Orange City

Our last stop in Iowa was unique Orange City, a little bit of Holland in Northwest Iowa.  Orange City was settled in 1870 and named after Prince William of Orange, a prominent royal figure in the Netherlands in the 17th century.  So, no oranges here.

They have the cutest Chamber of Commerce I've ever seen.

The impressive courthouse was built of Sioux Quartzsite.

The storefronts are built with colorful gables.

Here's something you don't see every day - a windmill phone booth.

Of course they have an annual tulip festival in May, but we had to settle for this giant mural.

In Windmill Park, we admired the display of six scale models of historic Dutch windmills.  Rod Shea of Middleburg, Wisconsin, researched and built the units, then donated them to Orange City in 2006.

As you can see, we are really living up to our blog's name.