Flatiron Building for kids
The Building Shaped Like a Slice. The true story of the Flatiron Building, near Novato, CA, told for kids.
Read along
Look around Old Town. Can you spot a building shaped like a slice of pizza? That's the Flatiron Building! A man named Abraham Yelmorini built it in 1908.
He was a dairy farmer, and he also ran a saloon behind the building. Here's the sneaky part. The building was designed to catch the eyes of train passengers, so they would stop there instead of going to the other saloons in town! It was like a giant sign saying, come here first!
Over the years it has been a market, a thrift shop, and a bookshop. Now count the corners out the window. How many can you find?
Quiz the back seat
Why did Abraham build such a special-looking building?
Show the answer
To catch train passengers' eyes. To catch train passengers' eyes! And today you can still see it in Old Town.
3 fun facts
- The Flatiron Building was built in 1908 by Abraham Yelmorini.
- It was designed to catch the eye of train passengers so they would stop there instead of going to other saloons in town.
- It has been a market, a thrift shop, and a bookshop.
For grown-ups
Every Tumbly story is checked claim by claim against the sources below before it's published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flatiron_buildings
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building_(Novato,_California)
- facebook.com/NovatoHistoryMuseum/posts/the-flat-iron-building-at-grant-and-scott-ct-abraham-yelmorini-a-swiss-immigrant/1045263504283495
- static1.squarespace.com/static/68267bce101f610f1b03820d/t/688aadd75bdfaa6bc963835b/1753918935389/Historian-Vol-46-No1.pdf
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Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).