Ultimate Team Introduction

[jdoggivjc]

You were obviously at ISU in either '89 or '99, I'm guessing. :laugh8kb:

I was there in f '89 and remember all the signs in the halls "reminding" you that you are now a resident of Ames and should sign up as such on the census.

I like Ames - alot. Especially now that I'm not living there, although my wife and I talk about moving there someday. But I do remember how dumpy a good portion of the community would treat the students or look upon the school. Maybe things have changed - I don't know. But I always found it curious those who seem to think the ISU is fortunate to have Ames, somehow. Lemme think, which is it? Is ISU there because of Ames? Or is Ames there because of ISU? I've long maintained that if ISU wasn't there, I-35 goes through Marshalltown and Ames is a suburb of Nevada.

'97-'03...

They started in '89 for you guys? They started practically from the moment I moved into Friley back in 1997 (ok, honestly, it was 1998. but still...)

And I still remember the "couch" ordinance to this day (for those that didn't know, it was once very popular for students who lived in Ames to have indoor furniture out on covered decks, etc. Ames City Govt. decides to pass an ordinance that made it illegal for furniture to be outside, even if covered. Many of us believed it was targeted at us). I tend to think Ames Government has a case of EIU-envy...

 

[DaddyMac]

They might have started earlier - don't know. F '89 was my freshman year. But they hit us hard and often about it.

I think that furniture rule was a good one. I lost two couches to the rain. Ok, one was in the back yard and the other on the fire escape. But I really think that the Ames city gov't was just looking out for our best interest and the well being of our property....

(take your pick) :rolleyes5cz: :laugh8kb: :baffled5wh: :growl5cj: o7dt:

 

[ornryactor]

Whoops, double post. See below.

 

[ornryactor]

I still remember the "couch" ordinance to this day (for those that didn't know, it was once very popular for students who lived in Ames to have indoor furniture out on covered decks, etc. Ames City Govt. decides to pass an ordinance that made it illegal for furniture to be outside, even if covered. Many of us believed it was targeted at us). I tend to think Ames Government has a case of EIU-envy...

Actually, Ames came up with that one before Iowa City did. The Iowa City government only passed a similar couch ordinance three years ago. If I remember right, that was after there were eight or ten porch fires in the span of a month due to people accidentally (and/or drunkenly) setting furniture on fire.

I like Ames - alot. Especially now that I'm not living there, although my wife and I talk about moving there someday. But I do remember how dumpy a good portion of the community would treat the students or look upon the school. Maybe things have changed - I don't know. But I always found it curious those who seem to think that ISU is fortunate to have Ames, somehow. Lemme think, which is it? Is ISU there because of Ames? Or is Ames there because of ISU? I've long maintained that if ISU wasn't there, I-35 goes through Marshalltown and Ames is a suburb of Nevada.

Nope. I'm out of town for the weekend, so it'll be Sunday or Monday before I can get to Parks to find the reference information, but neither Ames nor Iowa State exist because the other did. Again, I'll have to get the exact dates, but Ames was founded as a stop for the Cedar Rapids-Missouri Railway. The location was chosen because it was a good crossing point over the Skunk River. (There aren't many sites for quite a ways upstream or down suitable for a railway crossing in 1863.) The town was officially founded in either 1863 or 1864, I don't recall, and was named Oake (Oakes?) Ames, a member of the US House from Massachusetts who was extremely influential in building the Transcontinental Railroad. (Incidentally, Ames never visited the town named after him.)

Iowa State was founded in 1856 (but you all knew that, right? Right?) and was placed in Ames after proposals were submitted by Story, Polk, Marshall and Johnson counties. (And maybe Kossuth, too- not sure.) (Also, wouldn't that have been interesting- having ISU and UI in the same county...) When the Morrill Act passed in 1862, ISC became a land-grant school, meaning the state controlled the land ISC was built on, rather than the federal government, and could choose to not tax that land, etc.

Hope that clears stuff up for everyone. Personally, I think Ames and ISU are moderately symbiotic now, but when they were founded, they had absolutely nothing to do with each other. Ames is there because of the Skunk River's banks, and ISU is there because of Story County's "benefit package".

Also, about the I-35 thing: wrong again. I-35 was originally planned to run parallel to US 69 from Des Moines all the way to the Minnesota border (where 69 ends, south of Lamoni). Mason City raised a ruckus, lobbying to get the interstate moved closer to their city. The government eventually agreed, and made 35 parallel US 65 through northern Iowa (Franklin and Wright counties, I think). So no, no matter what the circumstances, 35 would never have gone near Marshalltown.

 

[DaddyMac]

Boy, you're just full of all kinds of information aren't you. :wink0st:

My point was slightly rhetorical and very speculative. What I was getting at is that I believe ISU benefits Ames far, far more than the community of Ames benefits ISU. Neither exists because of the other - given that the two were never so interconnected at the time of their founding - namely ISU.

And of course, my assumption/prediction/dellusion of the route of I-35 is all moot any way, since the interstate was built some 100 years + after the founding of ISU. My point being that without ISU being in Ames, I think it's plausibe although completely unprovable on my part, that the I-35 could've more closely followed hwy 65 and touched off what might otherwise be the largest city in that part of the state - being Mashalltown. Not to mention that 65 impacts more communities along it's route INTO Albert Lea, than 69 does. Including Hampton, Iowa Falls, Mason City, etc.

Again, all completely speculative since ISU IS in Ames, as is hwy 69. Would 69 go through Ames if ISU wasn't there, and Ames was merely 2500 people strong?

