USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > History of Black Hawk County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 26
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SEVENTH ILLINOIS CAVALRY
Scott, H. K., January 2, 1864. Scott, John H., January 2, 1864.
NINTH ILLINOIS CAVALRY
Brown, E., November 12, 1861.
SECOND MISSOURI CAVALRY (Merrill Horse)
Dow, Simon, August 18, 1862.
ELEVENTH PENNSYLVANIA CAVALRY
Mach, C. D., first bugler, September 16, 1862.
Hunter, James, farrier, October 11, 1862.
Brown, John F., September 28, 1861. Chandler, Starling, September 28, 1861.
Forbes, James W., September 16, 1861.
Frost, William, September 28, 1861.
Kimble, Jacob, September 16, 1861 ; died May, 1862.
Brown, John F., November 14, 1863.
EIGHTEENTH MICHIGAN INFANTRY
Schermerhorn, William, January 4, 1864.
Vol. I-14
T
BLACK HAWK COUNTY COURTHOUSE
CHAPTER VII
THE CITY OF WATERLOO
The first white people to come to the site of Waterloo called the new-born village Prairie Rapids. These first settlers were: George W. Hanna, his faith- ful wife, their two chidlren, John Quincy and James Monroe, and John Melrose, who was Mrs. Hanna's brother. These sturdy people came from the State of Illinois in July, 1845. For the story of this little band and their ox-wagon, the following reminiscence is vivid and comprehensive and shows the very first conception of the future City of Waterloo.
REMINISCENCES OF GEORGE W. HANNA, JR.
I was born June 3, 1850, in a log cabin built by my father in Waterloo Town- ship. This log cabin was the first in the township and served for many years as a church, a courthouse and a free hotel. I was rocked in a cradle dug out of a basswood log, while my sister, Emily, less fortunate than I, was in her babyhood days tied to a board like an Indian papoose and leaned against the wall. It was great to be able to boast of a cradle in that day and age.
About the Ist of September, 1912, my younger sister, Mrs. Edith Colton, who was then a companion for mother at the old homestead, and whose home is at Sherman, Texas, conceived the idea of rounding up her brothers and sisters and once more getting the Hanna outfit under their old mother's roof while she would be there to greet them. She succeeded in tolling Judge John Q. Hanna in from his Texas cattle ranch, General Philip C. Hanna from the wars in Mexico, Molly from her Dakota farm and caught Emily temporarily here from her Texas ranch. She succeeded in gathering us from the four winds of heaven without the loss of one.
The reunion was great. This was the first time that we had all been together under the old home roof since the close of the Civil war. We ate, we drank, we boasted of our successes, we talked of our defeats. In fact everything was as merry as a marriage bell for several days. Then a spirit of uneasiness seemed to be hovering around John and Phil. John began to grease his boots and talk about branding calves. Phil tightened his belt and talked of war-bloody war. I said, "Boys, it won't be well for you to attempt to leave fair Iowa without visit- ing your brother, George, in the great commonwealth of Kossuth County." The Judge grunted and said that he had been at the old homestead ten days ahead of me and he was afraid to stay longer for fear someone would steal his mavericks. The General said, "War is hell, but duty calls." I said, "Boys, you go to LuVerne and I prefer to take you alive. As a peaceful solution of the matter, if you will
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pack your grips and meekly come with me I solemnly agree to serve prairie chickens and Old Taylor on the side three times a day as long as you remain and mum is the word to mother." That fixed them.
We took not much note of time and when we landed at the Illinois Central Depot in Waterloo we found that we were thirty minutes ahead of the westbound train. I said, "Boys, we will leave my wife in the waiting room and while we wait for the train we will go to the east end of the Cedar River Bridge and have the Judge tell us and show us about discovering Black Hawk County and the Waterloo Townsite on July 16, 1845."
Judge John Q. Hanna said: "My mother and father were patriots. Their ancestors came from Scotland and Ireland. They named three of their sons after Presidents of the United States.
"My mother and I are the only persons living who saw the Waterloo Townsite on July 16, 1845. I was born in White County, Illinois, and my father, George W. Hanna, mother, younger brother, James Monroe, and my mother's brother, John Melrose, started for Iowa in an ox wagon and two yoke of oxen in May. 1845. We stopped near Rock Island with my father's brother, Philip, who had previ- ously moved there from the old home in White County, for a visit of a few weeks and my Uncle Philip furnished a couple of horses and he and my father came on horseback to where Waterloo now is, to look over the Cedar River country. The water of the Cedar was high and they could not cross to the west bank, so they went on up to the big woods, but found no white settlers. They had heard that there were some white settlers west of the river, but they could not cross it. They returned to the home of my uncle, and my father, mother, Uncle John Melrose and myself and brother immediately started for Iowa and the Cedar River country with our covered wagon, two yoke of oxen and the few cows which my uncle drove on foot. We crossed the Mississippi River at Davenport and followed up the Cedar River by way of Cedar Rapids. There was one log cabin in Cedar Rapids and one settler. Marion was more of a town, had a few houses, a store and a postoffice. For several years after coming to the country Marion was our nearest postoffice and eight miles below Cedar Rapids our nearest mill. We reached the east side of the Cedar River where Waterloo now stands and went into camp about where the big mill now stands, at 11 A. M .. July 16, 1845. We un- yoked our oxen and turned them loose with the other cattle to graze. We cooked our dinner and ate it and then sized up the country that we had discovered. We had no horses. My father went up the Cedar on foot and John Melrose went down the Cedar, to see if they could find any sign of a ford. My father walked to where Cedar Falls now is and John Melrose went five or six miles down the river, both returning in the evening and both reporting no sign of a white man or no ford for a wagon and not a sign of a cattle trail. While the men were gone that afternoon my mother. Monroe and myself fished on the riffle near where the east end of the dam now is and we caught nineteen rock bass, which my mother was cooking when the men came from their exploring expedition. The 16th day of July, 1845. was a beautiful day. The Cedar River, unobstructed, no dams, nothing to mar the beauty of God's work, was the most beautiful stream that I have ever beheld as it flowed majestically along. During the afternoon some elk came down to the stream to drink. We saw deer and two buffalo near the camp that afternoon as we fished. The Waterloo Townsite was beautiful. It was
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covered with a magnificent growth of blue joint grass to the water's edge and a veritable flower bed of Sweet William, prairie lilies and violets.
"We did not try to cross the river until the afternoon of the 17th. We were not sure that it was fordable. That afternoon John Melrose said that he would yoke up the gentle pair of oxen and ride one of them through the river. yoked. He started into the water about where we now stand and came out on the west side at about the west end of the second bridge. We found that the river was fordable and we hitched up our oxen to the wagon, crossed over and went into camp on Mullan's Hill, or what was Mullan's Hill the next spring, 1846. After going into camp John Melrose and my father struck out on foot to hunt for settlers. While they were gone about two hundred Sioux Indians went into camp in the bottom north of us and some of them took occasion to visit our wagon out of curiosity. My mother was uneasy for fear they would steal my brother and me, but I told mother not to be afraid, that I would protect them.
"The men were gone looking for settlers until about sundown and on returning reported no whites except a trapper by the name of Dyer, who occupied a pen built of poles in the timber where the Galloway addition now is. They also reported an invitation from Dyer to us to occupy his tent for the night, so we hitched up and moved up there and the men cut an extra hole in Dyer's door so mother could crawl in. That night, as we sat by the fire, a gun was fired near the tent and Dyer appeared to be greatly alarmed; said he thought the Indians were trying to frighten us away. The next morning we moved our camp up to the site of what was to be the Hanna home and commenced to build our cabin, although Dyer offered to give us his roofless log pen and said he was going down the river in a few days in his canoe, which he did.
"My father entered a fractional quarter across the river from where we now stand and later Charles Mullan joined him in platting West Waterloo. Judge Pratt was the first platter of the east side. The county seat was first located at Cedar Falls, but was relocated at Waterloo by a vote of the people. A committee of women on refreshments for the first Fourth of July to be celebrated in Water- loo, just. prior to the county seat election, consisting of Mrs. Charles Mullan, Mrs. Henry Sherman and my mother, ordered me to get out our old mare and go to the different settlements in the county and tell the people to bring their dinners and come to Waterloo and help us in our first Fourth of July celebration. That did not strike me as being just the way to celebrate, so without saying anything to the committee about it, I rode the old mare to all of the settlements in the county outside of Cedar Falls and told them that if they were for the county seat at Waterloo to come there on the Fourth and they should have a big free dinner. The women heard of what I was doing before I returned and such a reception no boy ever got for his missionary work. They must have used all of the clap- boards in the town to dust my trousers. Well, we had a big Fourth of July and a big free dinner and we carried the county seat election that fall, although the women claimed that they cooked everything cookable in Waterloo and that there was a famine for a long time afterward.
