USA > Iowa > Marion County > History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 16
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY
By the spring of 1847 the association numbered about thirteen hundred persons, of whom over seven hundred were prepared to go to a new home in a strange land. Four sailing vessels were chartered to carry them to Baltimore. Early in April, 1847, three of these ships sailed from Rotterdam and the other from Amsterdam. After a voy- age of about fifty days they arrived at their destination, nine deaths and three births having occurred during the voyage.
At Baltimore the colonists were met by Mr. Scholte, who had come over in advance. From that city they proceeded by rail and canal boat to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they embarked on steamboats for St. Louis. E. F. Grafe, a German resident of St. Louis, had been apprised of their coming and made preparations for their reception. A temporary camp was established just outside the city limits and here the colonists remained until August, while three of their number went forward to select a location for their per- manent settlement. The three men selected for this duty were H. P. Scholte, John Rietveld and Isaac Overkamp, who departed at once for Iowa.
Upon reaching Fairfield the committee met Rev. M. J. Post, who was then engaged in carrying the mail from that point to Fort Des Moines, and from him learned of the beautiful prairie lying between the Skunk and Des Moines rivers, in townships 76 and 77, range 18. Being impressed with Mr. Post and his description of the region, the committee accompanied him to the place and found that it was all that he had described. Mr. Scholte, as agent and treasurer of the colony, purchased the claims of those who had already settled upon the prairie, with such live stock and farming utensils as they could be induced to sell.
Like the spies that Moses sent forward to inspect the Promised Land, the commissioners returned to the camp at St. Louis and made their report. Mechanics were then despatched to Marion County to erect temporary shelter for the colonists, who arrived a little later. One large shed was built in what is now the western part of the city. in which a number of families took up their residence until better habitations could be constructed. Some found shelter in the cabins upon the claims purchased of the first settlers, and others erected sod houses, which were roofed with the tall grass that grew along the sloughs. Usually an excavation of two or three feet in depth was made, around which would be built the wall of sod, often not more than two or three feet high. These nondescript structures were built
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in and around the present City of Pella, without regard to regularity, and presented a peculiar spectacle. Donnel tells the following amus- ing story concerning one of these sod houses :
"One night some cattle happened to be grazing in the neighbor- hood of one of these sod houses, and it also happened that, as grazing was not abundant, one of the oxen went prospecting about for some- thing better. Seeing the house he evidently mistook it for a small haystack and 'went for it.' Finding the coarse, dry grass not so very good, he got upon it with his fore feet in search of better food, when the weak structure gave way beneath his weight and let him plunge headlong into the regions below. The family were asleep until the crash came and awakened them to bewildered consciousness of some awful calamity befalling them, and their exclamations of fright added terror to the already terrified beast, and he made his exit by the door with all practicable speed, probably resolving, ox fashion, for ever more to keep clear of such haystacks. Fortunately no one was hurt, and no serious damage was done, except to the house."
Some of the Hollanders lived in their sod house for two winters before they were able to provide themselves with better habitations. These houses would keep out the cold, but in wet seasons the occu- pants experienced much discomfort through the leaking of the grass roofs and the water seeping up through the earthen floor. Sometimes the water would rise to such a height that it was necessary to bail out or move. Notwithstanding all the drawbacks, these people persisted in their efforts until they developed the resources of the country and built up a city that is a credit to themselves and an honor to the state.
Mr. Scholte occupied the claim pen built by Thomas Tuttle until he could erect a better place of residence. The house built by him in 1848, about the time the city was laid out, is still standing and is occupied as a dwelling. It faces the public square and is remarkably well preserved, although it is one of the oldest houses in the county.
The iron chest, or strong box, in which the money of the colonists was brought over from the Netherlands, is still preserved in the Pella National Bank. It was made by hand by Dutch blacksmiths in the old country and is an ingenious piece of work. In the front of the box is a keyhole, into which the great iron key fits perfectly, but upon turning the key the box fails to unlock. That keyhole is a "blind," the real one being in the center of the lid, concealed by what appears to be the head of one of the large rivets. A smart tap on the side of this rivet head caused it to turn on a pivot, revealing the true keyhole. Cne turn of the key moves eight bolts-three on each side and one
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at each end-that fit in sockets in the wall of the chest. This old box is one of the highly prized historic relics of Marion County.
