USA > Iowa > Story County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Story County, Iowa > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
202
HISTORY OF IOWA.
are Mr. Shugan, Mrs. W. R. Kirk, J. G. Tan- ner (1887), D. V. Thrift, L. Lockwood (1888), R. J. Silliman, Dr. T. J. Jeffry, Edwin Reid (1889), John Briggs and Rev. Danner (1890).
The post-office has been filled in appoint- ments as follows: T. E. Alderman, January 14, 1854; J. C. Harris, December 6, 1855; Will- iam Aldridge, March 25, 1856; James Haw- thorn, November 22, 1858; W. G. Allen, April 25, 1861; James S. Blickensderfer, March 14, 1864; Otis Briggs, February 16, 1865; E. D. Fenn, September 3, 1866; L. Irwin, May 23, 1869; John Beatty, January 27, 1873; T. J. Ross, June 28, 1881; E. D. Fenn, August 7, 1885; F. D. Thompson, May 28, 1889. The growth of its business is illustrated by the re- port for the week ending May 12, 1890: Let- ters, 2,086; postals, 514; foreign, 13; second- class matter, 4,119 pieces; third class, 46: other matter, 169; total pieces, 6,947, weighing 4,541 pounds; postage paid, $52.91; to be collected, $.48. This was not the week for the sub-issues of the Highway office.
Story City, with its diminutive annexed par- ent, Fairview, on the east, is a kind of Ameri- canized Norway and Denmark. It is the home of the only Danish consul in Iowa, W. D. Gandrup, and its population of about 800 is very largely Norwegian, with a liberal sprink- ling of the Dane. Indeed, as the quaint, awk- ward skeleton of the old Scandinavian wind- mill, with its sails long since blown off, rises above the busy stores of Broad Street, and looks down on the neat residences along the 140-foot Park and Elm Avenues, it seems a type of the steady absorption of the Scandinavian into American customs, which latter may be illus- trated in the slender, shapely wind-mills which tower above the surrounding farms. As a cen- ter of a wealthy and industrious foreign popu- lation, it became the objective point of two rail- ways-the predecessors of the North-Western
and the Story City Branch of the Iowa Central. Its founders laid out its streets with a lavish hand, making the business street-Broad-100 feet, and the two park streets 140 feet, to pro- vide for a line of trees and lawn in the middle. It has its share of the flowing wells near by.
This is the second town in age in the county, and has had two periods in its career, which may be called the Hoosier and Scandinavian, the former covering the years from 1855 to the war, and the latter the time since then. On January, 5, 1855, George W. Sowers entered the land on the Fairview site, and on the fol- lowing June 25, and March 14, Lacount Lam- bert and Miles White entered the Story City site. Messrs. Lambert, Sowers and George S. Prime were Indianians, and on June 4 they platted a few acres on the southwest corner of the northeast quarter of Section 12, which, from its beautiful, unobstructed view, was named Fairview. Very soon Richard E. Jen- ness built a log house on the west street of Fairview. During 1856 he erected a frame and opened a store. William Estell next built on the northeast of the plat a frame store, in 1856. F. W. Rhoades opened business, and on November 29, 1856, was commissioned post- master, and the name made Story City, because of the existence of another Fairview in the State. John J. Foot erected a frame on the plat too. About 1857 Messrs. Prime, Hard- ing and Smith brought on a steam saw-mill, which enlivened business; then they made special inducements, such as giving town lots to those who would build. The second of those who took this offer was Capt. (now) W. A. Wier. D. L. Stultz and T. A. Squires located about 1859. The Rhoades' store passed through the hands of William Margason, Prime & Harding, Carl Smith, and was finally closed up, so there was little or no business by 1860, and during the war the mill was removed.
203
STORY COUNTY.
