History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I, Part 71

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730

USA > Iowa > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I > Part 71

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BELLEVUE NOW AND TWENTY YEARS AGO.

BY A. B. EVANS, IN BELLEVUE LEADER, 1907.

The general appearance of Bellevue now and twenty years ago is one of the most remarkable transformation scenes any town can boast of within the boun-

BELLEVUE OF TODAY

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daries of the entire length and breadth of the Mississippi Valley. The happy and contented condition of her people is so apparent that the most casual observer is ever ready to comment on this one feature in the most glowing terms.

Her model homes, beautified with well kept lawns; her natural paved streets and abundant forestry, lining either side and lapping their limbs, forming a natural arch, is a thoroughfare aspect such as is not enjoyed by larger and more pretentious cities. There is no more perfect sanitary conditions existing anywhere and the healthy state of her population will bear out the assertion that the doctor's care is seldom solicited in this community.

Twenty years ago Bellevue was a slow going, happy go lucky, old town. She seemingly had no particular object in view, other than an humble existence, and for years previous to this time jogged along in the same old rut, without effort or ambition to advance her own welfare.

TOWN WAKES UP.

About the time mentioned above, a younger and more progressive element picked up the reins of government and from that day to this the town advanced at a steady pace. New and stately homes were erected and the dawn of another and brighter day, so to sepak, was apparent on every hand. The "beauty spot" of the Mississippi Valley had awakened from her years of trancelike ambition and with one accord the entire populace began to "clean up things" until today it is all that a grandeur of its beauty expresses.

SUBSTANTIAL INDUSTRIES.

Bellevue's several industries today are as solid as the rocks of Gibraltar. They are owned and operated by men of unquestionable stability and push, and each is on a stable and paying basis. The sawmill, the piano factory, the Iowa Marine Engine and Launch Works, the Ferguson Mfg. Co., the gristmills, and several other lesser industries, are among those Bellevue people proudly boast of. They employ one hundred and fifty or two hundred and fifty men most of the year. All but one of these plants have been installed within the past twenty years, and it is possible and probable that as many more will be placed here in the next decade. Our people are exerting every energy to induce factories and other industries to locate in our midst, and that their efforts will probably bear fruit there is no rea- son to doubt.

OUR BUSINESS MEN.

If there is any one thing of which Bellevue can be proud it is the solidity of her commercial and business men. They are the kind that savor of integrity and courage, foremost in the selection of suitable merchandise for their customers, catering to reasonable prices and dispensing goods of the highest quality only. They are unquestionably right in all their transactions, very courteous and always willing to do the right thing.

Bellevue supports two banks that are as solid financially as any in the state, carrying reserves that insure every depositor absolute safety.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The public school building is one of the most modern there is in the state, con- sidering the town's size. It is located on a most beautiful spot, and contains seven large, well lighted and capacious departments that are presided over by a corps of competent instructors who will soon have the school on the full accredited list- the highest point of efficiency.

St. Joseph's parochial school is a Catholic institution, highly creditable as an educator, with a large attendance of pupils, and a corps of excellent teachers.

The Lutheran school is also well attended and is admitted to be one of the best German educators in this section of the country.

Educationally, Bellevue stands second to no town of its size.

BELLEVUE COMMERCIAL CLUB.

Like many other well regulated cities throughout the country, Bellevue has an ever active organization known as the Commercial Club. Its duties are both

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onerous and arduous, but for the past year they have been attended with an ef- fectiveness worthy of special mention. The work outlined is to advance the in- terests of the town and people, covet industries and do other work incidental to the town's welfare. The leading citizens of the place are among its members and that Bellevue can expect something substantial within the next year or two, because of the existence of this club, can safely be predicted.

HOME OF TWO THOUSAND HAPPY PEOPLE.

Bellevue has a population of about two thousand citizens. They are sociable and prosperous and no better, more generous, or more law-abiding people can be found anywhere. There is no poverty here, and few towns can make that boast. She needs more residences, which would be readily occupied at a fair rental. Give this natural paradise a chance and her beauty and worth will develop as time progresses.

HON. J. C. KISKADDON, OF CLAYTON, MISSOURI, SPEAKS ON BELLEVUE FORTY-SIX' YEARS AGO AT RECEPTION OF HOMECOMERS.