PELLA INCORPORATED
In the spring of 1855 the people of Pella took the necessary steps to have the town incorporated. An election was held and 135 votes were cast in favor of incorporation to 22 votes against the proposition. The official records pertaining to the matter show that "The county judge fixed upon the 9th day of July, 1855, as the time, and the said town of Pella as the place, of holding an election to choose three per- sons to prepare a charter, or articles of incorporation for the said City or Town of Pella."
P. Pravendright, H. C. Huntsman and Isaac Overkamp were elected to prepare the charter, which was ordered by the County Court to be submitted to the voters at an election to be held on August 20, 1855. At that election E. F. Grafe, A. van Stigt and W. J. Ellis served as judges, and H. Hospers and Isaac Overkamp, as clerks. The charter was adopted by a substantial majority and the first elec- tion for municipal officers was ordered to be held on Monday, Sep- tember 10, 1855, when W. J. Ellis was elected mayor ; G. Boekenoon- gen, recorder; Isaac Overkamp, treasurer; A. Stoutenburg, marshal ; T. Rosborough, M. A. Clark, J. E. Strong, H. Hospers, J. Berkhout and O. McDowell, aldermen.
Following is a list of the mayors of Pella from the time the city was incorporated, with the year in which each entered upon the duties of the office: W. J. Ellis, 1855; R. G. Hamilton, 1857; Isaac Over- kamp, 1858; John Nollen, 1860; William Fisher, 1864; H. Hospers, 1867; H. M. McCully, 1871; H. Neyenesch, 1874; E. F. Grafe, 1875; H. Neyenesch, 1876; H. M. McCully, 1878; N. J. Gesman, Sr., 1882; H. Kuyper, 1883; G. Van Vliet, 1887; H. Kuyper, 1889; G. Van Vliet, 1891 ; T. J. Edmand, 1895; G. Van Vliet, 1897; J. H. Stubenrauch, appointed in 1900 and elected in 1901 ; D. S. Huber, 1903 ; W. L. Allen, 1905 ; S. G. Van der Zyl, appointed in 1906 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mayor Allen, and elected for a full term in 1907; N. J. Gesman, Jr., 1909; H. J. Van den Berg, appointed by the council in 1911 to fill the unexpired term of Mayor Gesman, who resigned ; H. J. Johnson, 1913.
In 1870 the city surrendered its old charter and was reorganized under the general law of the state relating to incorporated cities. Prior to 1887 mayors were elected annually. In the above list, where the difference in dates represents a period of more than one year dur-
PELLA
THE TOWN OF PELLA IN 1856
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ing this time it indicates that the mayor served one or more terms, as in the case of John Nollen, who served four successive terms. In 1887 a change was made by which mayors and other city officers are elected biennially.
THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the first three days of Sep- tember, 1897, the City of Pella celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its settlement by the Hollanders. Former residents of the city came from all parts of the state and some from St. Louis, Chicago, and even New York. Henry Hospers, founder of the Holland colony in Sioux County, lowa, and a former mayor of Pella, came down from Orange City with about three hundred others on a single excursion train. Many came by wagon, 150 conveyances, all loaded to their full ca- pacity, coming from Mahaska County. By 9 o'clock Wednesday morning it was estimated that two thousand wagons and carriages had been driven into the city.
Wednesday's feature was a grand procession, which formed at the east square and paraded through the principal streets led by Henry Cox's band of forty-four pieces. Following the band came seventy girls in their "teens," each dressed in white, with red and blue sashes, and carrying a red, white and blue umbrella. Next came the "first settlers," who were young men and boys when the city was first settled in 1847. Two of the floats in the procession are thus described by the Knoxville Express :
"On the first were four young ladies, the Misses Marie Bousquet, Sara Nollen, Bessie Scholte and May Keables, grandchildren of Rev. H. P. Scholte, founder of Pella. They were dressed in picturesque Dutch costumes, the helmets of solid gold, covered with lace caps- that is as near as ordinary English can come to describing this head gear. Their faces were pictures framed in gold and lace. The rest of the costumes also was Dutch-girdles, skirts, shoes and sturdy stockings. They represented a Dutch tea party, the tea served in dainty Delft ware, brought from Holland fifty years ago.
