USA > Iowa > Monona County > History of Monona County, Iowa; containing full-page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 34
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GRISTMILL.
In the spring of 1872. T. Reder put up and com- menced the operation of a steam saw and grist mill on the site now occupied by the Onawa roller mill. He carried on the business for some time. In Jan- nary, 1874, the gristmill portion was sold to Bax-
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ter Whiting, who remodeled it and fitted it up anew with more modern machinery. It was at that time equipped with three sets of buhrs, and usual auxiliaries. Mr. Whiting carried on this business until January, 1878, when it was purchased by Wood & Kenyon, for $8,000, who made additions - to the machinery to the amount of $2,000 more, making it one of the most complete in the county at that time. Early in the morning of Sunday, January 5, 1879, the mill with its contents, some thirty thousand pounds of flour, and about thirty tons of bran, middlings and feed, was destroyed by fire, making a loss, including wheat in the elevator, , of over $15,000, on which there was an insurance of only $4,000. The following spring the late owners erected the present mill, on the site of the old one, four stories in height. and put in four sets of buhrs, and all the necessary machinery. In 1884. the roller system was adopted, and rolls and all other new and improved machinery added. The motive power is furnished by a fine sixty- five horse- power engine. D. B. Kenyon, the late proprietor, bought out his partner's interest in February, 1887. llolbrook & Bro. are the present owners, taking possession of the same in the summer of 1889.
HOTELS.
Onawa House, the pioneer hotel of the beautiful city of Onawa, has quite a history, and around its time-worn walls cluster many fond recollections, endeared through the glamor of memory in the minds and hearts of the old settlers. Work on this building was commeneed in the latter part of June, and the frame, as has been said. was raised on the Fourth of July, 1857, and was the occasion of considerable jollification. The carpenters who were engaged in putting it up were F. W. Snow, Charles and George Atkins, E. R. Pierce, James Armstrong, S. S. Pearse, George Oliver, Thomas and Darius Pearce and others, most of whom were staying with J. E. Morrison, who kept the hotel at Ashton, and came over every day to their work on Mr. Morrison's new hotel. Says a local writer in speaking of this old landmark, in the Sentinel of June 22, 1889:
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" A cottonwood tree was one day growing in the timber and the next day it was a part of the
Onawa House. One of the steam sawmills which so rapidly transformed trees into a hotel was owned by Armstrong, Sharron & Cox., situated about a half-mile southwest of the Ashton tavern. The other mill was situated on the farm now owned by R. G. Fairchild, two miles south of Onawa, and was owned by C. E. and Newell Whiting. In No- vember of 1857 Mr. Morrison moved from his Ashton hotel into the Onawa House, and from that time on to the present it has been a center around which cluster many interesting and long to be re- membered associations and scenes. At first the upper floor or garret was unplastered, and was called the " School Section," and sometimes the "Ram Pasture," where all the single young men gathered, and if the married men will be honest they will confess that they occasionally were found in the same pasture, and often had lively times with the fun-loving bachelors. Oftentimes the head of Landlord Morrison would appear near the top of the stairs for the purpose of quelling the dis- turbance. Frequently his good offices were highly unappreciated by the young bucks. and a perfect shower of boots, shoes, bootjacks and other chance missiles were fired at him, causing him to beat a hasty retreat and report, ' By lightning, those are the toughest boys I ever saw.'
. Mr. Morrison was proprietor of the house until 1865, when he sold it to A. T. Bigelow. In 1866 Mr. Bigelow sold it to Elijah Peake, who. with his son-in-law, D. J. Rockwell, conducted it about ten years, when Mr. Peake transferred his interest to Mr. Rockwell, who ran it alone two or three years, when in 1880 he sold it to .I. R. Thurston, who was proprietor just one year, when I. E. Morrison again became the proprietor."
The latter gentleman, being warned by feeble health that he must give up his active employment, in 1887 sold out to a company of gentlemen of the city and removed to the more congenial climate of California. E. II. Chapman leased the property, and was the landlord of the house for about a year and was succeeded by the present lessee, R. G. Brown. In July, 1889, the building was removed to its present location from the one it occupied on the corner of lowa Avenue, just south of where it now stands, by the Onawa Improvement Company,
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by whom it was purchased a short time previous. To quote again from the old settler correspondent mentioned above:
" As the old settlers of Onawa rather reluctantly see the building going slowly from its original foundation, many forms and faces flit before the mind's eye, but none is more distinct than the first proprietor and landlord of the famous old Onawa House, J. E. Morrison, whose enterprise and faith in the future destiny of the town led him to erect, in 1857, what for that period was a most commo- dious and expensive building. Onawa was in em- bryo then. The substantial walls of the hotel, with its well painted exterior, was a most conspicuous objeet in the wide landscape of waving prairie- grass, towering aloft in almost solitary grandeur, a beacon-light to the weary traveler in search of rest, food and comfort.