(We only give historical part of address.)

When I arrived out here last Saturday afternoon, I walked about the streets of the town ; I looked in all the faces to see if there was a face I knew ; if I had met a young man or woman, or even a child, who looked like any one I ever knew, I should have stopped them and inquired their names ; the streets were so changed, there were so many new and beautiful residences, the trees had grown so much larger, and everything was so much altered, that I went to bed that night the most lonesome man in Iowa. It wasn't my Bellevue. I had anticipated a change in the inhabitants but not in the town. "Many may come and many may go," but I thought Bellevue as I knew it would "go on forever."

It is forty-six years since I left Bellevue. True, I have been here for very short periods of times, and on infrequent visits, the last of which was twenty-six years ago. Most of the changes in Bellevue have occurred within the last twenty- six years. On my visits I made some acquaintances of whom I had very pleasant recollections, but these casual acquaintances are like "ships which pass in the night and speak each other in passing," and the memory of them is not so enduring as my earlier associations. I have, however, met with pleasure a number of these casual acquaintances.

Bellevue still nestles between its guardian hills ; Mill Creek Valley still stretches to the west in all its pristine loveliness. The hills of Illinois still send greetings across the river to the hills of Iowa; and the Mississippi still pours its resistless tide past your doors. All the grand, the noble, salient features of the landscape are the same as forty-six years ago, but how wonderfully changed are details. Time draws its wrinkles on the human brow, and bows the human form while the individual remains the same, but, whereas, the individual must decay, and die, nature working upon the landscape on a grander scale, is forever renewing and beautifying her works. So it is, that in spite of man's interference and the changes made by him, all the surroundings of Bellevue are as beautiful to the accustomed eye as they were forty-six years ago. No more do the prairie fires deploy their flaming battalions and march in long and shining lines down the Illinois hills. Forest trees have displaced the prairie grass.

The outlines of the eastern bank of the river have materially changed, and, un- fortunately, the once broad and hard sand and gravelly river beach has been defiled with mud, and disfigured with willow thickets. But to compensate in part for this misfortune the brush that used to grow along the steep part of the bank has been cleared away, and the bank has ceased to be the receptacle for all the trash and debris of the community. And along the top of the bank are beautiful little parks instead of a plantation of sandburs. At one place I noticed the bank has been terraced to high water mark. If this were done all along the bank and properly

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planted and cared for, I doubt if there would be a prettier river front between St. Paul and New Orleans.

The old mill pond has been transformed into a corn field. I reluctantly con- cede that this is probably the best for the town, but the present residents will per- haps allow an oldtimer to mourn a little over the loss of one of his most delightful boyhood resorts.

The south bluff was once covered from summit to foot with dense forest. I suppose it is necessary in the interest of progress and husbandry to have more pasture, but I can't help feeling rather spitefully towards the men who cleared off the slopes of the south bluff and made them a cow pasture.

After negotiating a number of barbed wire fences I managed the other morning to attain that north bluff from which once there was a magnificent view up Mill Creek Valley, and up and down the river, only to find the prospect very much ob- structed by a luxuriant growth of trees. No doubt a good supply of water is nec- essary to Bellevue, but some sacrilegious civil engineer designed a pond on the top of the bluff and then covered it with an unsightly roof. And I have a grudge against the man who stuck a stately mansion on the side of the bluff. I under- stand that Hooker Dorchester is not to blame for it; he has only taken advantage of another man's iniquity. Nature has kindly covered an unsightly gash made by the big quarry on the east side of the bluff.

Everything that I knew about the town seems to me smaller than formerly. The distance from one end of town to the other and across it seems shorter. The old buildings I knew seem smaller. Why, we used to think the Seaward building was a magnificent structure. I remember when I was a school boy we learned in physics (we called it natural philosophy then), that sound was transmitted through a solid more rapidly than through the air. As an example we were told that if a blow were struck on one end of a long wall, a person at the other end would hear two sounds, one transmitted through the wall and the other through the air. The north wall of the Seaward building, (there was no stone building against it at that time) was the longest wall in town, and one of my schoolmates, I think it was Will Watkins, and myself, provided ourselves with two good sized stones, and, one at each end of the wall, proceeded to prove it. We heard the double sound of each blow all right, and also heard the sound of Ben Seaward's voice emphatically telling us that we were big enough and ought to know better than pound the wall. I hope time has assuaged Mr. Seaward's wrath, and that he has long ago forgiven our youthful indiscretion.

