Twain and Baker
One Famous the other Infamous both lived and worked on this block in Muscatine, Iowa
Norman Baker born in Muscatine Nov 27,1882 made a fortune in the 1910's by inventing the Tangley Calliaphone (an air blown musical instrument similar to a Calliope). A flamboyant entrepreneur, one-time Vaudevillian, radio pioneer and clinic owner who claimed "cancer is curable." He built KTNT (Know the Naked Truth) radio in Iowa in 1925 (see the nearby Geocache GC3NGDY). Although having no formal education, he called himself "Dr." and opened a hospital in Muscatine where he claimed he could cure cancer (His "cure" was simply "a mixture of clover, corn silk, watermelon seed, and water").
The Baker Institute stood on this block from 1929-1932
Sam Clemens (better known by his pen-name Mark Twain) worked for a while at the local newspaper, the Muscatine Journal, which was partly owned by his brother, Orion Clemens. He lived on this block in Muscatine 1854-1855 with his mother and 2 of his brothers.
He made a few recollections of Muscatine in his book "Life on the Mississippi".
“ And I remember Muscatine—still more pleasantly—for its summer sunsets. I have never seen any, on either side of the ocean, that equaled them. They used the broad smooth river as a canvas, and painted on it every imaginable dream of color, from the mottled daintinesses and delicacies of the opal, all the way up, through cumulative intensities, to blinding purple and crimson conflagrations which were enchanting to the eye, but sharply tried it at the same time. All the Upper Mississippi region has these extraordinary sunsets as a familiar spectacle. It is the true Sunset Land: I am sure no other country can show so good a right to the name. The sunrises are also said to be exceedingly fine. I do not know. ”
—Mark Twain