A new and largely foreign class came in after the war. J. P. Duea opened a store in the Estell building about the close of the war. Then this became a point on the stage line, first from Colorado, then Nevada. Norman & Hegland started a store about 1866, and after- ward sold to the Larsons. Norman afterward opened a hardware and drug store. Late in the sixties John Swan began his various enter- prises, and Allen & Amlund opened a drug store. From this time on railway agitation flourished, and Ames and Nevada vied with each other to secure the renewed town's aid for a cross-line across the county either to Des Moines or to the southeast. A tax was finally voted, on condition that a town be laid out and the track laid by a given time. This was in 1878, and R. E. Hurley, of the railway con- struction company, together with L. R. and E. R. Larson and Capt. Wier laid out the plat of Story City by December of that year. Build- ing was at once begun on Broad Street, and Fairview business all moved over. J. A. Oien built the first building on the site of the American House, but it was burned before completion. For the next two years there was a " boom " in business, as it raised its many fronts on both sides of Broad Street, between Park and Elm, and took on much of its present appearance. The main growth since then has been in residences and general improvements. In 1881 the Story City branch of the Iowa Central received a subscription from the people of a few thousand dollars, and a new railway outlet was made to Marshalltown. Business, however, was but slightly affected by this, as the appearance of rival towns to the east divided a heretofore large trade. The wideu- ing of the gauge by the North-Western people's line was of considerable advantage, and has led to the solid, permanent growth of Story City. The receipt charges for March, 1890, |
by the North-Western agent here were $1,024; shipment charges, $2,312; and ticket sales, $375, which is an average month, and the average for the Iowa Central office per month is $295.14 receipts and $325.47 forwarding.
The leading business, in which there is the greatest activity, is generally merchandise houses, with S. R. Cornelinssen & Co. and Lar- sen, Hansen & Cassem taking the lead. Proba- bly hardware, headed by Boyd, Henryson & Co., would follow next. Lumber and grain assumes large proportions in the hands of John Butler, C. & George P. Christianson, and others. The Citizens' Bank (private), which was established in 1882 by John Swan and Mr. Charlson, with $10,000 capital, may be mentioned about next in importance. The death of Mr. Charlson soon left Mr. Swan alone. His capital has since been increased to $15,000, and his cor- respondents are the Prairie State National Bank of Chicago, and the Citizens' National Bank of Des Moines. Next to this in invest- ment may be named Swan's flouring-mill, one of the largest in the State, with a capacity of sixty barrels daily. It was built in 1880 at a cost of $24,000. Mr. Swan has a creamery also, but next in importance to Story City is the hog and cattle trade, in which Thomas Johnson and Ward & Pyle probably lead the rest. Close upon this is M. A. Tendeland's butter and egg shipment, which will soon have brick quarters in the new Opera Block. S. H. Thompson's cooper factory may come next, as a supply to Mr. Tendeland's trade. Butler & Molstre's Brick and Tile Works, with a 50,000 a week each of brick and tile production, easily comes next, while among many others may be mentioned Overland's implement and black- smith shops, Holm Bros'. harness shops, furni- ture stores, drug stores, jewelers, barber shops, liveries, dress-making, etc., in abundance.
The Story City Improvement Company,
204
HISTORY OF IOWA.
John Swan, president, is soon to erect a $5,000 Opera Block on Broad Street, 59x70 feet, and two stories in brick.
The first council meeting of the incorpora- tion of the two plats was held March 29, 1882, with Capt. W. A. Wier, as mayor. But little outside of ordinary business was done for the first few years. A 240-foot well had been sunk at the corner of Broad Street and Penn Avenue before the incorporation, and in 1886 about $550 was invested in a force-pump, hose, fire- bell, ladders, etc., and a fire department organ- ized under Capt. H. R. Boyd. Capt. E. L. Erickson is the present incumbent. A hose- house and calaboose has since been erected, and a sight for a public park has been chosen and negotiations are pending. About two and a-half miles of tile have been planted. The successive mayors are: Capt. W. A. Wier, 1882-83: O. B. Peterson, 1884; C. W. Allen, 1885-86; S. R. Corneliussen, 1887; and H. R. Boyd, 1888 to the present.
