USA > Iowa > Benton County > History of Benton County, Iowa. From materials in the public archives, the Iowa Historical society's collection, the newspapers, and data of personal interviews > Part 33
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OSMAN TUTTLE, FOUNDER OF NORWAY.
The village, which is incorporated, was not platted until two years after the Chicago & Northwestern railroad had reached that
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part of the county. In 1859 Osman Tuttle, a farmer and a Nor- wegian by birth, located on section 17, Florence township, and although then in his sixty-second year accomplished much in the founding of the present village. He appears to have been a man of some property when he became a resident of Benton county. Mr. Tuttle first came to America in 1836, returned to Norway in 1855; again became a resident of the United States in 1856. and located on section 17. adjoining the present site of the village to the north.
Eventually Mr. Tuttle owned a square mile of land near his original purchase, and in the spring of 1863 donated eleven acres to the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company for depot and right-of-way, on condition that the new town should bear the name of his native country. Then, as now. the name of the township was Florence. The railroad acceded to Mr. Tuttle's offer, and in June, 1863, the county surveyor, P. P. Smith, laid out the new town north of the tracks, on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 20. and it was duly recorded, in the following month, as Norway. Its proprietor helped to build the first school house in town. Both he and his wife were earnest members of the Lutheran church. whose establishment in the southeastern part of the county owes much to their labors.
In the course of a few years after the platting of the town, the inhabitants secured a change of name to conform to that of the township; but. although the post office was Florence, the railroad company stood by its contract with Mr. Tuttle, and kept Norway upon the depot sign; and thus it is today.
PIONEER SETTLERS.
The first settler upon the town site was O. B. Dutton, of Mason- ville, the station agent. Hle was also the first merchant, and lived in a freight car while his home and store were being built. Joseph Smith (a blacksmith) and W. L. Harper came next. In the spring of 1865 W. F. Atkinson. an Illinois farmer and a Union soldier recently discharged from Confederate prisons, erected the second store at Norway and continued in business there for twelve years. He afterward served as supervisor of Benton county, hav- ing retired to his farm in the southeastern part of the township.
It is said that the first death was that of Mr. Dutton's little son, and that Mr. Harper's daughter, Margaret, was the first child born at Norway, or Florence.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
As early as the seventies Norway had a steam flouring mill. and was represented in a business way by several well-stocked stores. It is now one of the best small towns in the county. its school, banks and churches being properly described in other chapters. Norway's opera house was thrown open to the public in 1901.
FARMERS' ELEVATOR COMPANY.
The Farmers' Elevator Company of Norway is a co-operative grain and stock concern, with a capital of $8,000 and over forty members. The elevator which it controls has a capacity of 15.000 bushels and was built by the Wells-Hord Grain Company in the fall of 1902.
NORWAY LODGES.
St. Clair Lodge No. 164, A. F. & A. M., was chartered Jur- 3. 1863. Its first officers were: James MeQuinn, worthy master: Charles G. Turner. senior warden; Samuel Springer, junior war- den; W. Alspaugh, treasurer; Thomas H. Springer. secretary: Jacob Springer, senior deacon; L. W. Stocker, junior deacon: J. Wheeler. tiler. The lodge has a membership of about forty. Charles Buchanan is worthy master; Dr. C. E. Simpson, secretary. and James Pirie, treasurer.
The Modern Woodmen of America, No. 4044. was organized in 1893. It has now about twenty members, with Alexander Me- Gregor as V. C., J. W. Pirie, W. A., and II. L. Pirie, banker.
CHAPTER XXI.
VAN HORNE, KEYSTONE AND LUZERNE.
VILLAGE OF VAN HORNE-TWO FLOURISHING INSTITUTIONS- FARMERS CO-OPERATIVE COMPANY-VAN HORNE GRAIN AND LIVE STOCK COMPANY -- THE LOCAL BANKS-ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY-VAN HORNE'S TELEPHONE COMPANIES-LODGES AT VAN HORNE-PROSPEROUS, COMFORTABLE-LOOKING KEYSTONE- KEYSTONE BANKS -- KEYSTONE MERCANTILE COMPANY-SECRET SO- CIETIES-LUZERNE'S HISTORY AND PRESENT-PIONEER MERCHANT --- WORTHY RETIRED PIONEERS.
