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Cold Downtown Skyline
Tribune photo published February 17, 1958

This photo, taken from the top floor of Central Junior High, faces southeast at the intersection of 5th Street and Burnett Avenue.  Central was located on the east side of Clark, opposite today's City Hall.  Easily visible in this photo are Brintnall's Standard (330 5th), Wheelock Service (327 5th), Mathison Motors (323 5th), and the top of Sheldon Munn Hotel on Main Street.  Chicken Dispatch at 326 5th, the Mathison Used Car lot at 320 5th, and O'Neil Dairy (308-310 5th) are seen on the south side of 5th Street, just beyond Brintnall's station.  The sign for Corwin Cleaners (402 Burnett) is just visible in the trees at right.  Note the playground area (foreground) now occupied by First National Bank.

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE -- Ames took on the appearance of an industrial city this morning as business houses applied the heat in an attempt to warm up after last night's chilly 22 below zero weather.  This picture shows some of the downtown chimneys puffing smoke at 7:30 a. m. today as owners turned up thermostats for the day.  C. N. Brown, weather observer at the Iowa State College Agronomy farm, said this morning temperatures were slowly rising after a low of 22 degrees below zero at 6 a. m.  The 19 below reading Sunday morning combined with today's low to make the coldest Feb. 16 and 17 since records were begun at the Agronomy farm in 1931.  There have been 10 days this month when low readings here dipped below zero, Brown said.

In 1936, the coldest winter on record, there was a total of 17 days with below zero readings.  There also was 22 inches of snow on the ground.  Ames recorded the lowest temperature in history, Jan. 14, 1957, when the Agronomy Farm instruments read 30 below.  Stalled and frozen cars were the rule rather than the exception this morning.  One local garage used three tow trucks to make about 50 calls to push autos.  Residents are keeping furnaces going at nearly full capacity to maintain constant warm temperatures in their homes.  It was reported the gas department of the Iowa Electric Light and Power Co., was running at top capacity today.

Ames Fire Chief Kenneth Taylor warned residents there may be serious fires resulting from over-heated furnaces and stoves.  He said heating equipment should be thoroughly checked to determine whether it is operating properly.  The United Press reported today Iowa is undergoing the coldest siege of weather in eight years according to official weather bureau records.  The mercury dipped to 33-below at Atlantic Sunday for the state low.  The national low was 34 below zero at Detroit Lakes and Grand Rapids, Mich.  The last time readings were lower in the state was Dec. 27, 1950 when Fayette and Saratoga had 34 below.  The weather bureau's official low for Jan. 14 last year was 31 below zero at Perry.  The edge of the cold bank was expected to drift over western Iowa this afternoon, giving partly cloudy skies.  The clouds are expected to spread over the state tonight.  Industries and other large users of natural gas in the Des Moines area turned to coal, oil and other fuels for heating after their quota of gas was shifted to home users.  The firms operate on a routine schedule that permits the conversions.  The latest cold wave has sent the mercury plunging below zero as far south as Kentucky.