Show us your hometown

WOW! Pretty Amazing

i get to go to sleep looking at that every night!! without that fireworks... it is stunning. when i first walked was like WOW

love it

What a view!

Some background on Humboldt.
Humboldt creates a favorable impression on most every visitor to this scenic city. The city's founder, Stephen H. Taft, came from the east and fell in love at first sight. "I remember the delight with which I first looked upon this beautiful spot of the Des Moines valley. It was the afternoon of a perfect September day, and I can never forget the impression it made upon me by its wild and marvelous beauty," Taft wrote.

Taft laid out the town of Springvale (later to be renamed Humboldt) in 1863. Springvale was originally chosen as the town's name because of several fine springs which were found along the river. "Springvale was changed to Humboldt with the intent that under it, Dakota (City) and Springvale might be merged into one town," Taft wrote.

Humboldt is named after the German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.

In July 1955, when contacts between Americans and Soviets were rare, Humboldt hosted a delegation of Soviet officials (and national and international reporters) for an overnight glimpse of rural American life.

On March 27, 1972, ABC-TV broadcast a half-hour documentary on Humboldt entitled "A Small Town in Iowa." The program was written and produced by Andy Rooney and narrated by Harry Reasoner. The documentary portrayed Humboldt as a kind of paradise that struggled to keep its most talented youth from leaving for larger cities, and asked, "what is it about paradise that's turning the bright kids off?" The answer, according to Reasoner and Rooney, was that "what seems to be missing is more a shortcoming of ours, than of the small town. It is that those of us with ego and ambition are not usually happy performing in front of an audience the size a small town provides."

The First National Bank of Humboldt and its shareholders were the primary victims of what the Des Moines Register described as “one of the most spectacular white-collar crimes in state history.”In 1982 Humboldt native Gary Vance Lewellyn, then a Des Moines stockbroker, attempted to pump up the value of the stock of a high-tech company by singlehandedly creating phony market demand for it. To carry out the scheme, he illegally obtained access to bonds of the First National Bank of Humboldt valued at $16.7 million, and secretly pledged the Bank’s bonds as security for his personal orders of the company’s stock through Wall Street investment firms. When Lewellyn missed margin calls on his stock purchases, the firms obtained the bonds. Suspicious federal regulators closed the Humboldt Bank when it could not account for its missing bonds (and considered, but rejected, the idea of liquidating it). Its accountholders were protected by federal insurance but the shares in the bank became worthless. For his crime, Lewellyn was sentenced to twenty years in prison, but served only five years.

Humboldt College opened in 1872 on the north edge of Humboldt. In 1916, the college closed after a disagreement with the county over taxes. The college was moved to Minneapolis and became the Humboldt Institute.

Also, back in the time when Humboldt was rapidly building. Humboldt got 2 offers from major companies to have a plants there.. The first company that contacted Humboldt. Was John Deere. But was turned down by Humboldt's bank. The next company is a big one... Boeing also contacted Humboldt wanting to build a plant, and a small airport for the plant. This was also turned down by Humboldts bank. It's estimated that if both companies were here today that Humboldt would have a pop. around 50,000 people instead of 4500.

Humboldt is noted for its wide streets, a characteristic attributed to its founder, Stephen Taft. The town has continued to grow and prosper throughout the years, with about 4500 people calling Humboldt home today.

