PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID SHEARER COLLECTION The late President Theodore Roosevelt is shown wearing an overcoat over his pajamas while speaking to onlookers at the Marshalltown train depot circa 1907.

When elected president Nov. 8, 2016, Donald Trump joined a distinguished list of politicians who visited Marshalltown.

Nearly nine and one-half months previously on Jan. 26, then Republican candidate Trump appeared at the Marshalltown High School Roundhouse preceding the Feb. 1, 2016 Iowa Caucus.

“I’ve really bonded with the people of Iowa,” Trump said. “I love the people here, and I think I can win here”, wrote Times-Republican reporter Adam Sodders.

Hundreds came to see the real-estate mogul, many standing in the cold for more than 30 minutes to get a good seat.

They were flanked by reporters and a t-shirt vendor, selling fluorescent clothes with “TRUMP” stamped across them.

“We have leadership that is incompetent,” said Trump. “I just want America to be great again.”

He spent time talking about immigration.

“We will build a wall, and Mexico will pay for it,” Trump said. “I have the toughest plan in terms of border security.”

The businessman did not explain how he would build the wall, or how he would make Mexico pay for such a project. He also blamed undocumented immigrants for participating in criminal activities in the U.S.

“Many gangs in Los Angeles are made up entirely of illegal immigrants,” he said. “It needs to stop.”

Also on Jan. 26, Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) made a campaign stop at DeJardin Hall on the campus of Marshalltown Community College.

Later that evening, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a Democratic presidential hopeful, spoke at Miller Middle School.

It is anybody’s guess if President Trump visits Marshalltown, but if he does, he too, will join select company.

Visits by sitting presidents

President Barack Obama’s campaign appearance at Marshalltown’s Miller Middle School Aug. 14, 2012, marked the first visit to Marshalltown of a sitting president in nearly 72 years.

It was Sept. 23, 1940, when the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to onlookers from his rail car.

He stopped in Marshalltown on his way westward according to the June 6, 1949 Times-Republican publication “Fifty Years of Progress in Marshalltown.”

Late historians Dorothy Apgar of Marshalltown and former resident Barb Scafferi said they did not recall other presidential visits since FDR.

The Marshall County Historical Society had no record of a sitting president visit since FDR.

The late Vahl Vladyka said he clearly remembers FDR’s stop despite the passage of seven decades.

“I did see FDR from ten feet, when he came out on the rear end of his train, while it was taking on water at the old C&NW depot.”

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt accompanied the president.

While the gap between FDR and Obama’s visit was nearly 72 years, the town played host to four sitting presidents and one past president from the 1870s to 1940, according to the T-R.

They were presidents Grant, McKinley, Taft, Theodore Roosevelt and FDR.

Grant was first

“The first president to visit the city was Ulysses S. Grant and his appearance here was the signal for one of the greatest receptions ever given any personage,” said the T-R. “The great Civil War leader and later chief executive was here in the 1870s.”

William McKinley visited twice.

“His first visit was while he was governor of Ohio when he came to make a short address from a carriage on the Courthouse lawn. His second visit was Oct. 11, 1898 when he was en route to the Trans-Mississippi exposition in Omaha, Neb. The train halted in Marshalltown for an hour or more. A platform had been erected at the east end of the station and McKinley spoke from that.”

Taft and Teddy Roosevelt

Former president William Howard Taft made a special visit.

“William Howard Taft visited the city after his term as president (1909-1913) coming to address a graduating class of the Marshalltown High School.”

President Theodore Roosevelt of Spanish-American War Rough Rider fame made an unexpected stop and impromptu speech, according to the T-R.

“President Theodore Roosevelt was forced to make an unheralded speech in the city one bright morning just as the sun was coming up. It was known that he was passing through the city en route west, but no stop was scheduled here. Hundreds gathered at the depot, however and held the train until the president could arise and appear on the back platform for a brief talk. He appeared with an overcoat over his pajamas and he made a few personal remarks to Walter L. Smith, when the latter snapped his picture.”

Collector David Shearer of Marshalltown who owns a photograph of the visit, said the picture was taken after 1907.

Strategic location

Marshalltown’s strategic location where two major rail lines intersected — the M&St.L and C&NW — played a significant role as three of the five visiting presidents staged their presentations on railcars.

Vice-presidents have found there way to Marshalltown, most recently in 2000, when Vice-President Al Gore stopped at a Marshall County farm.

Gore, who had been selected by the Democrats to face Republican George W. Bush, was interviewed by T-R publisher Mike Schlesinger.

In 1988, vice-president George H.W. Bush visited.

Apgar said he walked from downtown to the Iowa Veterans Home for a scheduled appearance.

Charles W. Fairbanks, vice president under Theodore Roosevelt, was in town for a political speech during the 1904 campaign, giving an address at the Odeon Theater.

Candidates

Marshalltown has been a stop for other candidates who later became president.

Then Sen. Obama visited three times in 2007 while campaigning for the Democrat nomination.

The late Ronald Reagan, who went on to serve two terms as president, spoke from the then Tallcorn Hotel, and later the Courthouse Square June 20, 1979.

Gov. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee for president, visited Marshalltown.

He made a 2007 campaign stop at the former Lillie Mae Candy Shop on Main Street, according to former T-R reporter Ken Black.

Romney also visited Marshalltown’s Fisher Controls in the 1980s as a business consultant, Black said.

Even in death presidents attracted attention.

“I know (President Warren) Harding’s funeral train came through town (in 1923). I have pictures of people waiting,” Shearer said.