Dover Historical Society holds May meeting

New London’s Dover Historical Society recently held the May board meeting. The society holds a Sunday afternoon event during the months the Dover Museum is open. The first Dover Sunday event this year will be presented by Curt Swarm on June 25 at 1:30 p.m. You may have seen Curt’s artwork or his newspaper articles. Now you can see and listen to Curt live. Mark your calendar.

Very shortly, the Dover Museum will be working with partners in several counties to organize the 3rd Annual Southeast Iowa Depot Tour. It is held the first full weekend in October which will be Oct. seven and 8 this year. Last year, nine depots in Southeast Iowa were open for visitors and two more were available for walking around the outside. There was also a model railroad exhibit open in one of the cities. Watch for more details.

Do you live in a community that has a Plank Street or Plank Road? Did you ever wonder where that name came from? The Burlington and Mount Pleasant Plank Road Company was organized on Feb. 8, 1848, to build a plank road between those two cities. It was completed in December 1851. There were toll gates every four miles. What ended the life of the road for New London happened on June 17, 1856, when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad operated its first train to New London. The Dover Museum has a fantastic display about this road complete with some actual planks. Come and see why those that lived in your community before you wanted to get out of the mud.

All programs at the museum are free to the public. Donations are accepted and memberships are available. There are never enough volunteers and they are needed for all areas. You may think you have no docent or museum talent, but we can probably find an area where you can help. Messages can be left at 319-367-2573.