Notable natives

* George Bauman – Newspaper reporter, editor, and later publisher of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 1977-1984[14]
* Christian Clemenson - Emmy-award winning actor; recent roles include Thomas Burnett in United 93 and Jerry "Hands" Espenson in Boston Legal
* Kevin Dresser - Head wrestling coach, Virginia Tech, and 1986 national wrestling champion (142 lbs.) at the University of Iowa
* Theodore G. Garfield - Second-longest-serving justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, 1941-1969 (from 1961-69 as Chief Justice)[15]
* Frank Gotch - world heavyweight wrestling champion from 1908 to 1915
* L. W. Housel - Twice a candidate for governor of Iowa, he won the Democratic nomination in 1928 but lost in the general election, then lost in the 1932 Democratic primary[16]
* Jon Porter - U.S. Representative from Nevada
* Harry Reasoner - CBS news correspondent, longtime co-host of 60 Minutes newsmagazine program, and ABC Evening News anchor
* Bruce Reimers - NFL offensive guard for Cincinnati and Tampa Bay, 1984-1993
* Dick Schultz - College basketball coach, baseball coach, and athletic director; executive director of the NCAA, and then the United States Olympic Committee


Here is some pictures of my hometown, Humboldt, IA



Union Cemetery. Frank Gotch is buried here.



Born-Free Motor Homes



The Old Humboldt College



View of Northern Humboldt



Frank Gotch's Home, its listed as a historic landmark in Iowa. oh and its for sale right now


Humboldt High School Football Field (american football and soccer)



Humboldt High School Gym



Humboldt Water Tower

very nice to see Rural Iowa at it's finest-now show us some Iowa Winter lol

lol. Those pictures are from today.. We have no snow at all we were suppose to get 4 inches tonight. So maybe pictures tmr!

Edit: It just started snowing about a minute ago!

lol ahhhh fair enough kinda like here we have some snow laying on the ground though

Those pictures are exactly what I think of when I hear the words 'Middle America' lol

haha nice slacker.. Im happy tho humboldts housing market is going up! its a little over stable now. We finally got our house sold and were building a brand new one..

Nice, I imagine it must be fantastic building your own house... being able to plan everything out exactly how you want.

Picture I took on Saturday...I really love Dublin

very nice i love seeing tallships

and there's an optical illusion in this picture and it's that the ships rigging is leaning,it's created cause of that building thats leaning as well as the bridge.A great perspective to create that illusion!

Hey Nate... I don't think thats Frank Gotch's house... Thats the old Humboldt Bed and Breakfast... Gotch's house is 2 houses down from Taft Park.

Sorry I couldn't find a picture on the internet.

hmm well it said Frank Gotchs home on the historicial marker thing

His house was white...
I think the name of the bed and breakfast was "The Frank Gotch House.

Picture of Dublin is so awesome.

Might be going there this summer .

My Home town is New Bedford Massachusetts.
It's about 40 miles south of Boston and an hours car drive to it. (Soon to have a T-Station soon!)
It's a city with a population of about 100,000 people.

FUN FACTS
*300 Years old ruffly.
*Was one of the richest city's in the world when whaling for oil was the only form of oil back in the 1800's
*The largest Fishing port in the world according to take in statistics.
*Is the only non-major city in America to hold a consulate (Portuguese Consulate)
*Is sometimes considered a by some residents to be half America and half Portugal since the population of Portuguese immigrants is well over 60-75% Portuguese.

Union Street


New Bedford Harbor looking out into the Harbor into Fairhaven


Historic Downtown New Bedford. Some Homes Date back to the early days of whaling


Another Picture overlooking the Harbor


Fort Tabor Beach


A Beautiful Sunset in the south end looking over Dartmouth to the west


Brooklawn Park to the East of the city center.


Yeah My hometown is pretty dull. lol

very nice Jcool I may be moving out that way soon

It's really nice in the summer. COLD in the Winter. But The cape in gorgeous in the summer. it's like a mini vacation to Bermuda except it's not scorching.
PRO TIP!: if you do visit Massachusetts or move out here get ready for the obligatory Boston Accent. almost everybody has it! ahah
including me.

oh I'm very familiar with the Mass area lol I've been out there a few times.And if I do move out there I'll be up in Manchester,NH which is only about an hours drive from Basstin lol

Cold dosen't affect me I live in Michigan

Lol, Your basically Canadian because your from Michigan. lol XD

Looks like day, but the flashes were really bright

Wow you have some crazy lightning over there!

Pretty awesome photos.