The newspaper arrived before the incorpora- tion in the form of the Story City Herald, a Republican weekly under the direction of M. Swartout, who issued his first number on Jan- uary 7, 1881. This was replaced by the Story City Review on January 17, 1885, as an inde- pendent paper, edited by H. C. Carlson. C. W. Allen and O. B. Peterson secured the plant and on May 20, 1887, issued the Story City News. Since January, 1888, Mr. Peterson has been its sole editor, and makes of it a lively Republican. local newspaper.
Societies on the American plan seem to grow in favor with the foreign population slowly. It was August 13, 1886, that the first lodge- Mizpah No. 249, I. O. G. T., was organized by Col. Long, of Kentucky. The first officers were S. R. Corneliussen, W. C. T .; A. S. Allen, secretary, and Mrs. A. S. Allen, treasurer, with other officers, and eighteen charter mem-
bers. The successive chief templars are: S. R. Corneliussen; A. S. Allen, May, 1887; Mrs. C. W. Allen, August, 1887; S. R. Cornelius- sen, November, 1887; J. M. Clark, May, 1888; about which time the lodge was discontinued. They met in the school-bouse. The Story City Literary Society has been in operation several years, with the especial purpose of form- ing a library and for general culture. It was not until July 30, 1887, that the only other society was formed. This was Erick L. Shel- dahl Post No. 439, G. A. R., named after a popular Norwegian soldier of the community. Comrade Henry Wilson, Jr., of Ames, mus- tered in eighteen charter members, and the following officers were chosen: W. A. Wier, C .; George Larson, S. V .; H. F. Ferguson, J. V .; T. J. Moses, Adj. : H. R. Boyd, Q .; N. Erickson, secretary; B. Hollingsworth, chap- lain; C. Torkelson, O. D .; A. Sampson, O. G. The membership has not increased, and Capt. Wier has served from the first as commander.
The mail service has been cared for as fol- lows: F. W. Rhoades, November 29, 1856; Noah Harding, January 7, 1858; L. R. Larsen, August 18, 1863; M. Swartout, December 30, 1885; A. N. Torp, October 24, 1887; O. B. Peterson, May 23, 1889.
Iowa Center, with its quaint " village-green" stretching its oblong proportions north and south, as if Nevada and Maxwell had combined to pull it apart, and nearly succeeded, is pret- tily scattered along Nevada, its chief street, on an elevated site, and with just enough ruined mill and the like to make it look historic. For it is historic, the most so of any spot in Story County. Its hundred inhabitants could hardly be seen beside Des Moines' 50,000 now, but from 1853 to 1855 there seemed to be no rea- son why these figures might not have changed places, for Iowa Center, the approximate cen- ter, was a strong candidate for the State capi-
Yours Truly J.W. Manwill.
205
STORY COUNTY.
tol, so strong that several capitol-seekers located there, such as E. B. Potter, Judge Kellogg, Mr. Strong, and others, who removed to Nevada or elsewhere as soon as "the cen- ter " was not chosen.
