A few hours later Angela arrived in Cedar Rapids to a news crew and was interviewed by KGAN, a CBS affiliate. Angela handed the baton to CEO Joe Pritchard (4th generation), and along with Pam they took off on the second leg of the relay in a Ford F-150 Lightning (Ford’s electric truck). Ames was the lunch stop where the Pritchards handed the baton to an “extended family member,” employee Brock Thompson. Brock drove a Chevy Bolt EUV to Jefferson where the caravan greeted the statue of Abraham Lincoln before heading on to Carroll. As most central Iowans know, the figure is a long-standing homage to the Lincoln Highway’s namesake.  In Carroll, the baton was given to the newest Pritchard family employee Matt Bradley. Matt brought the Lincoln Highway idea to the Pritchards.

He was honored with driving the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid on the final journey through western Iowa where the EV infrastructure is just getting started. Shortly after sunset, twelve hours after the relay started, , the Missouri River was reached by taking the 3rd generation Lincoln Highway route from the town of Missouri Valley.

Our Lincoln Highway National Heritage Byway coordinator’s top 11 choices for haunts along or near the Lincoln Highway in Iowa:

Those of you who have grown up in the Iowa Valley have most likely heard of Rolle Bolle and know how the game is played. For this central Iowan, I had never heard of the game and was quite surprised by many details I hadn’t noticed just by viewing the game in photos.

In simplistic terms, the game is played by teams of three or four people rolling bolles down an alley aiming to land their bolles closest to a pole. The object is to have the most bolles* the closest distance to the pole than the other team by the end of everyone’s turn.

The 10 Things I Learned 

1: Although the bolle looks like a greatly enlarged hockey puck to me, it is not the same diameter on each side. I even rolled the bolle down our hallway here at Prairie Rivers and did not notice that there is a smaller side and a larger side. So why the beveled shape? The origin of the shape is not known; a fun theory is that the first bolle was a wheel of Gouda cheese, although this is probably not true. Whatever the origin, the shape is what makes the game unique to horseshoes, bocce, bowling, or curling.

2: There is not a one-size-fits-all regulation size for the bolle. Although they can weigh no less than five and no more than 9.5 pounds and measure no larger than 8” in diameter, they can be different for each player. Doesn’t this give someone with a larger bolle an advantage of being closer to the pole? “Not really,” I am told. A smaller bolle may be able to creep between thrown bolles better, a larger one may be lighter and more easily bumped out of position. What it boils down to is the boller knowing their bolle’s weight and turn and their aim, strategy, skill, and luck. 

3: Bolles are not all made of the same material. Nineteenth-century bolles were made from ironwood, a hard dense type of wood. Fiberglass has also been used. Belgian bolles today are mostly made of phenolic resin which produces a lighter and chip-resistant bolle. Most bolles in the United States are made from rubber and there are only two makers in the United States. One of those makers, De Pauw, makes bolles that are rubber in the center and phenolic material on the outside; he calls it the “Wonder Bolle.”

4: Just as there isn’t one regulation size or material for the bolles, there isn’t a regulation for the material or slope of the courts. The court must be 42’ long with two stakes placed 6’ from the backstop (30’ between stakes). Most of the outdoor alleys are crushed limestone material that may get rolled before a tournament in an attempt to smooth it out. Alleys can also be made from clay, dirt, sand, grass, or even carpet (usually on an indoor court). And the slope can range from court to court, which as you can imagine will change the way you roll the bolle. Remember that beveled shape?

5: The backstops must be 6’ from the pole but a barrier behind the backstop can be any distance. Think of a pit with railroad ties surrounding it. The distance from the backstop line (which your foot can cross but not go over while throwing) and the railroad tie can be different and depending on the length of your legs, this can give you space to take a “running” start or hinder your pace and form when aiming the bolle. One particular boller who has long legs was starting his run cross-legged. When I asked why, he explained that he has to start his approach this way because if the backcourt is shorter, he can’t get a comfortable approach. So by starting cross-legged, he can step out giving him more space to then take his next steps. 

6: You can roll the bolle or you can shoot it! Shooting the bolle is exciting. Perhaps I see it that way because everyone kept telling me to “step back” and “heads up.” Or because the young man shooting kept breaking the poles. Or just maybe, because when I tried to roll the bolle, it went way too far (I have too much power behind my bolle roll). “Just roll it,” I was told while I was thinking, “I am.”

