Cache Is Not At The Posted Coordinates
Mr. Toot is the mascot not only of the North Iowa Band Festival, but also for Mason City as a whole. His image has appeared on everything from T-Shirts to business cards to city light poles. Now his image also appears on the geocaching map just south of Mason City Iowa. Each of these puzzles will include a fact or story in theme with the art series. Some may also include a question or two for you to answer correctly to find the coordinates.
Mason City
Frank Lloyd Wright's drawings of the bank and hotel are dated from as early as December 17, 1908. Construction was begun on the first of April 1909, with supervision by Wright until his departure for Europe in late October of that year. At that time William Drummond from Wright's Oak Park Studio in Oak Park, Illinois, took over the supervision of its construction and designed a nearby Prairie style home during his visits. The law office of developer-owners Blyth and Markley was open for business on August 29, 1910, with the gala opening of the entire structure September 10 of that year. Wright returned to the Midwest from his year in Europe in October 1910.
Unfortunately for the Historic Park Inn Hotel, a new 250-room hotel with all the latest amenities was constructed in Mason City in 1922, creating stiff competition for the Park Inn Hotel. In addition, the farm crisis led to the closing of the City National Bank, which was merged into another local bank. By 1925. four of the five banks in Mason City had failed. In 1936, the City National Bank building was sold separately and underwent an unsympathetic remodeling into a new commercial use in that year. The upper flors of thePark Inn Hotel were eventually subdivided into rental apartments and over time the unique Prairie School design elements such as stained-glass skylights, fixtures, furniture and woodwork were removed or lost. For the next several decades, the Park Inn experienced a gradual decline that ended with its closure in 1972.
Looking SW From NW Corner of State & Federal
N 43 01.070 W 93 10.928