Image of the “sewer Banquet” in Waterloo, Iowa held in October 1903. Postcard is postmarked December 8, 1910, and was sent to “Miss Thresia Hoffman Lamotte” in Jackson County, Iowa.
“So unique was this banquet in a sewer (no rats invited) that newspapers around the world carried the story of the October 1903 event. In the underground chamber, 450 guests — the women in high heels and richly embroidered gowns — filed down a ready-made stairway in a block-long section of the sewer between Wellington and Randolph Streets. Many of the guests were representatives of State of Iowa or city officials who were holding a convention in Waterloo. The $100,000 sewer project provided an underground conduit between the marsh and the Cedar River.” -Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier