Lost Council Bluffs

S.M. Senden

Nov 2016 · Arcadia Publishing

About this ebook

Nestled in the Loess Hills, Council Bluffs grew from a frontier settlement of wickiups and log cabins. The outpost boomed as a gateway to the West when gold was discovered in California in 1849. The Pacific House and the Ogden House became landmark hotels for the transient population. Meanwhile, residents thrived and cultivated a bustling city with the Masonic Hall, Dohany's Opera House and the Merriam block. None of these once iconic buildings remains today. Author S.M. Senden explores the perpetual rebirth of Council Bluffs through its most important buildings and relates a still unfolding story.

About the author

S.M. Senden was raised in Winnetka, a north shore suburb of Chicago. From an early age, history, reading and writing were passions, as was travel. Senden has studied, lived and worked in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, spending a number of years as an archaeological illustrator for various expeditions. She earned a master's degree and has studied creative writing, play writing and screen writing. Senden has worked as a forensic artist with the police to identify murder victims in re-creating the face from the skeletal remains. Her publications include murder mysteries Clara's Wish, Lethal Boundaries, Murder at the Johnson House and A Death of Convenience and other Short Stories; two history books, Red Oak and Montgomery County, Iowa, published by Arcadia in the Images of America series; short stories "The December Bride" in Winter Wonders and "Christopher's Egg" and "Hog Wild and Pig Crazy" in anthologies; articles and meditations in both the Clergy Journal and the Word in Season; and a number of ghost stories published in various magazines and a bylines in numerous newspapers. Senden currently resides in Council Bluffs and is working on another history book, as well as a psychological thriller set in the 1890s.