Jeremiah Cory, Jr., entered the land on February 16, 1853, and the post-office, Goshen, . have had the reputation of handling as large, at his farm, became necessary by September if not larger stock than any other house in the county. Besides general merchandise they dealt very largely in lumber, grain, stock, har- ness, etc. They employ nine or ten men and as high as from eighteen to thirty teams at times. They began branch houses too, one at Cam- bridge, later at Clyde and Colo, until the rise of the town of Maxwell made Iowa Cen- ter itself a branch. '28, 1854. Mr. Cory and T. C. Davis opened up the first log store a half lot south of the present post-office, and laid out some lots; the plat was not recorded, however, until Angust, 1855. The next store was opened very soon by F. M. Baldwin, at his present site, where he was joined many years later by J. W. Maxwell. About 1856 T. J. and M. M. Ross built oppo- site the present post-office. Then a Mr. Slat- The third period began with the advent of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway in the county. There was an effort to secure the survey to Iowa Center, but the engineer's in- exorable instructions were to keep close to the county line. After this fact became known Iowa Center's doom was sealed. In 1882 there was a general exodus of houses and peo- ple to Maxwell, headed by the removal of Baldwin & Maxwell's main store. Since then the "Center " has been a sort of suburb of Maxwell. Its only business of any import- ance is general merchandise, represented by the branch store and that of J. W. Will. ten located north of Baldwin's, and L. B. and H. B. Young, who left at the Pike's Peak ex- citement of 1859. Among early physicians were Dr. Floyd, Dr. M. D. Sheldon and Dr. E. B. Fenn. Miss Cochran was an early teacher. About the year 1856, may be called the high-water mark of the " Center's " pros- perity ; there were two large hotels; business stretched along Nevada Street as at present. There was an early mill, steam, saw and grist- mill, on the north end owned by Webb & Wood. It was moved to Mongona several years ago. An early one also was that of Jeremiah Cory, Sr., now in rnins. But after 1856 the place stood still, excepting something of an exodus to Nevada and Des Moines and Kansas.
This second period is so identified with one firm, that of F. M. Baldwin, and later, Bald- win & (J. W.) Maxwell, that it may be of in- terest to notice their changes. When Mr. Baldwin began business he hauled his stock from Keokuk. By about 1856 the Rock Island Railway had reached Iowa City, and he went there, then Marengo was the next trading
point, and finally Kellogg. When the North- Western Railway reached Marshall, the firm went there, and successively followed the ter- minal point from there to State Center, and Colo. After Mr. Maxwell joined him the firm expanded rapidly, and from that time on
This is the second post-office established in Story County, the first being Nevada. The successive postmasters have been: Jeremiah Cory, September 28, 1854; T. C. Davis, Au- gust 27, 1856; L. B. Young, April 30, 1857; after the name Goshen was changed to Iowa Center, August 31, 1858, under Mr. Young, there were: Jeremiah Cory, April 10, 1860; T. C. Davis, August 1, 1861; William White, September 27, 1865; T. D. Casebolt, November 30, 1865; William White, May 31, 1866; E. B. Fenn, September 8, 1868; A. K. Banks,
13
206
HISTORY OF IOWA.
May 1, 1876; E. B. Fenn, September 18, 1877; | ber 13, 1861, and Hiram Scott, November 6, James S. Will, January 20, 1879; E. W. Gif- ford, March 30, 1880; C. F. Leonard, July 4, 1881; H. B. Stoddard, May 9, 1882; T. Carle- ton, August 17, 1883; Minnie L. Sheldon, . November 2, 1885, and Agnes T. Higley, December 1, 1886.
Their fraternities are confined to the Iowa Center Lodge No. 7, I. O. G. T., which was organized on October 2, 1883, by Drs. Brown and Beck, of Cambridge, with forty-one mem- bers. The officers chosen were Aaron Acker, C. T .; E. J. Acker, V. T .; T. Carleton, chap- lain; J. W. Will, secretary; Mrs. F. M. Bald- win, treasurer, and other usual officers. They rented rooms until 1887, when they purchased the old Methodist Episcopal Church, and re- fitted it, making probably the best Good Tem- plar lodge in the county. Two saloons only have attempted to open in Iowa Center since 1860, but "an apron full of small stores " backed by general sentiment routed them, for as old "Jimmy" Doyle said in his farewell address: " Whin, ye-z git the Timperince ladys of Iowa Cinter uroused, ye-z moight as well be a travelin'." Out of the officers elect- ed at the recent meeting of the Central Dis- trict Lodge convened at Iowa Center in May, 1890, four were from Iowa Center. The local society has a membership of thirty-seven.