" Many notables of national reputation, civil and military, crossed the threshold of the Onawa House in early days as transient guests, and broke bread at the table of . Mine Ilost' Morrison. The arrival of the stage each day from Council Bluffs was one of the exciting events. Curiosity and expectation were on tip-toe as a span of jaded horses with the Western Stage Company's mail-coach pulled up at early candle-light alongside the spacious platform in front of the hotel. The faces of the emerging passengers were scanned with a view to a chance of extracting some news of the outside world. A little gossip with a stranger was a godsend. The Onawa House was in its greatest glory, however, during court week. It was the rendezvous of town and county. Court week was a gala time for everybody. People swarmed in and around the hotel, filling every cranny. A bed on the floor was at a premium. Grave judges. jostled with jovial grangers clad in homespun. Sharp lawyers from Council Bluffs and Sioux City enveloped themselves in tobacco smoke. cracked venerable jokes and told stories for the amusement of their clients. Sheriff, jurymen, prisoners and witnesses hobnobbed together in the most free and easy man- ner in the office, hall and parlor. The resources of the establishment were severely tried. A pio- neer appetite was not to be trifled with, but Mr. Morrison never allowed short rations in his house.
and the host of hungry men put solid food where it would do the most good.
" A supper and ball, December 21, 1860, brought out the beauty and the chivalry of the county. No tickets were issued. and consequently everybody was considered invited to attend and keep step to the violin. The power behind the throne. Mrs. Morrison, attended to the cooking, and the old set- tlers know the significance of that fact. Well cooked, tender fat turkeys were a prominent feature of that feast. But I must cease my babbling; the light of other days is extinguished. the mirth of old has ceased. The boom of public improvement has come to sweep away the mute witness of events in Onawa for the past thirty-two years. Farewell. old Onawa House.
" The cottonwood grove which a few years ago stood north of the hotel, was a spontaneous growth from seed brought on the ground by a heavy wind storm which occurred in August, 1858.
"In August, 1862, a strong straight wind blew the hotel off its foundation and about two feet to the southeast."
The hotel now known as the Spencer House has had a varied experience. A portion of it was built as a residence on the block on which the schoolhouse now stands in 1857, by the County Judge. Charles E. Whiting, who made it his home for several years. In the same dwelling afterward in turn lived the families of Charles Atkins, James Armstrong, Charles II. Holbrook, and E. D. Dimmick, the latter of whom bought it. In 1863, Abel Smith purchased the building. and making some additions to it and opened it as a hotel under the name of the "O. K. House." He con- tinued to carry it on until December, 1866. when it was purchased by ,lohn A. Ilittle, who changed the name to that of the Western House, and re- mained its landlord until 1869. In the latter year he disposed of it to T. C. Walton, who removed it to the location it now occupies and enlarged it. giving it the name of the Walton House, and ad- vertising it as "the only second-class hotel in the West." In 1873 he rented it for a year to J. Hil- ton, but on the expiration of that period again as- sumed the charge of it and continued to preside therein for years. In the winter of 1882 a portion
MONONA COUNTY.
of it was destroyed by fire, but the damage was speedily repaired and additions made to the origi- nal building. May 31, 1888, it was purchased by Frank T. Spencer, who assumed charge of it, chang- ing the name to its present one, "The Spencer House." August 7, 1888, he formed a partnership with Clinton Prouse, which only lasted until March 28, 1889, since which time Mr. Spencer has carried on the business alone.
The Onawa Improvement Company, one of the prominent business associations of Monona County, and one that is bound to further the interests of both city and country, was organized April 30, 1889. It has for its object the buying, improving, leasing or selling real estate in the town of Onawa, lowa, and its vicinity ; to establish, operate, lease or assist manfacturing and other lawful business en- terprises in the same, and to erect, furnish or lease power therefor; to furnish and operate for the town and its environs street railways, electric lights and water works that may in the future be authorized by Onawa municipal government; to survey, nequire right-of-way and depot grounds for, and construct and operate, or assist in constructing and operating lines of railway to. through and from the town and surrounding country.
