Iowa Town’s Gambit Encourages Outsiders to Put Down Roots

Penny Hollis left New Hampshire last summer and bought a home in this Farm Belt town so fast that she didn’t notice the major landmark: a grain elevator.

“I thought, ‘Elevator, what’s so special about an elevator? Isn’t that what goes up and down in department stores?’ ” she recalled.

Hoping to save its businesses and its school, Rolfe put out a national invitation two years ago, offering a free lot and $1,200 cash to anyone who builds a house worth $30,000.

About 70 people have accepted the invitation, increasing the population by almost 10%. Their 20 children padded school enrollment to 190.

Four houses have been built, although none by the transplants, who are happy to rent or buy existing homes at a fraction of the price they’re used to paying.

“We paid $4,500 for it, plus $1,500 for the garage,” says Becky Roberts of her century-old, 3,000-square-foot house. “In Sacramento, it would probably go for $300,000.”

To Roberts and her husband, Gary, who moved from California this year for their retirement, this town about 80 miles northwest of Des Moines is just what she and her husband were looking for.

“We were thinking about retiring and moving to a small community, and one morning on the boob tube here comes the story about Rolfe,” she said.

They visited, liked the place and decided to settle.

“It’s real slow here,” she said. “People are genuinely friendly. If they call on you or visit, it’s because they want to. . . . You don’t have to be suspicious of people at your door.

“You go downtown and find cars parked at the curb, running, with babies in them. In California, you would never leave it unlocked, let along running with a kid in it. That would be like stamping the kid on the forehead with, ‘Take me, I’m available.’ ”

For that matter, a car hasn’t been stolen in Rolfe in three years, said City Administrator Dave Jochims.

Alcides and Guelly Mendoza, who came from Brazil by way of the Bronx, tired of the rush and risk in New York City.

The move was especially good for their four children, three in school and an 8-month-old, Alcides Mendoza said. In New York, they lived in a very good area, “but four or five blocks over, there were buildings where there was trouble.”

“I like it here because I don’t have too much problem for my kids,” she said. “Here many people look after kids. Everybody takes care of everybody. People here make me feel welcome.”

Until her husband found a job in nearby Pocahontas, Alcides Mendoza received public assistance for the infant. “But now my husband found a good job, and when I pick up my last check this month, I tell how much we appreciate but we do not need any more,” she said.

Other families aren’t so quick to get on their feet.

Ron Walrod, director of social services for Pocahontas County, said he knows of about a dozen people receiving public assistance in Rolfe.

But Jochims said most of the newcomers are on their own.

“I know there are families who need assistance, like a lot of Iowans. Whether we like it or not, these people are not disposable,” he said. “This is a free society. We’re concerned about the people who come here.”

The grain elevator is the main employer in Rolfe, but there are ample opportunities for skilled workers in nearby communities, Jochims said. The county unemployment rate is 1.1%.

“So far, the businesses have been happy with the workers they’ve received, and I feel good about it. People are moving to Rolfe to better themselves,” Jochims said.

After her husband died of a brain tumor two years ago, Hollis, 31, decided she and her four children, ages 3 to 14, needed to get away from New Hampshire.

“I saw this article in a woman’s magazine and decided to drive out,” she said. “I couldn’t get over the openness. I kept stopping the car and getting out so I could see how far I could see.

“I really didn’t check out Rolfe very much; it was the land I loved. I put a down payment down on this house right away.”

She said relatives practically dared her to leave, betting that she wouldn’t, and said she is now having reservations.

“I used to socialize all the time and now I don’t know anybody,” she said.