"On the second float were the Misses Agnes Bousquet, Julia Bousquet, Annie Wormhoudt, Alice de Pree, Helen Brinkhoff, Bessie van der Linden and Artie van der Linden. They were dressed in costumes very similar to the ones in the first float, except that their head plates were of silver, the silver covered with lace. They repre- sented, in a sense, the industrial women of Holland. They had the old-fashioned spinning wheels and other contrivances of the past.
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Some of them knitted-but none of them was idle, for idleness is a vice among them. These two floats were greatly admired and at- tracted any amount of attention."
One unusual feature of the celebration was that no Dutch flags were displayed. On St. Patrick's day the green flag of Erin is always very much in evidence in the cities of the United States, but the com- mittee on decorations decided to put out no flags except the Stars and Stripes of the American Republic. Individuals were left to exercise their own judgment in the matter of decoration, but the flag of Hol- land was conspicuous by its absence. This attitude of the residents was partially explained by Rev. J. Ossewaarde on Thursday, in his address on The Duty of the Young Toward Americanization. Said he, in referring to the founders of the colony :
"They came not for wealth, which they might in later years enjoy in the parent country. They came rather seeking a home of refuge, where civil and religious liberty, denied them in the Netherlands, might be enjoyed, and where those noble principles and virtues, dear to them as life, might be established, and expanded and developed. And when they came here they came to become Americans. In choos- ing this country as their home and the home of their posterity, they chose also the American institutions. The moment their feet pressed the American soil they became American citizens."
Another parade was given on Thursday, preceding the speech- making and at 3 o'clock P. M. on Friday the semi-centennial celebra- tion gave way to the reunion of the Seventeenth lowa Infantry, in which Marion County was well represented.
The officers of the association in charge of the celebration were: C. Rhynsburger, president; J. H. Stubenrauch, secretary; G. Van Vliet, treasurer; P. H. Bousquet, marshal of the day; D. S. Huber and P. H. Bousquet, committee on invitations. These gentlemen were congratulated upon the thoroughness of their preparations. The semi-centennial will long be remembered in Pella and Marion County.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
After the incorporation of Pella as a city in 1855 the increase in population was steady, but it was not until 1866 that the city experi- enced its first real prosperity. In that year the Des Moines Valley (now the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific) Railroad was completed to Des Moines. As this line passes through Pella, that town imme- diately came into prominence as a shipping point and trading center
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Carnegie-Viersen Library. Soldiers' Monument. Y. M. and Y. W. C. A .. Central University of Iowa.
High School Building. Old Peoples' Home.
VIEWS IN PELLA
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for a large part of Marion and the adjoining counties of Jasper and Mahaska. During the next decade large quantities of farm products and live stock were annually shipped from Pella, while manufactured goods of all kinds were shipped in for the use of the people over a large territory, of which Pella was the recognized commercial center. In the year 1873 the receipts of the railroad company from the office at Pella-freights and passenger fares-amounted to $110,361. In that year 643 carloads of live stock alone were shipped from Pella. The completion of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad through the southern part of the county in 1875 diverted a large part of the trade and shipping south of the Des Moines River to Knox- ville, though Pella still retains much of its commercial activity and is yet an important shipping point.
A volunteer fire company was organized some years after the town was incorporated, and in 1882 a building was erected on Main Street, about two blocks south of the public square, for use of the fire depart- ment. Here are quartered a hand chemical engine and a hook and ladder truck. After the completion of the waterworks a supply of hose was provided for use on the street hydrants in case of fire.
At an election held in June, 1909, the people of Pella voted in favor of a proposition to authorize the city officials to issue bonds to the amount of $90,000 to establish an electric light plant and a system of waterworks. The bonds were issued and a tax levied to provide a sinking fund for their payment when they became due. An electric plant was erected near the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad station, which furnishes current for the street lights and also for com- mercial purposes, and power for operating the pumps at the water- works station. Electricity is furnished to private consumers at from 5 to to cents per kilowatt for lighting purposes and from 3 to 5 cents per kilowatt for power. Even at these moderate rates the income from the plant was sufficient in 1914 to provide for the interest and sinking fund pertaining to that part of the bonds, so that no tax was levied in that year for the payment of electric light bonds. On the business streets all wires are placed under ground.
