USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county > Part 32
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The officers elected at that time were: Mrs. S. E. Field, president ; Mrs. M. B. Campbell, Sr. V. P .; Mrs. J. W. Humphrey, Jr. V. P .; Mrs. George Castle, treasurer ; Mrs. J. H. Reynolds, secretary ; Mrs. C. P. Coloneus, chaplain ; Mrs. W. P. Ferguson, conductor; Mrs. J. F. Rockafield, assist- ant conductor ; Mrs. C. M. Conway, guardian ; Mrs. A. F. Damiewood, as- sistant guardian.
The meetings are held the first and third Fridays at 2:30 P. M. in G. A. R. hall. Mrs. J. R. Ratekin is president and Mrs. A. S. Bailey, secretary.
GRAND ARMY POST, SHENANDOAH.
Burnside Post, No. 56, Department Iowa, G. A. R., was organized and mustered in in September, 1881, with seventeen charter members as follows: T. N. Pace, James McCabe, P. H. Mentzer, George W. Patterson, H. P. Duffield, George H. Castle, M. V. Goshen, Frank Stanton, J. A. Rockafield, D. S. Campbell, C. P. Coloneus, Joseph Stokes, A. J. West, W. L. Rooker, George R. Taylor and S. D. Sullivan. Colonel T. N. Pace was the first commander of the Post, having held the office for several terms.
During its history Burnside Post has occupied several places of mect- ing. During the first year of its existence it had no fixed place but gener- ally met in the office of George H. Castle and the meetings were largely of a social character. After a number of recruits had joined the Post and a small room was no longer sufficient, Mentzer's Hall, over the marble works of Mr. Spooner, was occupied by the Post for several years. Then as the organization was increased rapidly, a good hall over Murphy & Crose's store was secured, where the army boys made their home until about 1892, when a room over Webster's drug store was secured for a permanent hall and tastefully fitted with furniture and pictures for a pleasant meeting place. Meetings are held the first and third Friday nights of each month. George H. Castle is commander and J. L .. Scholl, adjutant.
SHENANDOAH LODGE OF ELKS, NO. 1122.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has taken its stand in Shen- andoah. Lodge, No. 1122, was instituted in Shenandoah June 12, 1908. The work was performed by Council Bluffs Lodge, No. 531. The charter members munbered sixty-nine and are as follows :
J. W. Edwards, George S. Jay, E. C. Gage, Arthur Tutt, L. Z. Bray- ton, Carrol Schneider. C. F. Hayes, O. T. Rankin, Charles Aldrich, F. L. Bauer, C. A. Hamilton, F. W. Welch, C. J. Casey, William McMahill,
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Elbert A. Read, Henry Read, J. A. Masters, D. L. Wilson, Glen L. Howard, W. A. Parsons, L. H. Mitchell, I. E. Hovenden, W. F. Stotler, Burnet Ferguson, H. T. Shurtz, E. F. Clovis, H. N. Richardson, M. E. Beach, George Jay, Frank Keenan, W. R. Day, C. F. Woolsey, T. I .. Put- man, J. J. Ineichen, H. A. Blackford, F. Anshutz, Earl R. Ferguson, C. L. Hoover, J. W. Ratekin, H. S. Swanson, Glen Hand, E. S. White. J. C. Cur- ran, W. J. Staples, Homer Ross, Charles Randall, J. J. Reddy. W. W. Hughes, A. M. Flamant, J. J. Doty, W. W. Benedict, O. C. Benedict, W. D. Jamieson, B. V. Cole, William Gowing, J. F. Miller, A. M. Williams, George R. Moss, J. H. Eischeid, E. C. Fishbaugh, L. E. Oviatt, S. J. McCord. C. E. Young, Ed LeBarron, W. P. Fishibaugh, G. E. Thomas, C. W. Turner, O. L. Lavley, C. D. Chapman.
The following were selected as the first officers of the new lodge: Ex- alted ruler, J. A. Masters : esteemed leading Knight, J. J. Doty ; esteeemd loyal Knight, George S. Jay ; esteemed lecturing Knight, E. L. Wilson ; es- quire, B. V. Cole ; tiler, E. S. LeBarron : inner guard, W. J. Staples ; or- ganist, L. H. Mitchell ; chaplain, E. C. Fishbaugh ; treasurer, J. H. Eischied ; secretary, L. Z. Brayton ; trustees, E. A. Read, George Jay and C. E. Young.
Present officers of the lodge are: Exalted ruler, J. A. Masters ; esteemed ruling Knight, J. J. Doty ; esteemed loyal Knight, C. D. Chapman ; esteemed lecturing Knight, Oliver Shaffer : esquire. B. V. Cole ; tiler, J. D. Mentzer ; inner guard, George F. Blackford ; organist. W. W. Benedict ; chaplain, Rev. Richard Ellerby ; treasurer, J. H. Eischeid; secretary, R. M. Pritchard ; trustees one year, F. A. Read; two years, E. F. Clovis ; three years, H. T. Shurtz.
