More than 100 years ago, an Iowa ornithologist led construction on a signature scientific
tower.
Her goal was the advancement of research on a specific bird, the Chimney Swift.
Today, a group of Iowans have rallied together to continue that research and further the
legacy of Althea Sherman.
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In Iowa's rural Cedar County on a picturesque farmstead rests a structure with a century
old long backstory.
For decades, this outbuilding has been part of a long struggle of perseverance and passion
for the outdoors.
This tower, resting on the corner of a rural plot, was designed nearly a century ago, and
only recently arrived at its final destination.
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But for a band of birding experts, this place and this tower symbolize the legacy of an
Iowa icon, ornithologist Althea Sherman.
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Born in Clayton County, Iowa in 1853, Althea was a 20 year art teacher who delved deeply
into her childhood passion of birds and the outdoors.
Her artwork of the Goldfinch was later credited with contributing to its honor as Iowa's state
bird.
Barbara Boyle: We have come to realize that she is of interest from the perspective of
history, ornithology, science.
She was a woman who started this as a second career at the age of 50 and did her best works
in her 60s, 70s and 80s, which we just think is wonderful.
I mean, what a role model.
Early in the 1900s, Althea combined intensive observation skills with disciplined study
to turn the space around her home into an ornithologist's research lab.
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Despite Sherman's lack of professional training, her keen eye and patience gleaned from years
of oil paintings, led her to build nesting boxes, observation blinds and a peculiar tower
specially designed to her specifications.
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In 1915, her most well-known structure was constructed, a 28-foot tower built with a
false chimney, stairway and observation windows, all specially designed to watch the nesting
habits of the chimney swift and record its behavior.
The medium-sized gray birds were known for wintering in South America and breeding everywhere
from the Midwest to the East Coast.
The tower would prove popular and its research findings would cement Althea's legacy as a
pioneer ornithologist.
But after the self-taught bird expert died in 1943 at the age of 89, the tower drifted
into disrepair.
A half century would pass before restoration efforts would commence.
Boyle: And the roof was quite rotten, big holes in the roof.
It was in a very dilapidated state.
And even if they hadn't torn it down we don't believe that it would have survived even that
winter.
It was in very, very poor shape.
It was quite unsafe to go up into it, but we did.
In the early '90s, groups of Iowans under the banners of the Songbird Project and later
the Althea Sherman Project, worked to rescue the tower and bring it from a temporary home
in Harper's Ferry to Iowa City for extensive repair.
But it wasn't until 2009 when efforts kicked into high gear as a farmstead in Cedar County
welcomed the tower.
But preservation experts had significant work to not only maintain the structure, but keep
its potential bird habitat and observation attributes safe for future generations.
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Doug Steinmetz: Fortunately we have documentary photographs that we're able to reference to
see in fairly good detail what the exterior of the building looked like.
There are a lot of notes in her journal about the actual construction and her thoughts on
the construction of the tower.
So we're cross-referencing those items.
The plan worked.
Nearly a century after Althea Sherman hired a group of local Iowa carpenters to build
the 28-foot tower, another band of Iowans gathered to place it in its new home, an idyllic
farmstead near Buchanan, Iowa.
Boyle: It's a great day.
It's 20 and a half plus years coming.
It's a lot of ups and downs and frustrations and joys and everything you can imagine over
20 years' time.
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Cheers!
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After cranes lowered the structure into its new position, work commenced under the direction
of the late Bob Anderson to establish bird camera viewing and listening areas in the
Sherman Tower.
Anderson, who was personally involved in the Peregrine Falcon restoration and the world
famous Decorah Eagle nest camera, passed away in 2015.
But he lent his passion for birding and expertise to the newly-restored tower.
Bob Anderson: I just think it's wonderful.
I truly think it's wonderful.
I think she would have loved to have seen what bird cams could bring to education around
the world.
It's just, bird cams are used in classrooms from coast to coast.
So fun.
We're on the cutting edge of this technology too.
Since its restoration and placement in 2013, the tower has had multiple visits from chimney
swifts returning from their wintering grounds in South America.
The tower now rests as a living, breathing monument to hardworking Iowans and the legacy
of self-taught ornithologist Althea Sherman.
Really, really coming to realizing some dreams and goals here and in a place again that,
how can you get, how can it be better, you know?