Bellevue forty-six years ago was a well watered town. It not only had the river and mill pond but also other aqueous privileges. Where the tub factory now is, and extending from the Episcopalian church down the alley to about the rear of Kucheman's store, water frequently accumulated in such quantities as to drive the Bovards out of their first floor onto the second, and Mr. William Graham, who had just been married and lived in a house that extended to that alley, got up one morning after a rain to start the kitchen fire, and found all his kitchen goods afloat.

Where the building in which I am speaking now stands and extending from the west side of the Presbyterian church up to the foot of the north bluff, was a permanent pond, affording good skating in winter and breeding billions of mosquitoes and fever and ague in summer.

Just west of the Catholic church was a pond and swamp and a grove of quaking aspens, while Dutell Hollow was a swamp from end to end. Out be- tween here and West Bellevue where there is now a beautiful meadow, was quite a long and deep pond in which the muskrats used to build their houses.

All these ponds as well as the hazel thicket which extends from above where this building stands, over everything to the west except the pond and swamps, have disappeared, and are replaced by fine residences and beautiful streets.

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A stranger hearing this might think Bellevue was not then a beautiful place. He would be mistaken, however; with all these drawbacks, nature made it beautiful, and while man might improve it, it is beyond his power to de- stroy its beauty.

Man has improved it. Why, there used to be more dog fennel grow in the streets in front of one house than you can find now by searching the town over from end to end, and the malodorous jimson weed flourished undis- turbed in every lot and alley. Now, these weeds have given place to the fair democracy of flowers, which equals cot and palace, while not only the resi- dences, but the vacant lots, and even the untraveled parts of the streets, are made lovely by smooth shaven lawns. When I saw this I had a suspicion that Bellevue had dressed up for the occasion but I am informed she has met the homecomers with her everyday clothes on. Forty-six years ago almost everybody depended on private cisterns and wells for water. There were two municipal wells on Second street where the railroad tracks are now, one near each end of the town. The principal weapon of the city marshal was a set of grab hooks, his principal beat was between the two wells, and his principal business was to fish the old oaken buckets out of their depths. Now, the in- habitants of the town are supplied with an abundance of excellent water by means of an efficient waterworks plant, even if they did desecrate the top of the north bluff by putting a reservoir thereon.

Forty-six years ago the only sidewalks were occasional patches of walk along the business part of town. Each proprietor made a walk or not as he pleased, of such material as he fancied, of all widths, depressed or elevated, with steps up and down, an altogether perplexing problem to attack in the dark. When a worthy citizen accumulated a jag, and attempted in the "wee sma' hours about the twal" to undertake the intricacies of navigation to his domicile, he met with so many difficulties in his progress the doctors were likely to have a case on their hands, a case of delirium tremens. Now, there are miles of granitoid sidewalk laid on both sides of nearly every street, with excellent crossings, adding much to the comfort and convenience of the people and the beauty of the town. Why, forty-six years ago they allowed the pigs and the cows to run at large upon the streets. I remember when I had arrived at about the age when it took more courage to ask a young lady to accompany her to an entertainment than it would take to face a battery, I managed to ask a girl to go with me to a mite society, which met at W. T. Wynkoop's house on the corner of Fifth and State streets. My girl's elder sister also had an escort. When the entertainment was ended, the elder sister and her escort made us youngsters go ahead although we wanted to follow. We turned into Third street along the west side of which was a footpath but no sidewalk. When we got nearly to Mr. Sublette's house (there is a fine residence there now, Burchending's), we found a cow lying across the path. We made a skillful and rapid flank movement around the cow without disturbing her and resumed our walk along the path as though there was no obstruction behind us. When the elder sister and her escort came along, both being very near-sighted, they fell over the cow. They made us promise never to tell, but I think forty-eight years is long enough to keep a secret.