"A steamboat, the Black Hawk, made several trips to Waterloo during the high water of 1858. About this time a delegation from Cedar Falls came to see the captain of the boat, to get him to run up to Cedar Falls. He said that he would if they would open the dam. They said that they would come down and
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pull her out before the next trip. John Brooks of Waterloo mounted a dry goods box and in his speech told the Cedar Falls boys that when they came to tear out the Waterloo dam not to forget to bring their coffins if they wanted a decent burial. I see that the dam is still intact.
"Fighting and setting type were my occupations in early Waterloo. 1 worked for Haddock on the Iowa State Register, the first paper in Waterloo, and I set type for William H. Hartman when he first started the Courier. I enlisted in the First Iowa Cavalry on July 4, 1861. There were ten of us from Waterloo in that regiment, among whom were Horace Barron and Victor Gilbert. Vic was killed by my side, fighting behind the same log with me, on the Red River ex- pedition in the fall of 1864. Vic and I went with the company to reinforce Banks after our times were out."
FIRST THINGS IN WATERLOO
The first child born in Waterloo was William Mullan, son of Charles Mullan and wife.
Reverend Ashbury Collins, a Methodist, did the first missionary work at this place. The services were held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mullan.
Doctor Mckinley was the first doctor to locate in Waterloo. He came in 1853. The first schoolhouse in Waterloo was a log building, 16 by 22 feet, located on Jefferson Street, in 1853, in which Miss Eliza May taught the first school.
The first school on the east side was taught by Mr. O. E. Hardy in the winter of 1854-5, in the house then occupied by Myron Smith, who built it in 1854 and which stood on the corner of Fifth and Water streets on the site at one time since occupied by the Key City House.
The first church building erected in Waterloo was by the Presbyterians, who, commencing it in 1853, finished it in 1854. It was purchased by the Baptists and has been occupied by them ever since, though at various times has been enlarged and improved.
The first lawyer in Waterloo was John Randall, who came in 1854, afterwards county judge, and of fragrant memory in that capacity.
The first hotel in Waterloo was erected in 1853 and kept by Seth Lake. It was a one and one-half story, 16 by 24 feet, log house and stood on Third Street West not far from the river.
The first hotel on the east side was erected by Samuel L. May and stood on the corner of Fourth Street where the Commercial National Bank now stands. It was a frame building.
The first Fourth of July celebration was held in an arbor erected for the purpose on Mill Square. The Declaration of Independence was read, there were toasts and responses and speeches were made by John Virden and John H. Brooks.
Nelson Fancher opened the first store in Waterloo in 1853.
The first ferry in Waterloo was established by Samuel L. May in. 1853. He built the boat himself. He sold it to Seth Lake.
The first dam was put in by James Eggers in 1855, built of logs and brush, at which time he also erected a sawmill.
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The first flouring mill was erected by G. W. Couch and others in 1856, and was put in operation in 1857.
The first mill of any kind in Waterloo was a sawmill run by horse power. This was built in 1853 and stood in the rear of the present Snowden Block.
William and E. Mears erected a sawmill on the east side in 1855 and in 1857 added another story and put in a grist mill.
The first bank was opened by A. P. Hosford and Edmund Miller in 1854. They did business at first in a corner of B. J. Capwell's store, a log building of modest proportions, situated at what is now known as No. 624 Commercial Street.
The first bank on the east side was opened by C. A. Farwell in 1867 on the corner now occupied by the First National Bank Building.
The first foot bridge was built in 1858 at Fifth Street, at which time there was a considerable island in the river.
The first wagon bridge across the Cedar here was built by subscription in 1859. About $4,000 was subscribed and the question arose as to who would take the sub- scription and build the bridge. There were no takers. G. W. Couch, who had subscribed $1,500, finally took the job and as many never paid he practically financed the bridge himself.
The first railroad train arrived in the city March 1I, 1861, over the Illinois Central. That was the first regular train. The construction train had been here before.
The first movement for the incorporation of Waterloo was taken in 1854. The election was on November 13th of that year.
The postoffice was first established in Waterloo in the spring of 1851 and Charles Mullan was appointed postmaster.