The capital stock of the association is $250,000, divided into shares of $100 each. The company has its principal place of business in Onawa, and the incorporation is for twenty years. The first and present officers are as follows: Ilon, Addison Oliver, President; G. W. McMillan, Vice President ; B. D. Ilolbrook, Treasurer; P. K. Holbrook, Secre- tary; Hon. Addison Oliver, B. D. Holbrook, S. F. Sears. G. W. McMillan, and M. A. Freeland, Di- rectors. One of the first moves made by the com- pany was the purchase of the old Onawa House, the pioneer hotel of the town, and removing it to the northeast corner of the block upon which it stood. ereeted in its stead a new, two-story briek hotel.
POST-OFFICE.
The Onawa post-office was established in 1858, being removed to this point by Robert G. Fair- child, the Postmaster, on his coming to Onawa from Ashton. In 186t he was succeeded by S. S. Pearse, who after two or three years gave way for Charles
Atkins. The latter continued custodian of the mails until 1873, when removing from the village he was succeeded by Capt. C. G. Perkins, who was Postmaster continuously until March 17, 1887, at which date he was succeeded by the present in- eumbent of the office, George Underhill. This was made a money order office April 28, 1871.
PRESS.
The pioneer newspaper was the Onawa Adventure commenced in 1858, by Charles B. Thompson, which only had a short life, ceasing on the removal from the county of the editor and proprietor, as re- lated elsewhere.
On the 19th of December, 1860, a new paper made its appearance, under the title of the Monana Cordon, published by" Dimmick & Butts. It was a neat six-column folio, with Addison Dimmick in charge of the editorial columns, and for a time ob- tained considerable influence in the community. In November, 1861, D. W. Butts became sole propri- etor and editor, and carried on the journal for a short time when it ceased to exist.
Not disheartened however, in the beginning of the year, 1863, Mr. Butts started a new paper, the West lowa Gazette, a five column folio, which he carried on until the fall of 1865, when it in turn gave way to a successor, the Gazette. Mr. Butts removed from the county and is, at the present writing, the editor and proprietor of the Little Sioux Independent of Harrison County.
The Monona County Gazette was founded in the carly winter of 1865, by Howendobler & Aldridge, the initial number being issued under the date of December 2, of that year. The paper was at the time a small, live column folio, with but a limited advertising patronage. In it are display advertise- ments and cards of the Onawa House, under the proprietorship of A. T. Bigelow; R. Stebbins, druggist; Ilolbrook & Bro., general land agents; shoe store, E. Walker; C. II. Holbrook. Surveyor and B. D. Holbrook, attorney-at-law; Addison Oli- ver, attorney ; J. B. Ira, physician and surgeon ; J. Allen. new butcher shop, and Charles Atkins, "Headquarters store" for the sale of general mer- chandise ; the O. K. Honse, Abel Smith, proprietor, and some few from other points.
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The proprieters of this journal were F. M. llowendobler and C. H. Aldridge until May, 1868, when the interest of Mr. Ilowendobler, who had died shortly before. was purchased by W. A. Greene. and the firm thus formed carried on this paper for about a year. At the expiration of that period, Mr. Greene became the sole proprietor and occu- pied the editorial tripod in solitary glory for a twelvemonth when he disposed of the outfit and business to a syndicate of gentlemen of Onawa, prominent among whom were Holbrook & Bro .. J. K. MeCaskey, J. S. Maughlin, and James Arm- strong. S. R. Bassett leased the office and operated it until April 13, 1872, when, on account of some matters of disagreement arising between Mr. Bas- sett and the owners of the sheet, he stepped down and out and was succeeded by H. E. Morrison and Charles H. Aldridge under the firm name of Mor- rison & Allridge, their salutatory appearing in the issue of that date. These gentleman presided over the journal until April 1873. when the stock of the other holders being purchased by J. K. MeCaskey, he assumed editorial charge of the Gazette, the old firm resigning their place, in a few well chosen, fit words on the 5th of that month. Shortly after this the name of C. IL. Aldridge appears in partner- ship with Mr. MeCaskey and at the head of the editorial page. The firm thus formed remained in existence until May 8, 1875, when Mr. McCaskey disposed of his interest to C. E. Sain, and he and Mr. Aldridge carried on the Gazette until the 1st of September, 1875,at which time they were succeeded by .I. D. Ainsworth, one of the raciest newspaper men of the western part of the State. In spite of drawbacks this gentleman carried on the paper alone through good and bad times until about October, 1887, when Cooley and Zollinger assumed the control, to be succeeded within the year by J. J. Cooley, alone. In October, 1888, the entire office was purchased by II. C. Laub, of Dennison, Iowa, by whom it was leased to Thatcher & Sims. Two or three months later the firm engaged in running this pioneer sheet was changed to Baxter & Sims, and a month later it was leased by the owner, Mrs. J. D). Ainsworth to H. Fayette Sims, a good practical printer and able news gatherer, who is making an excellent home local paper. The journal is a nine
column folio, and well filled with good home ad- vertisements. The office is well equipped and fit- ted out for the purpose for which it is intended,and has its share of the job and advertising work of the community.
