Time Machine: Cou Falls

JOHNSON COUNTY - Josef Coufal, a native of Bohemia, arrived in a river bottom area of the Iowa River in 1850. He was 23 when he began farming. As his farm prospered, he bought more and more land.

Coufal owned about 1,600 acres in Johnson County as well as a large farm in Iowa County in 1903. His Johnson County farmstead, with its large house and barns, had an immense orchard full of apples, peaches, cherries and plums. His yard was filled with flowers and dozens of bee stands.

Coufal was very interested in the construction of the Dows-Smith Interurban that was going to run between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. He wanted it to go through the little settlement he had established on his land, thinking it would guarantee commerce and growth. He already had given away property for stockyards and a grain elevator and encouraged the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City railway to run a line through the area.

In 1903 Coufal Station was marked as a designated stop on the interurban, and grading began from Prairie Creek to Coufal's place, just north of the Iowa River.

Workers began felling timber and clearing brush. Thousands of tons of dirt were hauled in to fill up the approach to a 750-foot bridge across the river.

Coufal hosted Col. William G. Dows, president of the Iowa Railway and Light Co., the company's chief engineer, Joseph D. Wardle and a Gazette representative for dinner in August 1903. Dows then led a tour of the property controlled by the interurban. He pointed out the spot below the property where there was a huge deposit of stone. His plans included a crushing plant that would provide ballast for the entire rail line.

Another quarry nearby that in 1840 provided stone for the capitol building in Iowa City also was controlled by the interurban.

By 1904, the track was laid as far as the Iowa River. The small settlement of Coufal was platted in April 1905 and soon acquired the name Cou Falls. Its population consisted mostly of the Coufal family and some friends. It never was incorporated.

Coufal's little settlement was thriving when he died in 1904 at age 77. He always had dreamed of riding the interurban. While he was ill, Dows instructed workers laying ties and tracks for the railroad to work as quietly as possible in hopes that would help Coufal recover enough to take the ride.

Coufal never realized that dream. His died not knowing that the railroad he envisioned turning Cou Falls into a bustling metropolis was the very thing that caused the settlement to go the other direction. The rail line transported goods, not to Cou Falls, but to the larger commercial centers of Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. When automobiles became popular, motorists bypassed Cou Falls on a highway constructed two miles away. Drivers barely were aware the small village was there. The post office moved to Swisher not long after that. The interurban still brought passengers to Cou Falls until it stopped running in 1953.

By 1939, there were seven families in Cou Falls, five of them Coufals, but the residents of the surrounding area considered themselves residents of the settlement as well. In 1940, when a flood control dam across the Iowa River was proposed, Joseph C. Coufal, grandson and namesake of the settlement's founder, led a 100-family contingent to oppose the dam.

If the dam was built, most of the scattered village would be wiped out, he told the state conservation commission in Iowa City. The dam was built anyway and many of the farmsteads are now under water, but Cou Falls continued on.

One of the families that thrived there was the Schlesselmans. C.D. 'Skinny” and Laura Schlesselman moved to Cou Falls from Victor in 1939 and opened the Ranch Supper Club in the old general store that had operated since 1903. In the days of prohibition, they ran the Redman Club out of the basement. A private club, patrons could bring their own liquor and socialize there. The family also constructed a ballroom across the street.

When the Schlesselmans retired in 1947, their son and daughter-in-law, C.R. and Frieda, took over the Ranch. New liquor laws in 1963 changed the speakeasy feel of the place.

Raymond Scheetz and Alvin Huntzinger Jr. opened The Library Ballroom in the old Ranch ballroom in 1966. It was geared toward young people, offering popular bands. Because The Library held many teen dances and its clientele was mostly underage, the Johnson County Supervisors and a deputy sheriff recommended to the Iowa Liquor Commission that the place not be issued a liquor license. The commission said that even though the ballroom's owners were of good moral character, met all the requirements and had held a beer permit without any violations, 'liquor and teenagers do not mix.”

The Library lasted until 1970. Scheetz turned it into the Long Horn and booked country bands for a couple of years before closing it.

C.R. 'Dutch” and Frieda 'Teed” Schlesselman retired in 1986. The Ranch's next owners were Mary and Bill Brecht. They reopened the supper club in 1989 and leased it to Gary Palas and Sandee Gandara. The restaurant fell victim to a sagging economy and closed in 2004.

Its final incarnation was as a church. The Valley Church bought the Ranch building in 2005 and began remodeling it. The basement was fitted with games and a kitchen area for young people, the dance stage held a pulpit and walls on the main level were removed to make a larger worship area. The Rev. Paul Bult said 'It's the Lord's supper club now.”