Ontario, which has absorbed old New Phila- delphia, was laid out in January, 1869, over thirteen years after the latter, which was laid out in April, 1856.
New Philadelphia's site was entered by Thomas G. Vest on January 5, 1855, and Au- gust 14, 1851. He laid it out just southeast of Ontario's site in April, 1856, and January 17, 1858, the post-office was established, with the following successive postmasters: A. Ball- man; W. H. Foster, March 14, 1859; D. Schaef- fer, September 8, 1860; W. H. Foster, Novem-
1867. After the name was changed, December 16, 1868, F. M. Coffelt, May 7, 1884; A. C. McCracken, November 15, 1886; J. L. Stoll, March 29, 1887, and T. M. Aylesworth, April 5, 1889, were postmasters. Mr. Vest, J. De- trick and one other, probably, were the first merchants, and a few changes were made in following years until the railway arrived, and' the desire to be nearer the depot led the rail- way to plat Ontario in January, 1869, on the south side of the track. Hiram Scott put the first building on this plat, and Thurman Bros. and Cox & Crowl soon followed. The place does some grain shipping, in which R. Jones leads; stock shipment, managed by T. L. Jones, and merchandise sale, in the hands of W. H. Foster and T. M. Aylesworth, come next. The population has never reached above probably sixty or seventy-five. They have no societies except churches.
Cambridge might have been called Chicau- qua Bridge (certainly not Skunk Bridge) if it had been named as its great original in Eng- land was on the river -- Cam, for its high plat lies along the high Skunk River banks, over- looking the broad bottoms, which in overflow seasons are like a lake, making bridges and embankment crossings necessary to reach the opposite shore. Its old ruined mill and old trees and many other features give it an ap- pearance of age which the younger towns of the last decade can not counterfeit. It has an older population, generally, of long fixed set- tlers, and none of the youthful rush and boom of Maxwell, Slater, Zearing and such places.
Its fine school park, in the midst of which rises their prized school building, is more of a leading feature in her appearance than even her depot and coaling-station with their tanks and coal-houses, that loom up in the broad and fine-viewed Skunk Valley. Like Nevada, she
207
STORY COUNTY.
is embowered in groves, through which is scattered a population of probably 500, as es- timated.
On October 15, 1852, James Alexander de- cided to enter some land on the west bank of Skunk River. He was followed by John D. Sanford, who entered land adjoining on De- cember 26, 1853; and he, in turn, followed by Samuel A. Patterson, with an adjoining entry October 24, 1854. These three pieces cornered together. In 1851, however, a Maine man, who had spent some years as superintendent in the Lake Superior copper-mines, and after- ward located in Illinois, came to Story County site prospecting. This was Josiah Chand- ler. He looked over the Skunk bottoms, then water covered, and selected an elevated site, which was then surrounded by water, but above high-water mark, as that on which he should settle. This is now owned by J. Lee. He went back and persuaded Sylvanus and Jairus Chandler and others with families to come with him, and work a saw-mill in the midst of the valuable timber that lined the bottoms. With- in a couple years after his first arrival, a log store and inn was built by Jairus Chandler. It is not known just when Josiah and Jairus, with Mr. Alexander, secured the site of the present town as above entered, but it may have been as late as 1854. Josiah concluded he would plat a town of about square dimensions, with its streets running parallel to the river instead of in cardinal directions. He did so, and named the new town Cambridge, and, of course, the plat is like the old French surveys. The center is near the school building in the park. The plat was not recorded, however, until November, 1856, although it is Dr. Graf- ton's opinion, that it was laid out probably three years before. The saw-mill, built in 1854, did a good business, with J. Batterson as sawyer, and in August, 1855, the house now
used by McKee's meat market was built on the plat. The first store was built not far from the site of Baldwin & Maxwell's.
