Sarah Walker Gorrell, Author

I had seen the beautiful church steeple, on our way to Rochester, but we were running behind schedule (and Mike was taking a nap while I drove), so there was no stopping for pictures. On our way back home, once we crossed into Iowa, I started watching the skyline. Once I spied the steeple, Mike began to look for the road to get to the church. He turned on Lourdes Road, in Lourdes, Iowa, to get down to 'Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.' It was late Saturday afternoon and the cars in the parking spaces indicated that Mass was in progress. Our Lady of Lourdes is in the Holy Rosary Cluster, with churches from four other towns, and they are all under the direction of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. The Gothic Brick church was built in 1901, and at one time there was a Convent and School. Sisters of Saint Francis from Clinton, Iowa served the Parish until the school closed in 1969. Originally, the church was named "The Immaculate Conception," and that is ...

We left Readlyn, Iowa headed to Rochester, MN behind schedule, but I figured that Mike's "pedal to the metal" would get us there "almost" on time. We were on our third day of "road trips" and this one would take us to see one of his twin granddaughters, Morgan, who is in the Finance Department at IBM.                                             As we stopp ed, at a light, on the south edge of Rochester we noticed that their Water Tower was shaped like an Ear of Corn! Mike did some research (Iowa is the Corn State, why does Rochester have an Ear of Corn for their Water Tower?), and we learned that the town is either going to "paint it or take it down" because, at night, kids are enticed to try and climb it. It has become a dangerous situation. Ever thought about putting a locked fence, with barbed wire, around it? We never learned why it's an Ear of Corn! We f...