Van Horne, a growing town of five hundred people, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul line, in the northeastern part of Union township, is fourteen miles southwest of Vinton, and is a prodnet of the railroad named. It was founded in October, 1881. when the road reached that part of the county, and was named in honor of William C. Van Horne, then general superintendent of the company, who has made an international reputation as a rail- road builder, manager and promoter. For the past twenty-eight years he has been the great force in the development of the Cana- dian Pacific systems: is president of the company which is throw- ing a net-work of rails over Cuba, and has been Knighted by the British government for his splendid services in the expansion of Dominion interests.
VILLAGE OF VAN HORNE.
If it lives up to the reputation of its godfather, Van Horne is destined to be a big place. It has the highest altitude of any of the larger towns in the county, 943 feet; has a rich country from which to draw its business and commerce; is settled by a sturdy, industrious class (mostly Germans), and has every qualification for continued growth. Van Horne was originally a section rail-
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
road town, the remnants of this former glory being a two-story hotel on one side of the track and a round house on the other. Van Horne has now two banks; a good newspaper; a well organ- ized school of more than a hundred pupils founded in 1882, soon after the platting of the town; four churches -- Lutheran. Evan- gelical Association, Methodist and Catholic; several stores, with large stocks of goods, two elevators and two telephone companies.
Two FLOURISHING INSTITUTIONS.
The two most flourishing business institutions of Van Horne are the Farmers Co-operative Company, with a capital of $20,000 under the management of Charles Van Deusen, and the Van Horne Grain and Live Stock Company, of which U. S. Fry is general manager.
FARMERS' CO-OPERATIVE COMPANY.
When Van Horne was founded one of the first buildings to be erected was the grain warehouse which was completed by J. W. Stanley in the fall of 1881. In 1884 what is now known as the cast elevator and owned by the Farmers' Co-operative Company. was built by the railroad. This has a capacity of 50,000 bushels. In February, 1908, 116 farmers chiefly living along the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad between Newhall. Van Horne and Keystone, organized this co-operative enterprise. Its operations involve extensive dealings in grain, lumber, coal and tiles.
VAN HORNE GRAIN AND LIVE STOCK COMPANY.
The west elevator, built by S. Weam & Son in ISS1. has a capacity of 30.000 bushels and is operated by the Van Horne Farmers Grain and Live Stock Company. In a way the business of the two companies is divided, as this enterprise ineludes deal- ings in live stock but not in lumber. The company was organized March 11, 1908, with $15,000 capital. and the following are its officers : O. O. Baumgardner. president : Fred Hagen, vice presi- dent, and U. S. Fry. secretary and treasurer.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY .
THE LOCAL BANKS.
The Van Horne Savings Bank was established March 7, 1908. with a capital of $12,000, as now. Officers: Henry Kerkman, president. Win. Baingardner, vice president, and J. P. Kroehnke. cashier.
The Farmers Savings Bank of Van Ilorne. was organized December 7, 1897, the banking of the place for ten years previous having been conducted by the Benton County Bank of Blairstown. Originally, the capital of the Farmers Savings Bank was $12.000, and its officers: G. W. Welsh. president : P. D. Bell, vice president and Charles Il. Hartung, cashier. In 1907 the capital was in- creased to $25,000, and the present management of the bank com- prises the following : William Jewitt, president ; Michael Kelly. vice president, Charles H. Hartung, cashier; L. A. Fry, assistant cashier.
ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY.
In 1905 John Holler and Charles II. Hartung founded the Van Horne Electric Light and Power Company, and built quite a complete plant for $13.000. What was lacking -- a good storage battery-was added by Mr. Holler in 1906. after he had purchased his partner's interest. The plant supplies about 800 incandescent lights, besides furnishing power to the hotel. newspaper. churches. farms. etc .. in the pumping of water and operation of machinery. It is one of the most successfully operated plants of the kind in Benton county.
VAN HORNE'S TELEPHONE COMPANIES.
The town and surrounding country are brought into business and social communication through the Farmers Telephone Company and the Iowa Telephone Company (Bell). About 160 subscribers patronize the former. In 1898 the Benton county Telephone and Telegraph Company first came into the local field, but failed to build up much of a business. In January. 1907, the Farmers Telephone Company was organized. It is now a substantial concern. with O. P. Tyler. president : John MeLaughlin, vice president : II. L. Weam, secretary, and E. S. Thompson, treasurer.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
LODGES AT VAN HORNE.
The Odd Fellows lodge, at Van Horne, No. 249, was organized in January, 1884, and its officers are U. S. Fry, N. G. ; H. L. Weam, V. G .. and Felix Bochman, secretary. Mr. Weam is also protector of the Highland Nobles No. 87, and Aura L. Weam, secretary. The latter lodge has a membership of forty.