The town was first surveyed and platted in the late summer of 1853 by George W. Hanna, Charles Mullan and G. W. Brooks. The site was all on the west side of the river.
The first store on the east side of the river was a stock of goods put into a small cabin on the corner of Third and Water streets by George W. Brooks and James Virden.
The first newspaper published in Waterloo was the Iowa State Register and Waterloo Herald, December, 1855, William Haddock, editor and proprietor.
The first democratic convention held in the city was on November 29, 1855, George Ordway, chairman; S. P. Brainard, secretary; and among those present were W. H. McClure and Benjamin Winsett.
The first casualty occurring in Waterloo was the drowning of Melissa L. Corson, sixteen years old, and Ellen Case, about the same age, on June 29, 1858. In company with William Fiske the girls attempted to cross the river in a boat. The water was high and the current swift. Fiske was not using the oars and was warned from the bank that unless they were careful they would be swept on the island, a piece of land then near the east side of the river, since waslied out. The warning was too late. The boat struck an obstruction at the point of the island and was capsized. The girls were drowned, but the young man escaped. Some time afterward their bodies were found in the timber on land farther down the stream.
The first deposit of county funds in a Waterloo bank was that of a surplus of $1,200 which was deposited with Hosford and Miller on April 9, 1855.
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The first Methodists in Waterloo were George W. Hanna, Mrs. Charles Mullan and James Virden.
The first state agent to sell liquor in Waterloo :vas John M. Harper, appointed June 30, 1855.
The first frame residence was built on later site of J. H. Leavitt home. Later it was removed to West Fourth Street, near Wellington, and remodeled. It was destroyed in 1906.
The oldest tree in Waterloo is believed to be an elm in front of 633 Park Avenue. It was planted by C. P. Hunt in 1856.
EARLY SETTLING
William Virden, with his wife and daughter, came some time later and settled a half mile southeast of Hanna's small cabin. This made four families, Sturgis, Adams, Hanna and Virden, which spent the long winter of 1845-46 in Black Hawk County. James Virden came from Kentucky on June 1, 1846, and broke ground on the east side of the Cedar on section 23, township 89, range 13. Charles Mullan and wife and two children came from Illinois on June 24, 1846, and imme- diately located on the west side of the river at Prairie Rapids, or Waterloo.
LAND ENTRIES
In the original plat of the City of Waterloo occur the following land entries : George W. Hanna entered lots 1, 2 and 3, section 26, township 89, range 13, September 15, 1848.
Horatio W. Sanford entered the west half of the northeast quarter, section 26, township 89, range 13, December 3, 1852, and sold the same to Charles Mullan on May 2, 1853.
Joshua Sanborn entered lots 1 and 7, section 26, township 89, range 13, in May, 1853, and sold the same to John H. Brooks in August, 1853.
James Virden entered the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter, section 23, township 89, range 13, August 2, 1852, and the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, same dimensions, January 10, 1853.
George Plaisted entered the southwest quarter, section 24, township 89, range 13, December 30, 1852, and sold the same to Benjamin M. Cooley, January 7, 1854.
Isaac Carr entered lots 3 and 4 in section 25, township 89, range 13, May 3, 1852, and assigned certificate to Jonathan R. Pratt, June 4, 1853.
The original plat contained all of lots 1, 2 and 3 belonging to Hanna, part of section 26 belonging to Mullan on the west side and part of Lewis Hallock's land. On the east side the plat included the southwest part of James Virden's, all of Pratt's lots 3 and 4, in section 25, and part of Cooley's.
There were lot sales as early as September 5. 1853. There is on record a deed from George W. Hanna and wife, conveying to William Young and Jonathan Kreitzel, filed for record September 5. 1853, lots 1 and 2 in block 5 and lot I in block 2, in the Town of Waterloo. The acknowledgments of Charles Mullan and wife and George W. Hanna and wife and John H. Brooks and wife to the correctness of the plat were made at that time. Thus, formally, Waterloo may be said to have begun January 1, 1854.
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The plat was filed for record on June 5, 1854. The recorder at that time, Aaron Dow, makes the following note on the edge of the record: "The following plat of Waterloo was acknowledged on three different plats: The plat which Charles Mullan, G. W. Hanna and J. H. Brooks acknowledged contained only the part west of the river and on their land and that of Lewis Hallock.
