Editing Graettinger, Iowa (section)

==History==
Graettinger got its start in the 1880s, following construction of the [[Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway]] through that territory.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyMzAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA150 | title=History of Palo Alto County, Iowa | publisher=Torch Press | author=McCarty, Dwight Gaylord | year=1910  | page=150}}</ref> The land was originally owned by Dr. Alois Graettinger, a German physician who had immigrated to [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]. He gave the land to the railway under the condition that the town were to be named after him. Members of the Graettinger family still live in the town. They are descendants of Dr. Graettinger's brother, Blasius, who was a stone cutter by trade but moved to Iowa to farm.

Graettinger is the location of the oldest [[Labor Day]] celebration in the state of Iowa. Each year, the town celebrates with a parade, carnival, street dance, variety show, queen coronation, raffle drawing and various other events.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmetsburgnews.com/page/content.detail/id/510589/Iowa-s-Oldest-Continuous-Labor-Day-Celebration.html?nav=5001 |title=Iowa's Oldest Continuous Labor Day Celebration Celebrate in Graettinger |publisher=Emmetsburg Reporter/Democrat |date=August 30, 2012 |access-date=February 27, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307060213/http://www.emmetsburgnews.com/page/content.detail/id/510589/Iowa-s-Oldest-Continuous-Labor-Day-Celebration.html?nav=5001 |archive-date=March 7, 2014 }}</ref>

===About Dr. Alois Graettinger===
Dr. Alois Graettinger was a German-American physician born in [[Passau]], [[Bavaria]], on January 10, 1834. He attended the local school and [[Gymnasium (Germany)|gymnasium]] of [[Passau]]. At the age of 18, Graettinger entered the [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich|University of Munich]], completing the “biennium practicum”, after which he was assistant in the obstetrical clinic of the university for one year before leaving for [[Milwaukee]] in 1857. In 1865, he took the degree of M.D. at the [[Feinberg School of Medicine|Chicago Medical College]] and in 1878 that of the University of Munich. In 1894, Dr. Graettinger was chosen as the president of the Society of German Physicians in Milwaukee. On account of ill health he left for [[California]] in 1898, giving up practice and tilling the soil until his death due to [[arteriosclerosis]] on October 23, 1907.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frank |first=Louis Frederick |title=The Medical History of Milwaukee: 1834-1914  |year=1915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-4SAAAAYAAJ |location=Milwaukee |publisher=Germania Publishing Co. |page=35 }}</ref>