May 12, 1919
The American Legion Department of Iowa began accepting applications for post charters on May 12, 1919. As in many American Legion departments, it was determined that the post whose charter was approved the earliest would be Post 1.
Thus was staged the great race between Council Bluffs and Spencer.
At the stroke of midnight, 15 charter Legionnaires of each city signed the application form, had it notarized and sped off to Des Moines. The Spencer veterans set out in a Ford car, hoping they would get to Des Moines ahead of the train from Council Bluffs, which contained a special-delivery package: the other charter application. The Spencer crew ran into bad roads and had to abandon the car, board a train at Carroll, call a taxi at Des Moines and rush to submit the application.
The Spencer group burst through the door five minutes ahead of the special mail delivery from Council Bluffs, thus Spencer was Post 1, Council Bluffs Post 2, followed by Ottumwa, Hubbard, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Carroll. Within one month, 51 posts were chartered of 352 that would be chartered in the organization’s first year in Iowa.
