The Old Home Town

I went back to my home town of Lake Mills, Iowa, today, partly to apply for a job, and partly to see it again, as I hadn't been there in five or so years. The job was a bust, for now, as the starting pay was only $10.50 an hour. That's not worth an eighty mile round trip every day, not until I get desperate.

What was interesting was that the job was at a company called Dielectric Corp. I hadn't heard of such a place before, and it was much bigger than I expected. I thought it might be like a tool and die shop operating out of a pole shed not much bigger than a two car garage, but instead found a good sized building made of cast concrete. It seemed to be doing well, judging by the number of cars in its parking lot, and it wasn't the only one. Lake Mills appears to be doing quite well, business-wise, both manufacturing and retail. There are four convenience stores, a supermarket, large auto parts and hardware stores, restaurants, and so forth. It wasn't anything like the ghost town I expected after I heard Cummins, the largest employer, was shutting down its plants there. I don't know if they changed their minds or what, but the place seemed as busy as ever when I drove by it.

There were changes, of course. There are a lot of new houses, some of which I would describe as mansions. The old Holiday Bar and Grill on the southeast corner of Main St. and Lake St. is gone, replaced by apartments. The Dairy Queen is gone, its building taken over by Norsemen Trucking. The park by the Post Office with the Sherman tank has been remodelled. The funeral home that was just west of said park is also gone. Don's Motor Mart, where I spent a lot of time playing video games, has been completely rebuilt and is about three times bigger than it was before, as well as set back a bit farther from the highway.

Change, for good or ill, is inevitable. The changes I saw in Lake Mills are, I think, for the good. The town is trying to grow, and seems to be succeeding. Mason City could learn something from my old home town, methinks.