Shooting the Davis County Courthouse

Bloomfield is the county seat of Davis County and this is their courthouse. Listed on the Register's list of 100 Places In Iowa, Linda and I had two reasons to visit this site. The design is interesting and different for Iowa; more European than most we've seen thus far.

The courthouse proved tempting but a bit too challenging to Henry D. Roland, the Human Fly, in 1924. On August 27, he tried to scale the building but fell, breaking his hip... and keeping him in town an added six weeks. Eight years later, he returned and successfully climbed the building.

The Wikipedia article on Bloomfield lists a surprising number of notable figures to have come out of the community: an olympic kayak athlete, an acadamy award winner, two U.S. Senators, seven U.S. Representatives, two Major Generals, an Assistant Secretary of the Interior, two Governors of the state of Iowa, editors of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, major league baseball players, and the founder of Sheafer pens. Must be somthing in the water.