"Those acknowledged by-James Virden, Lewis Hallock, J. R. Pratt and B. M. Cooley included both sides of the river and differed from the other also in having Fourth Street on the west side terminate at the southeast corner of Mill Square.
"The lines in black around Mill Square are copied according to the plat having the signatures of G. W. Hanna, Charles Mullan and J. H. Brooks."
LATER SETTLERS AND BUILDING
Early in the spring of 1853 Samuel Lanfear May came to Waterloo. His wife accompanied him, also six children. They lived in a log cabin which they rented from Adam Shigley. May built a ferry across the river at that point during the summer, and built the rough boat which he used. During this same summer Shigley built a story and a half log house, intended for a tavern. Seth Lake was the host. Lake also obtained use of the ferry, whether by purchase or rent it is not known.
In the autumn of 1853 Solomon Ayres bought an unfinished building on ground later occupied by the Central House of two brothers named Emerson. Ayres completed the structure and during the following winter ran a rooming and boarding house.
In the fall of 1853 J. H. Hubbard joined the community. Another branch of the Hubbard family came in during the same year, being John R. Hubbard, his wife and two youngsters. He died May 1, 1854. Guy R. Benight, wife and seven children, came the same year. James Eggers also came in 1853.
EVENTS YEAR BY YEAR
George W. Hanna and James Eggers were parties to the first improvements purposed in Waterloo. On April 5. 1854, Hanna executed to Eggers his bond for a deed to Mill Square in consideration of $1 to be paid him when Eggers finished a dam across the Cedar and built a sawmill, when Hanna bound himself to deed to Eggers the Mill Square. Eggers obtained permission from the County Court to build the dam on June 20th. His dám was constructed of brush and logs and raised the water level a bare two feet. It is said that this old dam is still in the river, although now covered with water. Eggers also built the saw mill at this time. His object was commendable, but the mill was too slow to supply the demand for lumber. Early in 1855 the property became the possession of Chase, Hosford, Edmund Miller, John and Timothy Elwell. They added a rotary saw and increased very much the efficiency of the mill.
In the spring of 1854 Ayres sold his tavern to Henry Sherman, who opened it as a hotel. This was a busy time for taverns, as the Iowa country was on a "boom" throughout the United States. It was advertised as the land of promise and emigration began to grow in volume. / The cabins known as taverns could not hold the newcomers, so many were they, and accordingly Henry Sherman, in
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the fall of 1854, built a large frame structure, a story and a half, 25 by 50 feet, and added it to his already too small hostelry. It later became the kitchen part of the Central House. This hotel was to the Waterloo people then as magnificent as we of today regard the new Russell-Lamson edifice. However, one cost $1,200 and the other $400,000.
In the spring of 1854 S. I .. May constructed a hotel on the corner of Sycamore and Fourth streets. It was an unpretentious frame building, dimensions 16 by 20, with a 12 by 16 wing, both one and a half stories. It had a long, one-story annex at the rear. The center of this latter room was used as a dining-room and at each end might be found a small bedroom. May operated this hotel until his death in the fall of 1855. Job Engle succeeded him and shortly afterward John C. Engle, a son, assumed control. Asa Shinn was the next proprietor and the place was bought from him by M. L. Burnham. Burnham moved the building to the rear of the lot. A. T. Lane, a later public spirited man, lived in the house when he first came to Waterloo. Subsequently, the house was moved far up on Sycamore Street.
The year of 1854 brought a great many fine business men to Waterloo, men who were directly responsible for the growth which began at about that time. A. P. Hosford, Edmund Miller, two who opened the first bank, were types of these men. Miller kept a desk in one corner of Capwell's store, a log building, and was at the time largely engaged in entering lands for himself and others. He and Hosford later erected a small frame building, 16 by 24, on Commercial Street and started in business with a combined capital of $12,000. B. J. Capwell came the same year and kept a store at the location now known as 622 Commer- cial Street. Although he was resricted in space he kept a large stock of general merchandise. He often piled goods around the outside of his small log structure. Soon finding his quarters too small he built a two-story stone building, 20 by 50, in 1855. The first floor was for the accommodation of his store and the upper story was used as a hall, where many meetings of all kinds were held.
John H. Leavitt came in the fall of the same year and entered the employment of Hosford and Miller. In 1856 he started a banking business of his own, which is now known as the Leavitt & Johnson National Bank. He instantly met with success.
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