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South Bottoms Reunion

 Organization

Biography

South Bottoms, once called “a mini-United Nations” due to the proliferation of first-generation immigrants, was a working class neighborhood located on the south-side of Sioux City, Iowa, along the Floyd River. In addition to Mexican American, African American, and Native American populations in the region, many immigrants came from Europe (namely Germany, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden) to work for the railroad industry, packing plants, stockyards, or factories in the latter half of the nineteenth century. At its peak, following the construction of the James Booge packing plant in the 1880s, the neighborhood boasted several churches, a grade school, and a community house, as well as the Wall Street Mission, the main gathering place for the area.

Because of its borders with the Floyd and Missouri Rivers, South Bottoms was among the hardest hit regions during the flood of 1953, which damaged many riverside homes as well as the city’s water supply station. Four years later, the construction of Interstate 29 destroyed or moved more than 100 homes between the Floyd River and the Sioux City stockyards. Additionally, the 1962 Floyd River Channel project took an irreversible toll on the neighborhood, forcing nearly 500 of the remaining families from their homes. Despite the neighborhood’s demise, former inhabitants continue to maintain a tight-knit community, circulating the South Bottoms Bugle newsletter and holding reunions and events for former residents. In 1997, the city created the South Bottoms Memorial to commemorate and remember the families and pioneers who once called the neighborhood their home.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

South Bottoms Reunion records

 Collection
Identifier: IWA0956
Abstract

A working class neighborhood in Sioux City that was destroyed by a 1953 flood and the construction of Interstate 29.

Dates: 2001-2006