Gustav Franke, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Gustav Franke, early Manning residents, graduated from the Manning High School with the class of 1907.

He entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the fall of the same year and graduated in 1911. He attained the rank of Major General and commanded the 81st Wild Cat Division of the U.S. Army in World War II.

Iowa was one of the first states to consider voting rights for women, with the suffrage movement starting here more than 70 years before the 19th amendment went into effect in 1920.

Although the Iowa farms produced some of the top spokeswomen for the movement, it does not appear that Manning shared in the enthusiasm. The local attitude was reflected in comments such as "The women will vote the same as the men anyway" and "Women have no interest in politics".

Iowa law did allow women to vote in special school bond elections, if the local governing body gave approval. This law had been enacted only a short time when the Manning School District decided to let both sexes vote in the bond election of 1907. More than 213 of both the men and women approved the construction of the new school on First Street. Separate tabulations were still being used in 1917, when 296 men and 208 women voted to build the new high school.

It is interesting to note that when women were first allowed to serve on jury duty, three of the first four called from Carroll County were women from Manning. According to the February 24, 1921, Monitor, Nina Miller, Minnie Joens, and Rosa Hoffmann were among the "newly franchised women to be given the opportunity to display their judgment regarding cases."

On November 11, 1918, in the afternoon the Presbyterian Church bell began to ring -- then the Methodist, the Catholic and the Lutheran. The mill steam whistle began to blow, the creamery whistle and finally the shrill whistle of the bottling works. The war was over.

Later that afternoon the veterans of the Civil War and a few soldiers on leave had an impromptu parade up Main Street starting at the old G.A.R. hall (where the laundromat is now). Hod Free and "Happy Hank" Parrish, two old Civil War drummer boys, led the parade.

By means of news items and letters from the boys in service published in the Manning Monitor, four Manning boys, Ralph Hagedorn, Robert Musfeldt, Otto Kruse, and Don Musfeldt, found out that they were all stationed in various parts of the South Pacific. They contacted each other through letters and made arrangements for a reunion in the South Pacific on June 12, 1943.

An Iowa 2 percent sales tax took effect April 1, 1934.

The Iowa personal income tax took effect January 1, 1935. Incomes over $3000 were required to file and pay 1 percent on the first thousand over $3000, 2 percent on the second, 3 percent on the third, 4 percent on the fourth, 5 percent on the fifth and over.

First National Bank