rapids
1940 – Davenport
1949 – Iowa City
1953 – Dubuque
1954 – Marshalltown
Tues. Eve. CR (Rev. 1984)
1955 – Thurs. Noon Cedar Rapids
1957 – Hiawatha (Rev. 1980)
1958 – Coralville
Council Bluffs
1959 – Cedar Rapids -Marion
1960 – Bettendorf (Rev. 2004)
Hi-Noon C.B. (Rev. 1988)
1961 – Maquoketa
1962 – Breakfast Davenport (Rev.1977)
1963 – Denison (Rev. 2017)
Sioux City (Rev. 2002)
1964 – Red Oak
Clinton (Rev. 1967)
West Branch (Rev. 1968)
Larchwood (Rev. 1997)
Sunrise Iowa City
Glenwood (Rev. 1967)
The first year as District #40 within in the boundaries of Iowa must have been one of the MOST exciting years in all of Iowa’s History. There was much anticipation of the fourth-coming independence from the larger and more expansive District #9 and unity of each of the Clubs within the boundaries of Iowa!
The District #40 named Iowa District was born July 1, 1965.
…FIRST YEAR…
Iowa’s very first leader was Governor, Morris Dicker.
And he wrote this about that first YEAR:
“About 8 years ago we were members of a District comprised of Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Manitoba. We had to convince the administration of Optimist International that Iowa was ready to break away and become a District of its own, standing on its own feet.” When we finally became a District (How proud we were of ourselves), we had to start almost from scratch.”
He said this of those previous 7 years working to become a District:
“We have been at or near the top the last few years.”
“According to the last District Bulletin we are at the top of our region and very near the top of all of O.I.”.
The first year, however, was a struggle with a loss of 19 Members at the close of the year but the following 11 years will more than double the Membership of the Iowa District from a membership of 1148 to a total 2793 members.
CHAPTER 2
Iowa District History 1966 – 1994
The Iowa District has seen many years of growth and many years of membership losses but the period from 1966 to 1994 were some of the most dramatic years in terms of Growth. The Baby Boomers were out in full force after seeing a need in many of our Communities across Iowa. For ten years straight from 1967 to 1977 there was some incredible growth. Most of this growth could be attributed to new clubs across Iowa. A total of 62 were built, averaging 6.2 Clubs per year. The greatest number of new Clubs during this period were built from the Strength of the Optimist Club of Dubuque #40055 building 7 Clubs, the Optimist Club of Iowa City #40075 building 6 Clubs, the Optimist Club of Council Bluffs #40035 building 5 Clubs, and the Evening Cedar Rapids Optimist Club #40060 building 5 new Clubs. The total growth from these 4 Clubs during this period was 23 Clubs built in the Western, Central and Eastern Regions of the Great Iowa District.
Interestingly enough these 10 years coincide with the 10 greatest years of Rock and Roll according to the RECORD STORE GEEK.
The Record Store Geek tells us that “in order to be a legend, you have to….to have released at least five great albums.” “Legendary examples were The Beatles, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Doors, Steely Dan, Santana, Jackson Browne, CCR, Steve Miller Band, Joni Mitchell, or CSN (Crosby Stills and Nash) (in any configuration, together or solo).”
These legends had a profound effect on the World and may have had the same affect on promoting Optimism throughout Optimist International because these were the very same years of an incredible growth pattern for our Organization, and not just the Iowa District Optimist.
These ten years also held the Vietnam War, Black Power racial riots, Lunar race events, Woodstock, technology boom with the invention of the ATM and so much more.
So, which of these events pushed Optimist District Leaders throughout the globe to go out in mass and build new Clubs and sponsor new Members to get Optimist International to its most prolific years so far as growth is concerned?
This growth pattern continued through to the end of the 1994 Optimist year. Then we begin to see a reversing pattern.
But let us not get ahead of ourselves. The next 17 years up to 1994 included another 70 Clubs built in Iowa. This time, Council Bluffs leads the pack with a total of 11 new Clubs sponsored followed by Westend Council Bluffs building 5 new Clubs, NW Des Moines building 4 new Clubs and Sioux City Morning also with 4 new Clubs. By this time many of the previously built new clubs that joined the new club building rave thus there were many clubs with singular or dual club building successes that added to the phenomenal growth during this period.