There are typically three types of players with different roles. The “lead person,” the middle person (no official name), and the “shooter.” The lead gets to make the team’s strategic decisions. The lead and the middle person typically roll the bolle to get it close to the pole. The shooter gets to shoot at an opponent’s bolle to knock it out of the area closest to the pole, or at a teammate’s bolle to knock it closer. More power is used when shooting. And a “step back” is shouted to the crowd.

7: There are Rolle Bolle courts in Belle Plaine, Marengo, Victor, Ladora, Blairstown, and Marion. And several have closed in just the last three years.

8: Bollers have a love-hate relationship with the game. One boller I visited with kept saying, “I hate this game.” Then he would tell me that he tries to play the game seven days a week. He was the only player from Illinois this weekend. After explaining that you can’t master this game because of all the variables, all of the bollers expressed how they love it. A love-hate for sure!

 9: This “thing” about Rolle Bolle is something that I know, and you may not know. Did you know that with a library card, you can check out a set of Rolle Bolle bolles at the Marengo Public Library? Yep.

10: This is not the last time that I will be writing about Rolle Bolle.

Thank you to all of the Rolle Bolle bollers who were at the Marengo Court on September 16th. We will continue to educate and encourage a new generation of bollers to carry on your legacy.  — Jeanie

The Iowa Valley Byway takes you through rural agricultural land, the Iowa River wetlands and prairie, and showcases a diverse cultural palette of Native American, Czech, and German heritages. There are trails, museums, tournaments, and festivals to teach and engage the traveler on all of the qualities which contribute to the significance of the area as a Scenic Byway of Iowa.

It is anchored by two distinct cultures. At the western end of the byway is Iowa’s only Native American community, the Meskwaki Settlement. Visit the cultural center and museum, attend the annual powwow, or try your luck at the Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel anytime.

At the eastern end are the Seven Villages of the Amana Colonies. The Amana Colonies were created as a communal society in 1855 by Germans fleeing religious persecution. There you can find Iowa’s oldest winery, oldest microbrewery, a woolen mill, a furniture shop, a lot of great food, festivals, and a cluster of quality antique shops.

Our audio tour is a wonderful way to discover and connect with 40 special places along the Byway. It features well-known attractions, locations and unique curiosities, all of which tell an authentic, place-based story of the Iowa River Valley.

Download the audio tour brochure here to have handy on your phone or print it and take it with you as you explore the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway. Or if you prefer, listen to it via podcast here.

Visit our Byway page here to learn more and download a map and itinerary. And be sure to follow our Facebook and Instagram pages for the latest updates. See you along the Byway!

According to Herb Owens, who interviewed Charlie for the Des Moines Tribune in 1952, the station employed 11 people besides Charlie, had four pumps and served as a bus station for two major bus lines, the Greyhound and the Jefferson.  The station was open 24 hours and boasted of a TV in the waiting room with two old leather Morris chairs. Owens says that Charlie liked to hang out at the station watching football or wrestling on the TV or playing checkers at the station on a Sunday afternoon.

Charlie Reed could be seen at the station most days until he passed away on June 26, 1967, at the age of 91. The Station closed and has not been open on a regular basis since then.

The café was renamed Niland’s Café.  In 1932, C. Reed Niland passed away unexpectedly so another one of Charlie’s nephews, Claire Niland, helped at the station and Clare’s wife, Margaret, ran the café. Later, the husband/wife team took over the café. In 1952, Herb Owens reported that the couple still ran the café and described that there was, “a counter, booths, and a 100-selection jukebox; seven people were employed, and an extra girl worked in the summer.”  The café was run by the Nilands until their son John took over and decided to close the café in 1995.

Keeping the Historic Corner Historic
In 1995, the Reed/Niland Corner became the property of the City of Colo. The Colo Development Group was formed and appointed to plan a renovation to preserve the history of the corner and plan for the operation of the café and motel. A Des Moines architectural firm was hired. It was decided that the station, the café, and the motel would be restored to a 1940s-1950s design. A pedestrian walk was added to the corner with several interpretive signs to tell the Reed/Niland story.  The project cost nearly $1 million including $663,000 in grant funding from the Iowa Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Enhancement Funding, plus about $270,000 in local donations.