The People's Press was established in 1870, by W. A. Greene. on a $5-dollar Army press, with but a few handsful of type. It was but one column, and that but three or four inches long. but with each issue he kept enlarging it, soon buying a new press and more material, until May, 1872, when he had quite a neat little sheet, and some four hundred subscribers, he formed a partnership with S. R. Bassatt, and under the firm name and style of Greene & Bassatt, the paper was further enlarged and carried on for about a year. Mr. Greene then retiring, Mr. Bassatt continued sole proprietor and at the head of the editorial department until 1877, when he disposed of it to G. F. Crouch. who re- moved the material to Mapleton. with which city its history has been connected ever since.
The Onawa Enquirer was the title of a newspa- per inaugurated in the summer of 1880, the first issue bearing the date of June 10. This journal was edited and published by George S. Witters, and was the exponent of the principles of the Democratic party. A few months it was carried on by the originator, and was a lively local sheet, but owing to mismanagement and want of stability in the editor, it soon came to an untimely death.
The Monona County Tribune, a six-column folio. was born on the 220 of September, 1883, and was the organ for the campaign then waging. It was the advocate and organ of the Peoples' party, and was issued în the interest of the opposition to Re- publican rule. It appeared without the name of either editors or publishers, but it is credited with having many of the prominent gentlemen of the county in the editorial chair. It was published in Sioux City. Its life was of short duration, it ceas- ing to exist on the close of the campaign, but dur- ing the time that it was carried on was a wide- awake, caustic, and well-edited paper, and had some influence in the work of that autumn.
The Onawa Sentinel was established in March, 1885, by W. A. Greene, who had been running the Whiting Sentinel. The first issue of the paper was
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a bright and elever specimen of typographic art, and well edited. Mr. Greene continued in the sole management of the journal until the Ist of Jan- uary, 1887, when he associated with himself John H. Jones, and the present firm of Greene & Jones came into existence. On its institution the paper was issued as a six-column folio, but shortly after- ward it was changed to the form it now has, that of a folio of the same size. It is interesting to note the growth of this office in the short time of its existence. Mr. Greene starting with but material enough to print one page, and a cheap Army press, and at the present the office is as well equipped as the majority of weekly papers, with a good press and full amount of type and material, besides the usual outfit for all classes of job work.
The editorial columns are such as the public ex- pect to receive at the hands of such a veteran journalist as Mr. Greene, while the local department shows the raciness and spice of the junior editor, whose initiation into the "art preservative" is of a later date.
EDUCATIONAL.
On the sterile shores of Massachussetts, the stern and rigid Puritan planted the first seeds of a grand system of educational facilities, and their descend- ants brought to the Great West with them slips from the ancient trec. Many of the pioneers of this county were New Englanders. or of New Eng- land ancestry, and truc to their early training their first thoughts were given to the institution of the common or public school. Scarce was the village laid out when the attention of the community turned in that direction. and during the winter of 1857-8 A. R. Wright taught a school in a frame building that had been erected on the site now occupied by the shoe store of E. E. Bakke, on lowa Avenue. The following year the school was held in the frame dwelling-house erected by Mrs. Catherine Folck on her lot.
In 1860, the quarters having grown too circum- scribed in accommodation for the number of pupils, a one-story brick building was erected. which was 28x50 feet in size (which is now a part of the resi- dence of James Thurston). in which Timothy El- liott was the first teacher. This building continued
in use until the completion of the present handsome edifice on West Broadway, in 1874.
