Lions to celebrate 100 years with dedication Monday

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Lions Club will celebrate 100 years of partnership with the community with a dedication on Monday.

“The community, for 100 years, has been very good to the Charles City Lions Club,” said Lions Club Secretary/Treasurer Brad Bailey. “We are now giving back to the community, as a thank-you, for their support over the last 100 years.”

The Lions will hold a formal private function on Sunday evening at the Elks Lodge, and the public is invited to attend a dedication of the new Central Park Flagpole memorial at Central Park on Monday, starting at 11 a.m. The rain date will be Tuesday.

The ceremony will be emceed by Lions President Dean Tjaden and will include a flag-raising ceremony. The United States flag, the Iowa flag and the Floyd County flag will be hoisted at the site of Lions Club’s “Century Project” in Central Park.

As part of the project, plaques were installed at the base of the new flagpoles that commemorate the lives lost in the 1968 tornado, as well as the Lions and the Charles City Women’s Club, which also contributed to the project. The plaques are lighted with LED lights.

The Floyd County flag will fly until a newly-created Charles City flag is available. There will be a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony at the site.

Pastor Russ Leeper of St. John Lutheran Church will do the invocation and there will be a formal proclamation made by Charles City Mayor Dean Andrews. Vickey Putney, president of the Charles City Women’s Club, will place a memorial wreath on the site, which will include 13 white roses, representing each of the 13 people who was killed during the 1968 tornado.

The Lions Club came about internationally in 1917, when Melvin Jones, a 38-year-old Chicago business leader, told members of his local business club they should reach beyond business issues and address the betterment of their communities and the world. The first national convention of the “Association of Lions Clubs” was held in Dallas, Texas, in October of that year.

In March of 1921, Harry Tait, a Lion in a recently formed club from Mason City, arranged for and met with a small group of Charles City businessmen and shared his thoughts about the merits and benefits of having an active “service organization” guiding a community into and through the 20th century.

Merrill G. Smith Sr. was elected the first Charles City Lions Club president that year. Tait attended along with 25 charter members.

On January 20, 1922, the Charles City Lions Club officially adopted a constitution and by-laws as required by the international organization. It was decided the club would continue to meet at noon on Friday of each week at the Hildreth in Charles City.

The early years of the club focused on smaller, community-oriented projects. In the fall of 1922 the club took the high school football team to a University of Iowa football game. The Lincoln School grounds was a focus in 1924 as the club sponsored a skating rink and also cleaned up and improved the high school football field which was located at that site.

In 1925, the club purchased the old fairgrounds property and the property was renamed Lion Field. The Lion Field, (now Lions Field), project is the most energetic and influential endeavor the Charles City Lions Club has tackled.

Over the years, Lions Field has been the site of several capital improvement projects — including a swimming pool and playground equipment — and the Lions Club also took care of all the mowing and maintenance of the grounds and property.

In the early 1970s Lions Field was sold to the city of Charles City for one dollar, with the stipulation the property would retain the Lions Field name.

In the summer of 1972 the club adopted the property at the southeast corner of Main Street and Riverside Drive where the Willson-Lorber Lions Club Rose Garden is now located. In 2013 an anonymous member donated over $30,000 to “Renovate, Rejuvenate and Remember” the Lions Club Rose Garden. The club continues to maintain the rose garden.

The Charles City Lions Club is currently about 50 members strong. The service group works to support the community by providing eyeglasses for students in the local school district, raising money for hearing aids, community projects, Eagle Scout projects, the school lunch program, TLC: The Learning Center, the Food Bank, the Fine Arts Century Club, the Sports Complex and numerous other groups.

One of the bigger projects recently for the Lions has been its “Flags Over Charles City” which offers residents and businesses in Charles City an opportunity to have one or more U.S. flags placed in their yard on specific patriotic days throughout the year.