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
Mason City’s first library started in 1871 and was not a free public service but rather a subscription library. Only paid subscribers were allowed to borrow books. The project did not last very long and in 1888, a second library opened as a reading room. That ended when, in 1892, the city’s voters decided to levy a one mill tax on property to support a free public library. The earliest locations were on South Federal but in 1893 the library moved to East State Street. That building burned and the library then moved to a large house, originally owned by D.M. Tiffany, on East State Street. A few years later when money became available from local effort and the Carnegie foundation, the Tiffany house was demolished to make way for a new structure.
By the late 1930’s the city had outgrown the Carnegie library and had applied for and received a grant from the Federal Government program, the Public Works Administration (PWA) to build an extension onto the library. However, when the MacNider family offered the seven acres of property on Second and Pennsylvania to the city for purposes of building a new library, the city was able to negotiate and deal with the PWA to allow the city to use the already agreed upon grant, for a new library instead of remodeling the old one. Chicago architects, Holabird and Root were hired to design the new structure. The cornerstone was laid in 1939 and the doors opened to the public in January 1940.
There have been few changes to the actual building plan over the years. A grant from the Denison family in 1959 allowed the library to add the “Denison Room” overlooking the garden and Willow Creek, which opened in 1961 along with an adjacent patio which was donated by the Kinney-Lindstrom Foundation. In 1965 and 1966 the library built a 4000 square foot space on the west side of the building to provide a location for the Iowa State Library Extension Service. Money for the construction came from a variety of local, state and federal sources. In 1981 when it was no longer needed for the state extension service, the Mason City Community Theatre leased the area and remained there until 1997 when another remodeling occurred. The west wing became the Mason City Room which was completed in 1998. At the same time, the second floor auditorium was remodeled and became the Life Long Learning Center.
Mason City Library
Questions: Because this page is about the Library and in keeping with that theme answer the following.
For the North Coordinates - Parentsof4ks have a Little Free Library Letterbox and TB Hotel in their front yard. (See 113 Mr. Toot if you are stumped)
Yes N 43 00.746
No N 43 01.038
For the West Coordinates - gnome_goddess is an Assistant Professor of Library Services at Colorado State University Pueblo (as of 2018) Please read 155 Mr. Toot for a hint.
Yes W 93 10.931
No W 93 10.858