With regard to the waterworks, test pits were sunk in the gravel beds near the Des Moines River, about three and a half miles south of the city, where it was ascertained that an abundant supply of water could be obtained. A pumping station was then built, a large reser- voir and filtering galleries constructed, and an electric motor installed for driving the pumps, power being communicated to the motor from the municipal electric plant. Mains were laid upon all the principal streets, fifty-six street hydrants placed in position, and early in 1910
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Pella boasted one of the best waterworks of any city of its size in the state. Chemical analysis shows the water to be far above the average in purity, while the supply is practically inexhaustible.
Following the introduction of water by the new method, the city began the construction of a sewer system, which was not yet completed in the fall of 1914. When it is finished Pella will be one of the most sanitary cities of its size in the State of Iowa.
As an educational center Pella is well known through the Central College, founded there by the Baptist Church in 1853, while the pub- lic schools have always been kept up to a high standard of efficiency. The Webster school building, which cost $22,000, was erected in 1876, and the Lincoln school was built in 1895, at a cost of $20,000. In the fall of 1914 the people voted in favor of a bond issue of $48,000 for a new high school building. Nineteen teachers were employed in the public schools during the school year of 1913-14, and 611 scholars were enrolled.
Pella has about three miles of well paved streets, good cement sidewalks all over the town, a telephone exchange, four weekly news- papers, one bi-monthly and one monthly publication, a public library, churches of various denominations, two hotels, an opera house, etc., but its greatest charm is the large number of cozy homes, which be- token a thrifty, intelligent and progressive population.
Over three hundred people are employed in the factories of the city, and in busy seasons many more find employment in the manu- facturing establishments. Among the wares turned out by these fac- tories may be mentioned wagons, ditching machinery, furniture, cigars, drain tile, band cutters and feeders, stock tanks, the well known "Wooden Shoe Brand" of canned goods, overalls, etc. The com- mercial interests are well represented by four banks and a number of well stocked stores handling all lines of goods.
In 1910 the population, according to the United States census, was 3,021, an increase of 398 during the preceding decade. The taxable property of the city was assessed in 1913 at $1,539,356, an average wealth per capita of more than five hundred and forty dollars.
CHAPTER X TOWNS AND VILLAGES
SPECULATION IN TOWNSITES IN EARLY DAYS-LIST OF-TOWNS AND VIL- LAGES IN MARION COUNTY-HISTORICAL SKETCH AND INTEREST- ING INCIDENTS OF EACH-POSTOFFICES AND RURAL ROUTES IN 1914.
In the early settlement of the Mississippi Valley states the land speculator was industrious in laying out towns, the object being merely the sale of lots to unsuspecting individuals. Some of the towns projected became business centers of considerable importance, others remain as straggling country villages or small railroad stations, and a number have entirely disappeared. Marion County was no exception to the rule and several towns were laid out within her borders with a view to enriching the proprietors, without regard to the fitness of the location or the prospects for the future. Some fortunate circumstance, such as the location of the county seat or the building of a railroad, has kept some of these towns alive, while others never developed beyond the "paper stage," the old plats found in the office of the county recorder or the recollections of some old settler being all that remains of their history. From a careful examination of the old plat-books, atlases and documents the following list of towns that are or have been in Marion County has been compiled : American City, Amsterdam, Attica, Bauer, Bennington, Bethel, Bussey, Caloma, Cloud, Coalport, Columbia, Cordova, Dallas, Delphi, Dixonville, Donley, Dunreath, Durham, Everist, Fifield, Flagler, Gosport, Hamilton, Harrisonville, Harvey, Howell, Indiana, Iola, Knoxville, Leerdam, Lucas Grove, Marysville, Melcher, Mor- gan Valley, Newbern, New Chicago, Oak, Otley, Pella, Percy. Perryville, Pleasantville, Red Rock, Reedville, Rousseau, Star, Swan, Tracy, Weston, Wheeling and White Breast. Many of these towns have no well defined history, but such facts as could be gathered concerning them are given. The history of the incorporated cities of Knoxville and Pella is given in the two chapters immediately preceding.
