Luzerne celebrates 150th birthday next month

Luzerne may be a town where literally 'everybody knows your name” with a population of only 96 people, but this bedroom community is celebrating its sesquicentennial with a big event next month.

The Benton County community has a modest budget but the residents, who range in age from 9 months to 75, will celebrate on June 9 with a craft show, homecoming reunion, small-engine display, quilt raffle, kiddie tractor pull and games during the day, and the entertainment of dueling pianos in the evening. There also will be vendors serving up food throughout the day and the local firefighters will provide dinners for purchase in the evening.  

Jan Kendall, Luzerne city clerk, said this is the first-ever celebration of a milestone birthday for the town that was founded by the railroad in 1868. Kendall said the planning committee raised $4,700 for the event.

A committee was formed two years ago after Steve Meyer, who lives in Blairstown but has family roots to Luzerne, decided to write a book, 'History of Luzerne, Iowa,” Kendall said. He started collecting photos from various residents and included 130 biographies of families who have lived in the town over the years.

The book, along with other souvenirs, will be sold during the event, Kendall added.  

The committee members hope many students who attended the K-8 grade public and parochial schools will come back for the reunion that day, she said. The public school closed in 1961 and the Lutheran school in 1965, due to consolidation.

The town has changed over the years, Kendall pointed out, with its highest population of 300 in 1880. Most of the original buildings along the main street have been torn down. St. Paul's Lutheran Church remains, but it was rebuilt in 2002 after a fire destroyed it in 2001.

Kendall said the grain elevator, Heartland Co-op, has changed names but still operates, along with new small businesses, including a mechanic's shop, a barber/beauty shop and a welding shop. Luzerne also has a fire station and community park.  

The town no longer has a post office or any retail stores, Kendall said. The residents have to go to Blairstown or Belle Plaine, only a short distance, for gas, food and other amenities. There are 35 houses in town and only two are currently unoccupied.  

'People have moved in and out over the years,” Kendall said. 'Most of the families have stayed the same or connected in some way (to Luzerne). My family was mostly farmers. This is good, rich farming ground. My great-great grandfather settled here in the mid-1860s and the generations over the years stayed. My grandfather was the mayor - serving 38 years, three different times.”

Kendall said the committee is encouraging any former students of the Luzerne schools to bring class photos to the celebration and any others willing to share photos they may have of the community.

For more information about the celebration, go to the event's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/LuzerneIA/.

l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com