In conclusion let me say that I think Bellevue is the most beautiful little town I ever saw. You couldn't spoil it, all you could do was to improve it, and we homecomers all agree you have done that.

You, the permanent inhabitants of Bellevue, the keepers of this excellent in- stitution for the treatment of our peculiar mental disturbance, have been so good to us that we believe we may soon be discharged. The disease with which we homecomers are afflicted must be contagious, because I notice a num- ber of our keepers are suffering under a severe attack of the same malady.

We homecomers can never all meet here again. But let not this sadden us. Let us here now meet with joyful hand clasp, with smiles and laughter, and

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tears, revelling in the intoxication of social intercourse, renewing old acquain- tances, old ties, and old associations. Many of us are old and many are young. The memories of the older go back to earlier associations and the younger to later, but all have our youthful recollections in connection with this beloved town. We have and are living our lives here and elsewhere, and have re- turned to find some loved ones.

When all the years are young, lad, And all the trees are green ; And every goose a swan, lad, And every lass a queen ; Then to boot and to horse, lad, And ride with the world away ; Go fast while you are young, lad, Each dog must have his day.

But when the years grow old, lad, And all the trees turn brown ; And all the jokes are stale, lad, And all the wheels run down ; Then hie thee to thy home, lad, The rich and poor among ;

Thank God if there you find, lad, One face you loved while young.

BRIEF HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH CONGREGATION.

The St. Joseph's church congregation is one of the pioneer churches of Belle- vue and also of the State of Iowa. In early days when the navigable rivers of this country were the highways of travel and commerce, cities sprung up along their banks settled by people of many different nations and creeds. As early as 184I there were a small body of Catholics, principally emigrants from Ireland, together with a few German and French families.

Father Parodin, then stationed at Garry Owen, attended to their spiritual wants at indefinite intervals, saying mass in a private house owned by Henry Nieman. Good Bishop Mathias Loras took pity upon the poor and struggling flock. In the fall of that year, (September 6, 1841,) he bought lot No. 38, sixty- six by one hundred and twenty, on Front street from the government for the purpose of erecting a church thereon. He also purchased lot No. 476, two hun- dred and ninety-four by five hundred and ninety-three feet, for cemetery pur- poses. One half of the ground was sold afterward, being that part on which the Keister residence now stands. The following year, 1842, a little frame church twenty by twenty-eight feet was constructed at Dubuque and shipped down the river on a raft ready to be put up. It cost about eight hundred dollars and was a gift from Bishop Loras.

After that there were regular services on the first Sunday in the month con- ducted by Father Parodin until 1845, when Rev. F. J. Healy, stationed at the Cathedral at Dubuque, took charge of the little mission, followed in 1848 by Rev. McCormick, and in 1850 the congregation received the first resident pastor in the person of Rev. Frederick Jean, who remained until October, 1853, when the little church was destroyed by fire. There was no resident priest then for some years, but the parish was attended as before from the Cathedral. The con- gregation rented a room in the building known as the Kennedy block, where Father Remsen for a short time said mass. In 1855 the old site (Lot 38) was sold to Patrick Dunn and two other lots, corner Fifth and Jefferson streets, were bought of Anthony Tracy, and a brick church, St. Andrew's, thirty-four by sixty-five feet, costing two thousand five hundred dollars, was constructed, it being completed under the administration of Rev. Patrick McCabe 1855-56.

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Rev. John Vahey was here in 1857, being succeeded by Rev. Edward Ken- ney in 1858. In 1859 and 1860 Rev. John B. Brazill was the first resident pastor since the old building was destroyed. Rev. R. F. Maloney was here the latter part of 1860, a short time only, followed by Rev. Dennis Wheeler, who died about a year after while on his way to Dubuque.