Union Lodge No. 36. Modern Brotherhood of America, Van Horne, was organized in 1897. It now has thirty members.
PROSPEROUS, COMFORTABLE-LOOKING KEYSTONE.
Keystone. in the eastern portion of Kane township, is the last station on the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul road in Benton county, and was founded in 1881. Its first settlers were Germans and Pennsylvania Dutch, and they still comprise virtually its entire population of four hundred sonls. A stranger, if suddenly drop- ped from an airship into Keystone, would find it difficult to believe that he had not landed in Holland or Germany. Especially would the gatherings of retired farmers and villagers at the Keystone House, with its big sitting room in front and its dance hall in the rear of the hotel, tend to carry out the delusion.
Keystone is a comfortable-looking. prosperous, neat, moral and sociable town. but not a supporter of churches. The German Lutheran church is weak in membership and Catholicism has never obtained a foothold in the community.
KEYSTONE BANKS.
Keystone is surrounded by a good farming country, and its residents are industrious and generally well-to-do. Two banks are substantially maintained-the German State and the Farmers' Savings Bank. The former was founded by A. F. Allen, of Blairs- town. S. S. Sweet. of Belle Plaine. and Charles W. Shireman, of Keystone, in 1891. It was incorporated under its present name in 1905. with Eggert Offt as president: Jacob Pohlmann. vier president : Charles W. Shireman, cashier, and O. W. Allen. assis- tant cashier. Its present financial status is indicated by the follow- ing items : Capital. $25.000; undivided prifits. $6,250, and deposits. $275.000. Officers now serving: Jacob Pohlmann, president; F.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
A. Greulich, vice president; Russell Shreeves, cashier, and Charles W. Shireman, assistant cashier.
The Farmers' Savings Bank was organized May 1, 1905, its first officers being: Henry J. Meyer. president; P. J. Schoelerman. vice president. and William Krombach, cashier. Since April 1. 1906, the following have served: Heury J. Meyer. president : George Harder. vice president : J. HI. Rozma. cashier : Miss Anna Schuette, assistant cashier. The capital stock of the concern is $15.000, undivided profits $5,500, and deposits $275.000.
KEYSTONE MERCANTILE COMPANY.
The Keystone Mercantile Company is a prosperous organiza- tion of about eighty farmers and business men, who hold shares in its capital stock of $20,000. Grain. feed. lumber. coal. brick. and tile are all handled. The company controls an elevator of 25,000 bushels and has the following officers: F. Schluntz, presi- dent : Geo. Harder, vice president; R. W. Bernstorf. secretary- treasurer and general manager.
Keystone is lighted from an electric plant built in 1899. by Otto Krohman, and is still owned and operated by him. It fur- nishes the town and near-by residents with 1,200 lights.
SECRET SOCIETIES.
The social side of Keystone is illustrated by the flourishing condition of its lodges. The Odd Fellows ( Lodge No. 35) organized April 15. 1897. with the following charter members: Win. Bender, Jr .. Claus F. Jordan. A. C. Bielenberg, Wm. Bender. Sr .. Theodore Klappholz. Leonard Kimm and Jarob Jacobs. The lodge has a membership of seventy-five. Claus Engelbrecht is noble grand : Claus F. Jordan, vice grand; F. W. Schenken, recording secretary : J. F. Feuerbach. financial secretary. and Peter Henningsen. treasurer. In September, 1905, the Odd Fellows of Keystone completed their temple at a cost of $5.000.
The Rebekahs (auxiliary) No. 135 effected an organization October 20. 1898.
The Loyal Legion. No. 189. was organized in 1894. It has about fifteen menibers, officered as follows: Peter Henningsen. president ; William Schuette and Henry Thiessen, secretaries.
Lodge No. 4560, M. W. A., was chartered February 18, 1897. with twenty-three members. Its strength is now thirty, and J. F.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
Feuerback is consul; Payson A. Snow, adviser; Henry Harder, banker, and Theodore Klopholtz. clerk.
A lodge of the Modern Brotherhood of America was also organized at Keystone. Jannary 10, 1898.
LUZERNE'S HISTORY AND PRESENT
Luzerne is a town of less than two hundred people, which owes its existence to the desire of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company to have a station between Belle Plaine and Blairstown. Accordingly in October, 1867. the station at Buckere was removed to the open prairie on the line between Leroy and Jowa townships. Its site is healthful and elevated. being among the highest in the county.
