Beyond Little House | And One More on the Way: Music Man Square

And One More on the Way: Music Man Square

Music Man Square

Have you ever heard of Meredith Willson, Iowa’s Music Man? Willson was born in Mason City, Iowa and went on to fame and fortune, but never forgot where he was from. In fact the work he is best known for today, the musical The Music Man, is based on his Iowa childhood. Today in Mason City you can see his restored birthplace, the Meredith Willson footbridge which replaced the one where he sets a scene in the musical after it was declared unsafe (one end is right by the public library – people with a fear of heights avoid this one, my mom took one look and informed me she’d wait in the car), Music Man Square, and even the local McDonalds and water tower have a Music Man theme. Mason City is just off of I-35, a very short way into Iowa off of I-90.

A further word about Music Man Square; it’s a unique concept, so it’s a little hard to describe if you haven’t seen it. When I was there the staff showed little or no interest in the place. So don’t expect much help from them other than selling tickets, unless it’s improved radically in the last few years. That’s OK though because the complex really stands on its own. It’s in two parts. Part one is a recreation of the exterior of sets from the movie version of The Music Man. There’s the flivver like the one they drive, the livery stable, and you can really buy ice cream at the soda fountain (the interior isn’t nearly as cool as the outside unfortunately). They look like you’ve literally stepped into the movie and it’s worth the drive for any fan. The second part is a museum dedicated to Meredith Willson and music in general. Frankly, after dealing with the staff I wasn’t expecting much, but I was truly blown away. It is on my top 10 list of best designed museums I’ve been too. The balance between interaction and genuine artifacts, the way they broke complicated concepts down to simple understanding, and the way they reinforced their points throughout the museum. It was simply outstanding. It’s worth a trip out of your way to visit.

I’ll also tell you that Mason City should be on the must visit list for Frank Lloyd Wright fans (it has the last hotel he designed that is actually still standing as well as numerous typical examples of his single family houses) and Sound of Music fans (the puppets from the famous puppet show scene are in a museum dedicated to their creator there).