Walnut, Iowa ca 1913
Walnut Creek Historical Society and Museum
Walnut, Iowa - Preserving our Past
May 2025: The French Cross
Recently, the Walnut Genealogy Society documented the amazing story from 1919 of the five Walnut people who received the prestigious Croix de Guerre from the French government after World War I. We have now created this display in the museum.
May 2025: Col. Earl Bice
Colonel Bice, a 1961 graduate of Walnut High, went on to a decorated career in the U.S. Air Force. He has recently loaned his entire collection of career mementos to Walnut Creek Historical Society, and they are now on display.
May 2025: Buttons!
Another "found in the museum" find - we have a large collection of buttons donated to us (unknown date), likely by a local tailor. We assume this was from Jack Stahl, who operated a tailor shop in Walnut for 51 years.
May 2025: Old Water Plant
The City of Walnut tore down the old municipal water plant in 2025. We managed to save a few items - including the window to our "calaboose" (jail), and some of the tin ceiling from the original structure which was constructed in 1904.
May 2025: The Walnut Milling Co
We've made a new display for the Walnut Milling Company, which was in existence from 1872 to 1929. Our display includes several artifacts from the company, including one of an incomplete set of millstone sections.
Our mill was located at the corner of Pacific and Pearl streets, now occupied by storage units.
December 2024: Phone Booth
This telephone booth was donated by the Marne Elkhorn Telephone Co, successor of the Walnut Telephone Co. It was procured from a hotel on the I-80 interchange at Atlantic, Iowa and placed in our telephone office in the 1980s where it sat many years. Walnut's telephone office had a phone booth in it for public use beginning in 1950.
December 2023: Our Founders
A list of our founding fathers has been put together. These men were the early movers and shakers in the town in the early 1870s.
November 2023: German Bible
This bible was "found in the museum", as we call it. We've recently uncovered some facts about it.
November 2022: Homemade Dollhouse
See the dollhouse made in 1931 and now donated to our museum!
May 2021: 53 New Displays!
We have completely re-done our main museum site, making entirely new displays, adding new artifacts, photographs, and discoveries on all three floors of our building.
Historical Site Tours:
We offer tours of the town during fair weather months. Drop us a message to arrange your tour. Great for class reunions!
Go to our store page to buy a copy of the tour map.
Watch these video tours created by Craig Carlsen, the Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation.
A POEM
Mounted upon a beautiful slope, serene to the eyes soft scope. Studded with mansions, without a hut, is the quiet hamlet of Walnut.
The houses are frame, the stores are brick, the people who live there have not a mean trick. The lawns are beautiful, the sidewalks neat. To live in Walnut is quite a treat.
The town is growing so very fast, the houses are filled to the very last. And as I take the bird’s eye view, I see many houses that are nearly new.
As the spring begins to fade, and the summer throws its shade, the cattle in the fields appear, and for the frosts we have no fear.
The blossoms on the trees in profusion are ready for the busy bees intrusion. Some belong to the cherry, some to the peach. We hope to see the fruit within our reach.
Prosperous is the outlook for the year. It is only the cyclones that we fear. Sometimes they come in silence with rain, and sometimes with the alacrity of an express train.
As the seasons come and seasons go, some with sunshine and some with snow, many hearts are heavy, many are light. Yet we think Walnut to be just about right.
It is now the month of May, and I am going far away. But I will remember Walnut town, as a place of much renown.
Rev. E.F. James, 1906