Some of the first houses erected in Inzerne were moved from Buckeye. Isaac B. Howe and his wife, Hannah R., proprietors of the town. recorded the plat April 17. 1868, and for a couple of years the growth of the place was quite noticeable. In 1870 it had about forty buildings of all descriptions, including a fine publie school house finished that year and a flourishing Lutheran church. During that year Luzerne shipped more than 100.000 bushels of wheat, 30.000 pomuls of butter and eggs and nearly as much pork, besides nearly 1.000 live hogs. The population of the village in the late seventies was about three hundred. mostly Germans.
Luzerne has now about a dozen business places, including two general stores, two cream stations, an elevator. a blacksmith shop. bank and hotel. The town school is attended by forty pupils, while about twice that number are enrolled in the parochie! school connected with the German Lutheran church. Residents of the place, yong and old, are intelligent and industrious, and although Luzerne has not materially grown for some time past. its people appear happy and contented.
PIONEER MERCHANT.
E. J. Ditzler, who erected the first store at Luzerne, was a Pennsylvania Dutchman, who resided for several years in Ohio and Illinois before he came to Iowa in the fall of 1856. He fin: located at Cedar Rapids, where he engaged in the draying business. He continued in this line for a number of years in various towns
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
in Iowa until 1867. when he established himself as Luzerne's pioneer merchant. ITis was a real old-fashioned general store. as he carried a full line of staple and fancy drygoods, groceries. hardware, ready-made clothing, hats, caps, boots and shoes, besides dealing in grain and general produce. He was also the first post- master at Luzerne and held the office for a number of years.
WORTHY RETIRED PIONEER.
Luzerne has a number of able and substantial retired farmers. but none more esteemed than Henry Wehrmann. He came with his parents to the United States in 1851. being then eighteen years old, and after farming four years in Illinois the family decided to locate on lands west of the Mississippi river. Family and family goods were loaded into a box car for the terminus of the road at Rock Island, but before that place was reached the train was wrecked and wife and mother fatally injured. The sad but not discouraged widower moved bravely on toward his far western home, the son Henry. then twelve years of age, faithfully assisting his father during the following decade to found another home- stead in lowa township. Benton county. He entered a quarter section himself in 1859, which was the basis of his life competency. In 1890 he and his wife moved to Luzerne to enjoy the good things which they had earned-not only the comforts of industry but the honors of moral excellence.
Vol. I -- 25
CHAPTER XXII.
OTHER BENTON COUNTY TOWNS.
MARYSVILLE BECOMES URBANA-INTERESTING OLD-TIMER -- URBANA'S MOST STIRRING EVENT-MOUNT AUBURN-CEDAR TOWN- SHIP PIONEER -- NEWHALL -- FIRST NEWHALL MERCHANT -- ATKINS --- WALFORD-WATKINS-FOUNDERS OF WATKINS.
Urbana was originally founded as "Hoosier Point" and Marysville, and is therefore the oldest town in Benton county. Hoosier Point was simply a fairly condensed settlement of the pioneers of Benton county, but Marysville was regularly platted, May 5, 1847, on the north twenty acres of the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 34. township 86, range 9. Joseph Remington was the original proprietor and F. J. Rigaud, county surveyor, run the lines and drove the stakes of the new town. Although it was surveyed nine months before Vinton, its first post- master, John S. Forsyth. was not appointed until September 21. 1848, nearly two years after Stephen Holcomb assumed similar duties at the county seat.
MARYSVILLE BECOMES URBANA.
In March, 1857, Manatheka was laid out on parts of scetions 26 and 35. adjoining the original plat to the northeast. and was considered an addition to Marysville. The postoffice of Urbana was established November 27. 1857, but the town until long after- ward was popularly spoken of as Marysville. At the time the goverment gave it the name by which it is now known, there were four steam saw-mills in the immediate vicinity; several thrifty business concerns appeared to be well established, and the people were considered noticeable enterprising. In 1857 they even offered a bonus of one thousand dollars as an inducement for some one to erect a steam flouring mill; but that proposition fell on barren
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
ground. For a number of years after the Burlington. Cedar Rapids and Northern road gave Urbana and Benton City the cold shoulder, in favor of Shellsburg and Vinton, the saw-mill afforded Urbana a fair trade. But, on the whole. her prospects have stead- ily declined since 1870. The place has, however. a good general trade with the farmers of the northeastern section, and also has a well-sustained savings bank. The Urbana Creamery Company is one of its best business institutions.
INTERESTING OLD-TIMER.
One of the interesting old-timers of Benton county is Robert Berry, a retired citizen of Urbana nearly eighty-two years of age. Ile commenced farming in Polk township in 1852. Ten years afterward he was one of the hundreds who started for "Pike's Peak or bust." He was among the lucky ones, on the whole, but finally settled down to the more dependable work of getting riebes from the soil of Benton county.
