Welcome

To my

Page about Gravity

Hi I see that you have made it to my page about Gravity.

I hope that you find this page interesting to read. Some of what is here I know from memory as I was born and raised there. So set back and enjoy. Later I will be adding pictures of Gravity.

Gravity is located in Southwest Iowa. It is aproxamently 14 miles from the Missouri line and is about 2 hours from the Nebraska line.

Gravity is a small city with a population of about 200 people. In the early years it was a booming little city.

I myself have a long history of family in Gravity. My Great great grand parents were born and raised there as well as my grand parents and my dad.

Gravity at one time had 7 churches and it was the most in Taylor County. We had a railroad and one day was a very special day for us as the train was carrying the President of The United States. It was President Roosevelt. It made a short stop there and the President gave a short speech. I myself never saw the railroad as it was taken out before my time. But if you look real close you can see where it was.

Gravity had a High School and the last graduating class was 1959 and only 14 kids Graduated. In the fall of 1959 Gravity joined with Bedford as did 3 others. Gravity still had grades from Kindergarten to 6th grade. 7th and 8th were bussed to Conway. And High School 9-12 were bussed to Bedford. In the summer of 1971 a tornado wiped out the town of Conway, so they moved the Junior High to Gravity and 5th and 6th to Conway and the rest of the grades went to Bedford. I went to Gravity from Kindergarten to 5th grade and then 6th in Conway and 7th and 8th in Gravity and 9-12 in Bedford.

There is a long history of Graduates from Gravity in my family my Dads parents both Graduated from there and so did my dad and his 3 brothers and 2 sisters. My 3 cousins and the 4 of us kids all Graduated from the 8th grad there. WOW what a history. There was a Ambrose Graduating High School from 1973 to 1978 one right after the other.

In the fall of 1985 the Bedford Community School District buit a new building to hold all the grades from Kindergarten to 12. The school building in Gravity was turned back over to the City and at that time the City was going to make a Rec. Center and meeting place for The City Council. They sealed off the upstairs and used the gym and other rooms for meetings and what not. But due to low funds they found out they could no longer keep it up so today it stands empty. I myself have been in there since school has closed. You stand in the hall and listen real close you can still hear a bell ring and children laughter.

Gravity was a booming little town in it's day as you could go down main street and see both sides of the street filled with businesses. Today there is not much there.
1. Old Bank Building (turned into a hang out for kids with video games,pool table ect...) 2. Telephone office 3.Community Center 4.Post Office 5.Coffee Shop 6.Fire Department That is all that is on Main Street.


I can remember going across the street to the New Era Cafe and getting 2 scoops of ice cream for 10 cents. Or going past the 2 bars we had and wondering what was in there.


Gravity used to have a carnival come there every year and as kids we would set and wait for when it came to town we would set up town and watch them set up the rides and if you were lucky enough the guys would give you free rides. But due to insurance being to high they stopped coming.


Gravity had a Cenntinal in 1983. It was a 4 day event filled with fun games and alot of people. It was estiamted that 5000 people were there at one time running around. What a day it was to see that many people in town at one time.

In 1995, an article called "Iowa Boy" was published in the Des Moines Register, detailing the upcoming RAGBRAI, and their plans to bring the cycling caravan through Gravity. The article continued, describing a desire to do something special, so volunteers were recruited to clean up the town. With donations of painting supplies, food and refreshments they went to work beautifying Gravity and restoring Main Street to its luster from the time I was a young boy, growing up. A month later, when the riders of RAGBRAI descended upon my tiny home town, they were treated to genuine small town hospitality.

The contest was won by a local boy named Kyle Coleman. The solgan states. "If Gravity Goes, We All Go." Due to him winning Kyle won a free ticket to the Fist Prom in Gravity since 1959 and also was named hononary Mayor for the day.

Now I bet you are wondering what RAGBRAI stands for well it stands for "Registers Annual Great Bycicle Ride Across Iowa." It was started years ago and a bunch of people ride there bikes from Council Bluffs to the Mississippi River. They take different routes every year and draw in a crowd of over 20,000 riders and support. From all parts of the world. It is a big event and is enjoyed by all. I have never rode in it but I know of a few that have.