Miss Hattie Crenshaw

Ms. Hattie Laura Crenshaw was a lifelong resident of Marengo, Iowa, with an interest in the Marengo Public Library.  She served as the sixth librarian of the Marengo Public Library.[1] Further evidence of her support included her service as the Secretary of the Ingleside Club, a Women’s Organization that assisted the Marengo Public Library with fundraising and literacy events.[2]  Hattie Crenshaw later served as the treasurer of the Marengo Public Library in 1939.[3]  In 1943, Ms. Crenshaw worked with the Marengo Public Library and the local high school to facilitate a book review club; as a result library use increased by 40{d88251a6d044bb92acfc6562c844669d257905d2c83f008be98127c59e94a890}.[4]

She was born in 1877 in Marengo, to parents Josephus Crenshaw and Laura Cadawaller.[5]  Ms. Crenshaw attended not only Coe College, and the University of Iowa, but also the University at Columbia in New York.[6]  Ms. Crenshaw returned to Marengo, and for over 35 years, she served as a teacher and subsequently as the Principal of the Marengo High School.  In 1942, Miss Crenshaw helped charter a program for adults to get their high school diploma.[7]  She passed away in 1943 in Marengo, and is buried IOOF Cemetery in Marengo.

-Kathryn Heffner

[1] Cedar Rapids Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, November 4, 1943.

[2] Iowa Federation of Women’s Clubs Yearbook, (Humboldt: Humboldt Iowa Independent Press, 1907).

[3] “Marengo,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, July 27, 1939.

[4] “Where Grown Ups Go to School,” The Rotarian, (New York: Rotary International, 1942).

[5] Ancestry.com, Iowa, Delayed Birth Records, 1856-1940 [database on-line], Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.

[6] “Marengo School Teacher for 44 Years is Dead,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA, November 4, 1943.

[7] “Where Grown Ups Go to School,” The Rotarian, (New York: Rotary International, 1942).