For a very long time I have had an interesting thermometer hanging on my wall. Of course, with the hot weather we are going through it is an important thing to have.

The picture is a bit blurry as I just scanned it on my scanner and the frame is a bit above the glass which makes it out of focus.

The thermometer came from the Ideal Cafe in Blanchard, Iowa. The name of the owner is C.W. McFarland. I should have talked to my Dad before writing this post. McFarland must have owned the cafe before Olin Hutt who owned it in the 50’s.

These glass silhouette advertising thermometers were from about the 40’s and 50’s.

My assumption is that this thermometer belonged to my 2nd Great Grandparents who lived near Blanchard. I remember getting it from my Grandmother.

Here you can see that Blanchard is right on the border of Iowa and Missouri.

Some of the town is below the border and is known as South Blanchard, Missouri. Blanchard had a population of close to 500 in the early 1900’s but now has a population of only 29 in the last census.

In the first map you would have seen the location of the Blanchard Cemetery just east of town. This is where several generations of my Braman and Beck families are buried.

I remember going to this cemetery many years ago when I was a little boy to help my Grandpa place flowers on the graves. I remember a gun salute they had for Memorial Day. Not far from this cemetery is where my Grandma and Grandpa Braman are buried along with generations of my Van Duzor ancestors.

Steven

maps and cemetery picture from Google Maps.