The Future
The Reed-Niland corner is not currently on the Register of Historic Places. With the rich history and significance as a one-stop and unique crossing of the Lincoln and Jefferson transcontinental highways, there is a real possibility for a listing in the future.

Early in 2022, the Reed Station was opened to visitors by the Colo Historical Association as their local history museum. The Association’s main focus is displaying the history in and throughout Colo including but not limited to Lincoln & Jefferson Highways, the railroad, the Reed-Niland Corner, and all of the local Colo history.  The following is a statement from the Association:

“With the Reed-Niland Corner being a complete one-stop complex left in the Nation along the Lincoln Highway, the museum has been pleasingly overwhelmed with the number of visitors and their wonderful comments and support for having the Station opened to view, not only for the station history and artifacts but those of the Lincoln and Jefferson Highways,  Niland Café & Colo Motel, the nearby railroad and our vast local Colo history!”

“Each month we have several visitors at the Station from all over Iowa.  Many also visit Niland’s Café next door. We have had several visitors stop as they pass through, traveling the Lincoln Highway as a specially planned trip. The Station had many out-of-state visitors in June as we hosted a food stop for the Jefferson Highway Caravan as they traveled to their annual conference in Mason City, Iowa. As the new school year approaches, the Historical Association will be reaching out to our local schools to schedule tours to share with the younger generation the most interesting history and stories from the past!”

Kelsey Reed (no relation to Charlie) holds the current lease for managing Niland’s Café and the Colo Motel. Kelsey says that it was a fluke that she found the management posting on Facebook and that she was only expecting to be the manager of a restaurant where the menu was already set, the employees in place, and building repairs were not her responsibility. She was excited when she found out that she could make her own menu, set her own hours and make the changes she sees to become successful. Kelsey had run her own restaurant in Baxter, Kelsey’s Kitchen, for two years and didn’t want to close that location, but managing two restaurants was not an option for a single mother of a ten-year-old boy, Jaxon.

The motel’s six rooms rent out per night, week, or month. Reed says that she is almost completely booked out until winter with many of her customers being construction workers, migrant workers, and travelling nurses. Additionally, the City of Colo manages four apartments on the corner.

100 Years of the Reed-Niland Corner Celebrations

To celebrate the 100 years since Charlie Reed began serving gas to travelers on the Lincoln and Jefferson Highways, the Colo Historical Association hosted an open house at the Reed Station Museum in June. Visitors ranged from local citizens to a caravan of motorcyclists who took cover under Charlie’s awning and visited with the historians.

I gathered a great deal of historical information from the museum and was shown the curious “bat” the station attendants used for protection (a deer’s leg fashioned with a handle for “handling”). My husband and I also frequented Niland’s Café for the first time and I ordered my standard café order of a hot beef sandwich and slice of pie. It was the best hot beef sandwich I have ever had, and the pie was great too!

No one can say that Kelsey Reed is not on board with celebrating the history of the Reed-Niland Corner. From the photographs, she looks at every day on the walls of the café to the postcards she sells and the celebration that she has planned for the corner on Saturday, August 5th. Reed’s Service Station Museum will be open as well.

The celebration will feature a band from noon until three and food specials outdoors as Charlie did back in 1923. They’ll be slinging burgers and hot dogs in addition to the regular menu. The kitchen closes at 8 p.m. and the bar will remain open until 11.

Find the full details here.

The Colo History Museum/Reed Station is open the last Saturday and Sunday of every month from 10-2 and for special events.

Niland’s Café and the Colo Motel are located at 24 Lincoln Hwy in Colo.

Café hours May 1 – Oct 31: Tues-Fri 11-8, Sat 8-8, Sunday 8-2 , Nov-April closes, at 7 p.m.

Morel rooms can be reserved in advance by calling 641-377-3662.

Nearby recreation can be found at the Colo Bogs Wildlife Management Area less than a mile to the east on the Lincoln Highway National Heritage Byway, and at Story County Conservation’s 445-acre park Hickory Grove Park which includes a 98-acre lake featuring fishing, swimming, canoeing, picnicking, and camping.

Thank you to the Colo Historical Association for the history and to Herb Owens, for the article he wrote in the January 25, 1952, Des Moines Tribune.