From the settlement of Onawa until 1868. it had been a sub-district of the Franklin Township Dis- triet, but in that year it was separated from the latter by a vote of the people, and made an inde- pendent district. The organization was effected February, 22, 1868, and the first board of edu- cation chosen consisted of the following named: Charles Atkins, President; James Armstrong, Vice- President; F. W. Snow, Secretary ; N. A. Whiting, Treasurer; and R. G. Fairchild, L. D. Kittle, and J. E. Selleck, Directors.
In 1872 the board submitted to the qualified electors the question of issuing the bonds of the district in the sum ,of $9,000, to help pay for the erection of a more commodious and proper school building. Upon the election, which took place on the 20th of May. of that year, there were sixty-five votes cast. only six of which were against the issuance of the bonds. Accordingly a. S. Maugh- lin, who was then President of the board, and S. B. Martin, its Secretary, published a proposal for bids in accordance with specifications and plan which had been prepared by W. Angelo Powell, an archi- tect of St. Joseph, Mo. The bids not proving satisfactory they were rejected, and the whole mat- ter laid over for another year.
In January, 1873, a contract for the erection of the school building was awarded to M. B. Pullen, of Onawa, who agreed to finish the same that fall, for $16,000, but circumstances rendered it im- possible to fulfill the contract at the given time, the board extended the same, and the structure was not completed until the fall of 1874.
The edifice is of brick manufactured near Onawa, by the contractor, and stands on a block bought several years previous of Abel Smith, for the pur- pose, and faces to the east. The size of the main building is 72x10 feet on the ground, the L being 11xil feet. The . first or basement story is nine feet in height; the second, third and mansard stories each fourteen feet. In the main building there are four rooms, two each on the second and third floors, respectively 25x37 feet in size; two rooms in the L. and one in the third story under the tower, and a large hall room in the third story
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of the annex make up the complement of rooms, The inside of the building is generally wainscoted with ash, which is well finished and varnished. From the top of the building rises a handsome cupola; in the front of the main structure, which is twenty-seven feet above the top of the mansard roof, or eighty-seven feet from the bottom of the basement. The style of arebitecture is a modern- ized specimen of the French-Renaissance or man- sard order; the mansard roof rising from a plain base to a rounded top, with ornamental rail upon the crest. The sides of the cupola and roof are covered with octagon-shaped shingles, painted stone color. The trimmings of the building are generally of a smooth, light stone,
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All the brick, wainscoting, moulding and other machine work, was done in this city, the latter items by the Onawa Manufacturing Company, of which the contractor was a member. The brick work was done under the immediate supervision of A. Nichols, of Onawa. There were used in the construction of the building some 800,000 bricks. 400 barrels of lime, 5 carloads of pine lumber, and 75,000 feet of cottonwood lumber. Owing to many changes made in the plan from the original con- ception, the building cost when finished about 820,000, and is one of the finest in the State, one, as was said at the time of its completion, "that any city of 10,000 inhabitants might feel proud of." In regard to the bell that hangs in the turret, therein lies quite a history, that is in place in this connec- tion.
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In the year 1860, "The Onawa Educational Sew- ing Society," embracing a number of the most active and public-spirited ladies of the incipient city, resolved to devote from their treasury funds sufficient to purebase a bell for the use of the town. Making this liberal offer to the city council they received the following reply :
Common Council, Onawa, July 9, 1860.
"To the Onawa Educational Sewing Society :- At a meeting of the common council of Onawa, held last evening, it was voted to accept the bell so kindly presented by you ( through your secretary) to the town of Onawa, as a school bell. Trusting that the labors of the society for the advancement
of education in our midst may continue to meet with success, we are most respectfully yours, etc. In behalf of the council.
S. S. PEARSE, Recorder."
Negotiations by letter had been opened in April, with the firm of Meneely & Sons, of West Troy, N. Y., concerning the proposed purchase, and the offer of that well-known firm to furnish a bell of 414 pounds, with yoke and wheel complete for $164.90, was duly accepted, but the firm still fur- ther reduced their figure to $163,00, which sum was sent them. During the month of June the bell arrived via St. Louis, and was hung in a temporary belfry in the center of the block west of the court- house. While there it was rung regularly every day, by S. S. Pearse, the Recorder, who volun- teered for the duty, at seven in the morning and nine at night.
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