A Homer Croy series

‘Corn Country’ entertains, opens a time from long ago

Editor’s note: This is the initial column introducing our Nodaway News Leader readers to a Nodaway County-born author from our past to enjoy during these dog-days of summer. 

By Kay Wilson

Homer Croy, an esteemed writer of magazine articles, novels and historic anthology pieces as well as an occasional screenplay,  was born March 11, 1883 on a farm northwest of Maryville. While he attended the University of Missouri, he left without graduating after failing an English course his senior year. He began his journalism career at the Kansas City Star and later the St. Louis Post Dispatch. He then traveled to  New York City for work. His first book, “When to Lock the Stable” came in 1914. “West of the Water Tower” was his popular book published in 1923 and spoke about “Junction City” which was really Maryville in disguise.

Will Rogers starred in his first talky film “They Had to See Paris,” 1926, which Croy was the screenwriter. And there were 14 others including “Corn Country.”

Croy died May 24, 1965.

Croy seemed to gather his writings about his homeland to produce a book, “Corn Country.” Most of the articles had appeared in well-known magazines of the time such as Esquire, Harper’s Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, The Saturday Evening Post and a half-dozen others. Readers of yesteryear enjoyed his musings and I can see why.  I think you will too.

“In weighing the values of the things I wished to present it seemed to me the cities were least characteristic of all; so if anybody wants to read about the Soul of St. Louis or What Makes Omaha Tick, he will be grievously disappointed. Indeed, there is not a sentence in the book about St. Louis, for St. Louis is not in the corn belt. The early settlers, the land itself, the struggle to make it produce, the story of corn, the people themselves – the grandsons and the great-grandsons of the pioneers – I decided were things to write about. So I waded in.” From the foreword of “Corn Country.”

There are 37 chapters in the book, most are five to six pages in length. The titles include Where the People Came From, Claim-Jumpers, County Seat Wars, The Rainmakers, Abraham Lincoln Once Owned a Farm in Iowa, Hog-Calling and Hog-Calling Contests, “Graduation Day” in the One-Room School, and Ten Outstanding Men of the Corn Belt, to name a few.

For some summer reading, I will give you some tidbits of the writings from this man to conjure up thoughts of simpler times here in corn country.