AMERICAN CITY
In July, 1848, a company composed of James D. Putnam, Isaac N. Crum, John Welch, George F. Hendry and Spear S. Mangum em-
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ployed Stanford Doud, then surveyor of Marion County, to lay out a town on the west half of section 15, township 77, range 19, to which was given the name of American City. The plat, which was filed in the office of the county recorder on November 4, 1848, shows a town of some pretensions, consisting of thirty-two blocks of eight lots each, with a public square in the center equal in size to four blocks and the vacated streets between. The streets running east and west, beginning at the north side, were Prairie, Elk, Pella, Main Avenue, Cedar and Putnam; those running north and south, beginning at the east side of the town, were Mangum, Monroe, Locust, Red Rock, Des Moines, Marion and Welch. The survey and filing of the plat seems to have been all the progress that was ever made toward building up the town. No sales of lots were ever recorded and all that remains of American City is the name. The town was located a short distance northwest of the present village of Otley, in Summit Township.
AMSTERDAMI .
The town of Amsterdam was surveyed and platted in May, 1848, by Walter Clement, deputy county surveyor, for Hendrick P. Scholte. Mr. Scholte had come from Holland only two years before, and he named the town after the well known city in his native land. The site of this proposed metropolis of Marion County was in the southwest part of section 20, township 76, range 18, on the north side of the Des Moines River and about a mile southeast of the present village of Howell. The original plat shows sixty blocks, divided into 490 lots, with a public square and site for a city market. The streets running north and south were East, Kranz, Post, Scholte, Cherry, Walnut, Lind, Rokin, Pella, Vine and West. The east and west streets were Bluff, Lake, Heeren, Utrecht, Market, Huiden, Beeren and South. There was also a short thoroughfare called Court Street running south from the public square which was bounded by Lake, Rokin, Heeren and Pella streets.
At the time Amsterdam was laid out occasional steamboats ascended the Des Moines River and the purpose was to develop the town into a great commercial center. It is said that circulars, with a picture showing a row of business buildings along the river front and steamers lying at the wharf, were circulated in the eastern cities calling attention to the advantages of Amsterdam and inviting the investment of capital. Although few lots were actually sold and improved, Mr. Scholte employed Moses A. Clark, deputy county sur- veyor, to lay out an addition of 204 lots in the latter part of May, 1856.
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The plat of this addition was filed on June 2, 1856, under the name of "North Amsterdam." No postoffice was ever established in the town, and the only business enterprises of which anything definite can be learned were the burning of lime and the manufacture of brick.
ATTICI
In the northern part of Indiana Township, about nine miles south- east of Knoxville, is the little town of Attica, one of the old towns of the county. It was laid out by Stanford Doud, county surveyor, on May 16, 1847, for James Barker and Nathaniel and Rhoda Cockel- reas. The plat was filed in the office of the county recorder on June 7, 1847, under the name of "Barkersville." It shows eight blocks of four lots each. The streets running north and south are Orange, Main and Poplar, and those running east and west are North, High and South. James Barker, after whom the town was named, erected the first house-a one-story brick-and was the first merchant and the first postmaster.
On December 28, 1852, Governor Hempstead approved an act of the Iowa Legislature entitled "An act to change the name of Barkers- ville in Marion County to Attica." It is said that this action was taken in response to a petition of some of the citizens of the town, who considered Mr. Barker's conduct in his attachment for another man's wife a public disgrace. About this time Barker sold his store to B. F. Williams, who also became postmaster. The first hotel in the town was opened by a German named Michael Himmelhaver, who charged ten cents per meal. Evidently the "high cost of living," of which so much has been said in the public press in recent years, did not prevail in Himmelhaver's time. Hessy May taught the first school and the first mail was carried from Knoxville by M. M. Marks wrapped up in his pocket handkerchief. Among the early industries was the manufacture of pottery, the clay for which was obtained from the farm of William Sharon near the town.
Polk's Iowa Gazetteer for 1914 gives the principal business con- cerns of Attica as three general stores, a hotel and the postoffice, and the population as 125. No railroad ever came near the town, the nearest stations being Knoxville and Bussey, on the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy.
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