URBANA'S MOST STIRRING EVENTS.
Urbana has, as a rule. passed an uneventful, even peaceful life. It was never more stirred than during the fall of 1899. when several incendiary fires occurred. The exciting episo les cul- minated, November 11th, in the wrecking and burning of the Monitor newspaper office and the Burrell store, with the death of Clarence Burrell. At the sound of the first explosion. J. D. Burrell. with his wife and two sons. started for the store. which they found partially wrecked by dynamite when they arrived in front of it. While standing before the building a second explosion occurred, which hurled Clarence half way across the street, killing him instantly and resulting in the fire which completed the destruction of the store. The youth who thus met his fate would have been nineteen years of age within a weck. and his death was deeply deplored. In the second story of the wrecked and burned store building were the lodge rooms of both the Odd Fellows and Masons.
Urbana's worst fire occurred November 14, 1905. It com- meneed in L. A. Kelty's implement store. and burned two build- ings owned by him. and three by Cone Brothers of Windom, Minnesota. as well as the postoffice and the Urbana Savings Bank.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
MOUNT AUBURN.
In 1870 a turn-table and side-track of the Burlington. Cedar Rapids & Northern (Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific) road was built at Mount Auburn, eight miles northwest of Vinton and they the terminus of the line. This was the commencement of the place. although soon, with the extension of the road, the turn-table was removed to La Porte. The site of the place was originally owned by Milton S. Hall and Thomas D. Lewis, and its plat was recorded June 19. 1871. Mr. Soesbe, its first merchant, was also its first station master, and its first grain warehouse was built by Mr. Gudgel. The latter was the scene of a fatal accident Sep- tember 15, 1871, when the young son of Postmaster Lewis was smothered in the elevator hopper.
About the time Mount Anburn was surveyed a school house was built, at which the teachers of Cedar township held a success- ful institute January 20. 1872. In July of that year the Methodist church was dedicated for worship and in March, 1873, the Chris- tian church was opened. The latter is still alive, although at last accounts, without a pastor.
In 1873 a cheese factory was established at Mount Anburn by a stock company. of which A. Kile was president and manager.
The place has a weekly paper. Mount Auburn News, H. B. Lizer. editor; a good savings bank; several substantial business houses and a well managed telephone exchange.
CEDAR TOWNSHIP PIONEER.
Henry J. Lamb, who has been engaged in business at Mount Auburn for nearly thirty years, is of an old pioncer family. His father, S. T. Lamb, who was one of the founders of Frankfort. Indiana, where he was a business man and manufacturer for years, came to Benton county in 1852 and entered eight hundred aeres in Cedar township. After spending a winter in Vinton. he returned to Indiana, but finally located in Chicago where he spent the last few years of his life previous to 1903. Henry J. came to Benton county from Chicago and carried on his father's farm in Cedar township for about ten years before he located at Mount Auburn.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
NEWHALL.
Newhall is a town of about 260 people in the castern part of Eldorado township, and is a station on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad between Van Horne and Atkins. It has a number of stores, an elevator and tile and butter factories. The latter have been in operation some ten years, E. H. Morrow being proprietor of the tile factory and Gardiner & Jurgclaus of the butter factory. The Lutherans have a church at Newhall, of which Rev. Mr. Mathaidetz is pastor.
FIRST NEWHALL MERCHANT.
E. Il. Morrow, by general consent, is called the pioneer merchant of Newhall. In 1881. having just attained his majority, he established a lumber yard at that place. the Chicago, Milwaukee - & St. Paul railroad being then in course of construction. He afterward branched ont in many other lines, but for the past few years has centered his efforts in the building up of a hardware and implement business. For sometime he also owned the tile factory at Newhall. He possesses lands and buildings; is interested in the local savings bank and in all local affairs of a public nature.
ATKINS.
Atkins is a station on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Panl road. in the eastern part of Benton county, and has a population of about two hundred. The town has a dozen business houses of various kinds, a bank ( Atkins Savings). a cement and tile factory. and an elevator operated by the Atkins Grain Company. It has three schools. including the one connected with the Lutheran church. Besides that society, in charge of Rev. C. A. Krog. is the Presbyterian church, of which Rev. J. A. MeKay is pastor.
WALFORD.
Walford is a station on the branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road which ents through the extreme southeastern cor- mer of Benton county, and has a population of less than one hundred. It is surrounded by a good farming country. however.
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