 

[wonkadog]

I think a lot of you "Ames hates ISU" guys are blowing this way out of proportion. I was around the area from '99-'06 and I never got the idea that the Ames community hated ISU or anything. I always thought the 2 got along well. There was the little comment here and there about traffic being a lot better in the summer but hey, that's just a fact. Sometimes I thought the students tried to make the ISU vs. Ames thing more of a big deal than it really was.

 

[ornryactor]

What can I say, I like history and trivia that's almost completely worthless. And whoops- I got so caught up in remembering dates and highway numbers that I completely missed your point about I-35. Yeah, you're right about that. If ISU wasn't in Ames (and especially if it was in Marshalltown instead), I-35 may have gone through Marshalltown, though it still would have been a pretty big departure, considering where they wanted it to end up. Who knows?

 

[psycln11]

Come on guys...

 

[Cyclone62]

Bentief, did you ever see the intro video for our gymnastics team this year? They had by far the snazziest, most impressive/terrifying intro video of any of our sports teams this past year. It's been quite a while since I last saw it, but it had something to do with a well-animated tornado bouncing its way around the country, demolishing stuff and knocking team buses off the road and sucking up cows and trees before touching down on Hilton's roof, while the lights inside the Coliseum go insane. I don't know if anybody can find a recording of it or something, but it's worth watching.

"The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round..."

 

[minnclone99]

I don't believe the couch law is unique to Ames or Iowa. There are such laws in many cities around the country, and (now that I'm a homeowner) justifiably so.

 

[superfan]

I think a lot of you "Ames hates ISU" guys are blowing this way out of proportion. I was around the area from '99-'06 and I never got the idea that the Ames community hated ISU or anything. I always thought the 2 got along well. There was the little comment here and there about traffic being a lot better in the summer but hey, that's just a fact. Sometimes I thought the students tried to make the ISU vs. Ames thing more of a big deal than it really was.

I remember when I got my first "Ames hates ISU" feeling. I was at Okoboji Grill one Sunday with my parents to watch the Packer game before they left for home. An older gentleman was sitting a little way down the bar, and we kept hearing snippets of his conversation, "They should put a cage around the campus," was the one quote that really stuck in my mind. He eventually tried to stike up a conversation with my parents and had the testicular fortitude to ask me, to my face, "So, did you flunk out yet?"

I don't know if that feeling is totally isolated, but between the housing ordinances (I couldn't get an apartment with a couple of friends last year because of the 'family' rule), the keg ordinances, the fight against the new mall, and other things of the sort, I can see how people feel there is a bit of an anti-college bias.

 

[Cyclone62]

What is that "family rule" again? Is it that you're supposed to be related to at least one roommate, or that you can't live with someone you're related to? Either way, I've never run into a problem like that. I remember hearing about it, but haven't had a problem with it.

 

[superfan]

I think it's something to the effect of no more than three unrelated people may share a residence in a Residential Low-Density zone.

 

[Cyclone62]

Now, what exactly is a "Residential Low-Density Zone?" Also, isn't there a rule somewhere about how if your residency is with x-miles of campus, only three people can live there?

 

[superfan]

Now, what exactly is a "Residential Low-Density Zone?" Also, isn't there a rule somewhere about how if your residency is with x-miles of campus, only three people can live there?

Man, right after I closed the window with the Ames zoning map I found (I had the same question as you) Give me a minute.

Edit: Found the link:

City of Ames, IA GIS

"View Map" opens up an interactive map. You can zoom in on Campustown and hit the two radio buttons by "Zoning Districts (Ames)" to view the zones. There's a lot of variation, but the area west of Howard Ave. and north of Lincoln is all low-density residential, as is south of Knapp and east of Stanton (which is where we ran into trouble, I think we wanted to try to rent a house on Lynn)

 

[ISUFan22]

The best intro would be...

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the field your 2007 Big 12 Champion Iowa State Cyclones football team!"

No fireworks or inflatables needed...

 

[psycln11]

If you believe there's a tornado please dial 911 and we'll have Tommy come over to your house and hit you on the head with a tackhammer because you are a retard.

Your comment reminds me of this...Heard it on the news this morning.

Wisconsin Radio Network: Nanny 911

 

[psycln11]

If you believe there's a tornado please dial 911 and we'll have Tommy come over to your house and hit you on the head with a tackhammer because you are a retard.

Your comment reminds me of this...Heard it on the news this morning.

Note to STUPID people, don't dial 911 to get a babysitter!!!!

Wisconsin Radio Network: Nanny 911

 

[HiltonMagic]

Iowa State was founded in 1856 (but you all knew that, right? Right?) and was placed in Ames after proposals were submitted by Story, Polk, Marshall and Johnson counties. (And maybe Kossuth, too- not sure.) (Also, wouldn't that have been interesting- having ISU and UI in the same county...) When the Morrill Act passed in 1862, ISC became a land-grant school, meaning the state controlled the land ISC was built on, rather than the federal government, and could choose to not tax that land, etc.

Umm, not sure where you got your info, but you're wrong. ISU was founded in 1858 (but you all knew that, right? Right?), hence the reason they're celebrating their Sesquicentennial. LINK

 

[ornryactor]

Umm, not sure where you got your info, but you're wrong. ISU was founded in 1858 (but you all knew that, right? Right?), hence the reason they're celebrating their Sesquicentennial.

Not quite. I understand your confusion, though; I could have worded it better. Iowa State was established as an institution in 1856, even though it did not yet have a physical location. When the Iowa government passed legislation that enacted the State Agricultural College that would become ISU, that marked the official establishment. The actual site for the campus was not chosen until March of 1858 (though for some reason I keep also finding June 21, 1859 as the date- anyone have an idea for what that is?), after review of the five counties' propsals. So, technically speaking, what we're actually celebrating is 150 years of having a campus, not 150 years of existing. :rolleyes5cz: Sorry for the ambiguity.