Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1893 — IOWA’S CRACK BAND. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IOWA’S CRACK BAND.

One of the Finest Musical Organizations in the Country to Be at the Fair. One of the best things lowa will send to the World's Fair, says a Des Moines correspondent, is the lowa State Band. It is an organization of which Hawkeye people have reason to be proud, and they think that when the Fair is over the people of the world will know that lowa can furnish as good musical talent as can be found any place. The band is strictly a state organization. It ia made up of the best musicians out in this country. The members of it live

all the way from Dubuque to Council Bluffs. The leader of the band is Frederick Phinney, a d ow n-Ea s te r who comes from a family of musicians. It was he who organized the famous r band of Lynn, Mass.

His father organized the old Plymouth Band years ago. This band was one of the first musical aggregations in Massachusetts, and used to head the famous Standish Guards, which date their birth from colonial times. Mr. Phinney’s ancestors were among those most conspicuous in the formation of the guards. Mr. Phinney is himself a direct descendant of Miles Standish. He came to lowa in 1889, and commenced the organization of what is now the lowa State Band. There were then several bands in Des Moines. He picked from these the best musicians, and to give him united support all the bands disbanded. The organization, under Mr. Phinney’s able direction, has steadily grown, and now it is admitted all around to be one of the best bands in the country. The entire band of fifty pieces will play in the lowa State Building at the World’s Fair, three, and perhaps six, months. The band is maintained and supported by the people of lowa.

FRBDBSICK PHINNEY]