From 1862-63 Rev. George Brennan was pastor .. In 1864, Rev. Dennis Brennan. In 1865-66, Rev. James Harding. During the latter part of his ad- ministration, in 1868, the German speaking portion of the congregation, having then become quite strong, formed a society under the patronage of St. Joseph, rented a frame building located on the lots now owned by Maier Brothers, for a meeting hall and school combined. The same year they also commenced the erection of the present St. Joseph's church, size fifty by ninety feet, costing about ten thousand dollars, the intention being to have two churches, the old one for the English and the new one for German speaking Catholics. But when Father Harding was succeeded by Rev. F. M. Schiffmacher, in 1868, he com- pleted the new stone church and also united the two nationalities in one church, the present St. Joseph's having charge of the same until October, 1879. His . successor was Rev. Peter Portz, who died in the second year of his pastorate, November 29, 1881, during the smallpox epidemic, having contracted the dis- ease while in the discharge of his pastoral duties. The congregation was then attended for nearly six months from the neighboring parishes, Spruce Creek and Springbrook. June II, 1882, Rev. N. J. Bies, the present pastor, commenced his duties. The congregation increasing in numbers, and Spruce Creek no longer having a resident priest, an assistant was sent to Bellevue in the person of Rev. Joseph Haggemann, who came here January 21, 1899, and who also attends St. Nicholas church at Spruce Creek every other Sunday. Rev. Father Wagener is the present assistant since January 1, 1903. A new church is to be built this year larger and more modern, to accommodate the steadily increas- ing congregation at a cost of about thirty-five thousand dollars. N. J. Bies, pastor,

ANDREW.

The land upon which the town of Andrew is now located was first entered by John Hendley, in 1837, and was sold by him to Ithel Corbet in 1838. Under the law then regulating the organization of counties, it was provided that each county might enter a quarter section of land for county seat purposes, although it did not bar the right of the seller's claim. The commission appointed under the terri- torial government to locate the county seat, decided to locate the prospective town on the southeast quarter of section 22, township 85, range 3, east and gave it the name of Andrew, being the Christian name of the statesman in whose honor the county had been named. The title to the land was surrendered by Corbet for a nominal consideration. The survey of the town was commenced by laying out a public square and then platting lots around it. A portion of the lots were sold at auction to the highest bidder and the remainder of the plat was sold to the firm of Briggs & Francis. The first house on the land was built by John Hen- dley, near where the old stone courthouse was afterward built. The first court- house was a log structure, built by the citizens of Andrew and vicinity. It was thirty by forty feet, located a short distance north of the public square, and was used for court purposes until the removal of the county seat at Bellevue in 1848. A short distance east of the courthouse the first jail was built. It was also of log construction, floor, sides and ceiling without a door. There was an attic over the jail and entrance to the room was through a small hole in the floor of the attic, the prisoner going down a ladder which was then withdrawn and the prisoner was safe. A postoffice was established at Andrew, soon after it was made the county seat, it being on the Dubuque-Davenport mail route, then owned and operated by Ansel Briggs and Fenn, and the first school was taught by S. S. Fenn, in the old log courthouse, in the winter of 1841-42. It was a private school, the tuition

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being two dollars and twenty-five cents for a term of thirteen weeks. The first public school was taught in a frame building erected by the citizens, by a Mrs. Garretson, a few years later. The first hotel building was built by Ithel Corbet in 1842, and soon after rented to P. B. Bradley. The present hotel was built by Messrs. Trout and Simmons in 1845.

The first record of a town organization is in December, 1863, J. H. Smith being mayor. That the council had a full appreciation of the responsibilities rest- ing upon and the powers vested in them, is shown by entry in their record book wherein a motion was made and carried that Sheriff Watkins and Harry Todd "be appointed a committee to see Dr. Johnson and talk to him about getting in- toxicated."

Doubtless few of the present residents of Jackson county knew that the first building for a state educational institution was erected at Andrew, but is a fact although the building was never used for that purpose. In 1847 or 48 the legis- lature provided for the organization of three state normal schools, locating them at Mt. Pleasant, Oskaloosa, and Andrew, the citizens of said town to furnish the necessary building. With commendable energy the people of Andrew at once commenced the erection of a substantial stone building for that purpose, but a cyclone wrecked the structure before it was completed and the citizens being un- able to bear the burden of a second attempt, conducted the school for two years in the Methodist church, without assistance from the state, but finally abandoned it "from lack of funds." Some years later the legislature appropriated one thou- sand dollars to in part reimburse those who had advanced the money for the school.

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History of Jackson County, Iowa; Volume I, Part 71

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 730

Author: Ellis, James Whitcomb, 1848-; Clarke, S. J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 730