Time Machine: Fireworks and Iowa’s ‘safe and sane’ Fourth

Iowa's early settlers often celebrated Independence Day with fireworks.

Marion's 1865 festivities included a picnic, speakers, war dances by local Native Americans and a fireworks display.

In Cedar Rapids, the celebration of the nation's 110th anniversary of independence in 1886 featured picnics, a regatta on the river and lots of church services.

Fireworks were for sale at Benedict's store on Second Street. The Northwestern railroad ticket agent lived, nervously, above the store and had no reservations about voicing his fears that the whole building would blow up. Some youngsters played on that fear by setting off a few firecrackers outside his door.

In 1896, Comstock & McQuiston's, Mullin's and Albright's on Second Avenue advertised fireworks for sale.

change urged

Neither the sale nor use of fireworks was regulated at that time though efforts began in 1910 for a 'sane and safe Fourth of July.”

'The fireworks makers overdid the business,” The Gazette reported. 'They made dangerous explosives without limit, and the people have been buying and using, with no regard for safety of life and limb. The natural reaction has set in.

'The people have become tired of the inexcusable slaughter. A business that causes so many needless casualties, they have decided, needs restriction, even if the restriction does limit the bank accounts of manufacturers.”

after spencer

No laws, though, were implemented until after the conflagration in Spencer on June 27, 1931, caused $1.2 million in damages - about $19 million in today's dollars.

After that, the Iowa Fire Prevention Society wrote a model city ordinance - banning the sale or use of fireworks within city limits - adopted by 61 Iowa cities, including Cedar Rapids.

Fireworks dealers continued to set up shop outside city limits.

In 1932, a delegation of wholesale dealers led by Morris Sanford asked the Cedar Rapids City Council to reconsider and allow the sale of fireworks inside city limits for seven days before the Fourth.

Nothing happened that year, but on May 2 the next year, a new City Council decided to allow the sale of fireworks. Out-of-town vendors saw an opportunity and began setting up shop.

By 1936, the locals petitioned the council to require fireworks dealers to prove they had been in business in an inspected building for six months in order to obtain a fireworks sales permit.

statewide ban

And then came the fire started by fireworks in Remsen on July 4, 1936, which decimated half the city's business district. The fire caused an estimated half a million dollars in damage - about $9 million in today's dollars.

At almost the same time, a grass fire that started in a vacant lot in Oyens, also in northwest Iowa, burned half the town's businesses, causing nearly $4 million in damage in today's dollars. A firecracker was suspected as the cause.

It took less than a year - in February 1937 - before state Sen. Howard C. Baldwin, D-Cascade, put forward a bill prohibiting the sale of fireworks in Iowa. The law earned him the moniker of 'Firecracker Baldwin.” The bill became state law Jan. 1, 1938.

The Gazette reported on July Fourth that year: 'Iowans managed to do justice to Independence Day with only six reported fireworks injuries, as against 76 the year before.”

A few years later, the law was amended to allow sparklers, snakes and caps.

pushback

The law always encountered some pushback from those who found it unreasonable, but it stuck.

As the state approached the 50th anniversary of the ban in 1988, efforts were ramped up to repeal the ban. The Iowa House agreed to legalize fireworks in 1987, but the state Senate rejected it, despite state Sen. Wally Horn, D- Cedar Rapids, arguing for its adoption.

And there it remained until 2017, when Iowa lawmakers lifted the ban on the sale and use of fireworks in the state.

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