The National Champion Oskaloosa High School Concert Band and the Oskaloosa High School Orchestra is coming home from Minneapolis, Minn. Just the day before, they had won honors in the national contest and now the large crowd is awaiting their arrival a the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad Station. The band placed first and the orchestra placed second, which was just behind the perennial champion, Mason City orchestra. This photo was taken in 1939. The excitement mounted as the 6 p.m. arrival time approached. Then, the announcement came that the train would be an hour late because a freight train had derailed north of Searsboro. This anticipation seemed to heighten the excitement even further. When the train finally pulled into the station and the 90 band and 57 orchestra musicians trickled onto the station platform, the 1,000 or so folks gave an uproar of welcome that could be heard for blocks around. Credits also were given to the outstanding direction and work of Ivan Kennedy, band director, and Carl Woodford, orchestra director. The special introductions were also accompanied by great enthusiasm. The band also had placed first in the nationals the year before in 1938. The band and the orchestra went to Kansas City, Mo., the following year in 1940 and again the band won Division 1 for National Champions and the orchestra a Division 2 rating. The M & St. L station has been torn down, but just southeast of where High Avenue West and the railroad tracks now intersect is the tall communications tower that is in the footprint of the old station. Time tends to dim some of Oskaloosa’s outstanding achievements and there are most certainly many.
— Chuck Russell
P.S. Next week will be a continuation of the celebration of the band’s accomplishments in concert at the open-air theater in Oskaloosa’s Edmundson Park.
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