CHAPTER 3
Iowa District History 1994 – 2019
1995 was the beginning of the fourth quarter building up to our Centennial conclusion and this period saw reversals of many of Iowa’s previous successes with the growth of membership and new clubs. These losses were not just exclusive to the Iowa District. All Districts in Optimist International began seeing consistently lowering membership numbers and fewer Club being built. From this 1995 base year going forward to 2020 Optimist International will not capture a single year of positive growth. Losing this membership battle has hurt many Districts and causing some Districts to consolidate to prevent the loss of entire Districts.
During this 25-year period there were a total of 76 new Clubs built. This growth of new clubs falls far short of the growth of 70 clubs in the 17 years in the previous period and this statistic along with the loss of 89 established Clubs would produce a net loss of 17 clubs. This Club loss plus normal attrition of membership culminated in devastating losses during this same period. A few Clubs were having great successes in recruiting new members and building new Clubs such as Urbandale Optimist Club sponsoring 14 new clubs of which 9 clubs were co-sponsored and Noon Western Des Moines sponsoring 7 new clubs of which 3 of these were co-sponsored.
Even while some of the Clubs in the Iowa District are having record successes in building new Clubs it is still not enough to stop the bleeding loss of 1,602 members. This is also partially due to Optimist International reducing its requirements for the chartering of a new club down to 15 charter members to qualify for a new club. Thus, smaller clubs are being built and appear to create an unsustainable number of members to have a lasting base to keep a club viable for future years.
On the other hand, could these losses be related to a much harsher era of time taking place throughout the world? Possibly, more strife between nations, less respect for our political leaders, social media interference, greater division between the rich and the poor and less caring generations that have attained privileges without responsibilities? These Optimist years are statistically grey for the Iowa District, but our leaders and volunteers continue to shine in the battle against falling member losses by persistently striving to build new clubs and recruit even more new members utilizing new programs such as: 30 under 30 ($30 dues for those under 30 years old), Club within a Club (Essentially adding a 15 member new club as a committee under the administration of the sponsoring Club) and teacher incentive memberships. Also rebuild clubs in Communities where there is a need and a previous Club failed administratively.
CHAPTER 4
Iowa District History 2019 – Forward
This Optimist year 2019/2020 begins the Bicentennial years and has not started off showing any kind of a recovery for Iowa or Optimist International. This first year may be in fact one of the worst years in all of Optimist International’s history. The Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 has become a worldwide pandemic getting its start in the nation of China and virtually within months infected every nation on the globe. This virus is an extremely contagious virus which is both spread by air and by contact prompting the world to wear masks to prevent both the receipt and dispersing of the virus. It has caused the cancellation of in-person meetings being replaced by social media group conversation platforms.
Many of the mass events such as the World Olympics, large sporting events, Christmas shopping, Presidential debates, ship cruises and Holiday gatherings and so much more. This virus reached down to include the cancellation of family gatherings, air flights, and forced the closure of retail and commercial businesses, financial banks and much of the world’s commerce. It has created havoc with health organizations, hospitals and producing a monstrous unemployed mass of people. Our Optimist Club meetings were also halted to stop the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus creating another problem in our efforts to promote Optimism and the Optimist mission.
Perhaps the greatest harm to Optimist International was the forfeiture of the 2020 Optimist International Convention scheduled to be held the Summer of 2020 in Chicago. This presented a new challenge for both Optimist International and their autonomous Clubs. A virtual convention was created using the Zoom format over the internet. This was not ideal for conducting business for Optimist International, but it did serve its purpose for maintaining the training of new members, officers and chair positions.
Our Clubs took a huge blow in their normal routine meeting procedures as did every Optimist International Club. Both social and business meetings were being interrupted causing an unwanted opportunity for members to fall out of their normal routine and become acquainted with new routines of staying home and quarantining from social activities and programs. This first year of the bicentennial may just be a burp in the history of Optimist International, but Optimist leaders are maintaining optimism and are continuing to work hard at promoting optimism as a tool against the horrific affects of the Novel Coronavirus.
This is not the end of Optimism but the opportunity “To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble”.
LEARN FROM THE PAST…
SHOW RESPECT TO THE PAST…
“FORGET THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST”…
AND PLEASE LIVE IN THE EXCITEMENT OF TODAY, BUT ALWAYS…
“MOVE ON TO THE GREATER ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FUTURE”!!!
Created by: Past Governor, Dennis E. McGregor
Note: Iowa District Historical information was a re-creation of the history information published in the Iowa District Policies Handbook “History of the Iowa District”