In the winter of 1855-56 thirty-one per- sons were led to the new town by Mr. Chandler, and the entire company wintered in the McKee house, with curtains for partitions. Among these were Wallace Williams, G. A. Macy (a blacksmith ), Isaac Mitchell, Esq., Joseph Jones, Esq., John Cook, Sebastian Rubar and oth- ers. On one of his trips that winter Mr. Chan- dler met in stage coach to Des Moines a young Baltimore physician, Dr. W. H. Grafton, and persuaded him to come to Cambridge and look over the site. He came in January, 1856, and the result was an agreement between them to put up a large grist-mill, which now stands in half-ruin but still running. The mill was fin- ished September 1, 1857. Dr. Grafton was the first and only physician, and often crossed the Skunk bottoms in a boat to visit patients. He also had nearly every person soon indebted to him for ague medicine and care, and as there was no money circulating, he took their notes, which he turned over to merchants on his own bills; the merchants in turn gave these notes to Des Moines merchants for goods, and the Des Moines parties would pay them back for produce, until they would often pass this way as currency for a time. The second store was erected on the corner of Third and Water Street, on Lot 6, in 1856, by Williams & Alexander, and was the only store until after 1860, during which time there was no growth scarcely. Almost all the houses were on Water Street between Second and Fourth. Mr. Macy and S. Bossuot, now of the hotel, were among those who built. The gold-fever of the mount- ains led many to go away in 1859 and 1860, and among these were Williams and Mitchell, to Colorado, and Chandler, Grafton, Living- ston and others, to Pike's Peak. The place
208
HISTORY OF IOWA.
stood still during the war. M. C. Seal & Co. had secured the only store in the place by 1865; this was on Lot 8, Block 16, Water Street. This store has been the leading one, and has been successively owned by G. M. Maxwell & Co., Maxwell, King & Co., and Baldwin & Maxwell. Besides this store in 1865 there was a post-office, hotel, drug store, mill, wagon-shop, etc., and about 200 people. Nevada and Colo were the main depots for them. In 1868 Dr. Hays began building, and his enterprise was such that it was pleasantly said of him, that " Doc. would build a railroad for us if we'd give him a hundred dollars." His two buildings on Lot 2, Block 28, Water Street, arose in 1868, and the brick store soon after. Seal Bros. soon built also, and there was a quiet slow improvement. The Max- well store was burned in 1878 and rebuilt. Among others here by this time were John D. Breezely, Mr. Gillett, D. Whitehead, A. P. King, W. P. Clark, J. C. Kinsell, Samuel Max- im, James Mallory and others.
The news of a railway in 1881, when the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul people were surveying, put new life into the place. In or- der to insure a depotat Cambridge, the citizens made up $1,700 to pay the right of way through the township. The depot and coaling outfit was put up at the foot of Water Street, and business took a boom down that street. An effort was made to put it about the depot, but that failed. The Grafton and Livingstone & Rodearmal buildings went up that year, but the greatest boom was in 1882, when buildings arose much as at present on Blocks 30, 28 and 15 on Water Street. Others went up on this street between First and Second Streets. After 1882 the growth was not so marked, on account of the location of Elwell and Huxley Stations. About three years later, also, the most of the buildings on Block 30 were burned. Quiet im-
provement has been making, however, in resi- dences, and the population is about 500.
General merchandise leads all the life of the place, and their excellent schools are a factor very near to this in importance, as many locate on that account. Stock and grain would come about next, while implement sale, banking and manufacture would follow, probably, in that or- der. In the factory line are the creamery, the mill, repair shops, and the mannfacture, near town, of a patent hog-pen and cattle-poke on a small scale. There are also two elevators. The depot coaling station, the only one between Perry and Ferguson, receives about seventy to 100 cars of coal monthly, which increases help employed and side-tracks. The charges on re- ceived freight for May, 1890, was $400, and the charges on forwarding $2,074, the latter being about twice the average month's business, while $400 for receipts is about an average.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.