Welcome to Beaconsfield, Iowa
Where Astronauts & Grocery Stores Are Born
Currently being used as our community center, which is available for rent, is the 1st Hy-Vee.
Charles Hyde (1883-1970) and David Vredenburg (1884-1949) opened a small store here in 1930. The store was leased only a few weeks before the stock market crash of October, 1929. The two men began calling their operation Hyde & Vredenburg in 1933, which is when our store became no more and they began to expand.
We are currently working on funding to rejuvenate this historic landmark!
Peggy A. Whitson (Ph.D.) is an American biochemistry researcher, retired NASA astronaut,[3] and former NASA Chief Astronaut. She was born in Mt. Ayr and raised on a farm just outside of town here calling Beaconsfield home until she took off for college.
Peggy's career spans 10 spacewalks with a total of 665 days in space. She currently holds the U.S. record, placing eighth on the all-time space endurance list. The Iowa native also completed two six-month tours of duty aboard the station for Expedition 5 in 2002, and as the station commander for Expedition 16 in 2008 where she accumulated 377 days in space between the two missions, the most for any U.S. woman at the time of her return to Earth.
We are in a constant battle with LeRoy, Iowa for title of Smallest Town in the state. Our current population is 15 people.
The old school house pictured above is no longer around but we do have a church & the 1st Hy-Vee building, which is our community center.
We are located a mere 3.5 miles from Sun Valley Lake, Sun Valley Golf Course and 18 miles from a real grocery store (and the booming metropolis) in our county seat of Mt. Ayr.