This organization recently secured the valuable property at the corner of Thomas avenue and Elm street, upon which the new Club House, plans for which were drawn and accepted in the spring of 1909, will be erected. The property complete is estimated to be worth twenty-five thousand dol- lars. The Club House will be modern, two stories in height and constructed of pressed brick. It will be an ornament to Shenandoah.
KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. SHENANDOAH.
Juniata Lodge, No. 195. K. P., was organized April 5. 1888, with the following charter members: T. J. Morrow, J. B. Mariner. I. B. Hamilton, F. O. Strong, C. V. Mount, J. E. Ratekin, E. C. Whiting, D. M. Brubaker, P. Coleman, H. P. Duffield, W. H. Harrison, J. A. Wagner, D. A. Cross, C. N. Marvin. F. J. Pine, C. M. Moffatt, George Jay, A. W. Murphy, A. Palmer. J. W. Humphrey, I. N. Whittaker, P. W. Fox, D. M. Smith, G. W. Gunnison, C. P. Coloneus, L. D. Fowler. E. E. Henry, F. P. Humphrey, E. G. Woodrow, A. A. Tompkins, G. Knapp. E. R. Woodford and J. H. Holcomb.
A large number of Knights were present from Red Oak, Clarinda, Corning. Creston and other cities and assisted in instituting the lodge here in a royal manner. The officers elected for the first term were: A. A.
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Tompkins, P. C .: T. J. Morrow, C. C .: J. A. Wagner, V. C .; A. W. Mur- phy, P .; F. O. Strong, K. of R. and S., L. D. Fowler, M. of E .; George Jay, M. of F .; D. M. Brubaker, M. at A .; C. P. Coloneus, I. G .; C. M. Moffatt, O. G.
This has been a strong working lodge from the first and its membership has steadily increased. The meetings were held for two years in the Odd Fellows hall over William Reeves' store but upon the erection of the Hedges block at the corner of Sheridan and Clarinda avenues, a large Castle hall was prepared for their use, one of the finest K. P. halls in the state. The hall is sub-let to the various Masonic orders and used by them. It is lighted by electricity and is supplied with the furniture and working paraphernalia and apparatus of the orders. The Knights meet every Tues- day night and it is rare indeed that there is not considerably over a work- ing quorum present.
The present officers are: Guy L. Pond, C. C .; L. N. Wilson, K. of R. and S.
LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.
An act to appoint commissioners to locate the seat of justice of Page county was passed during a session of the legislature in December, 1852. The act reads as follows: "Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of lowa that John Scott and Thomas Gordon of the county of Fremont, and Jacob Miller, of the county of Taylor, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to locate and establish the seat of justice for the county of Page, and that the name of the seat of justice shall be Clarinda.
"Approved December 22, 1852."
The county seat was located in accordance with the above authority by the commissioners therein named on the northwest quarter of section 31, township 60 north, range No. 30 west. In May, 1853, the above quarter section of land having been preempted in the name of Page county, was laid out into lots. The town was laid off under the direction of William L. Burge, prosecuting attorney and acting county judge, by E. Miller, sur- veyor, Benjamin Dodson, chairman, and Robert Stafford, axman. There was a sale of lots on the following September. The lots upon which J. D. Hawley's store and the First National Bank were afterwards located brought fifteen dollars each. R. W. Stafford bought them. Other lots around the public square were sold as low as two dollars and a half each. Clarinda has always been the county seat of Page county and there has never been any concerted action on the part of any community in the county to take away from Clarinda that distinction. Fifty years ago there was some talk of getting up an agitation for the removal of the county seat to a town plot, then known as Page City. It was all talk and in the nature of a real-estate boom and lots at Page City were sold at exorbitant prices. Every one but the purchaser of the lots forgot about the county seat scheme in a very short time.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY
Page county was then divided into two civil subdivisions known as Bu- chanan and Nodaway. A few years later Tarkio and Nebraska townships were set off. The county court of January 20, 1858, reorganized the civil townships, creating Dyke, Douglas, Pierce and other townships, thus mak- ing smaller the former subdivisions of the county. It will be of no value to the reader to follow the various changes of township boundary lines.
Various other changes have been made from time to time until today the civil townships are all square, each containing thirty-six square miles, ex- cept Nodaway and Nebraska. The former has fifty-five and a quarter sec- tions, while the latter is cut down to seventeen.
It is not definitely known but presumed that Clarinda was platted in May, 1853, but no record of the plat was made until December 7, 1857. George Ribble, a pioneer, made the next platting February 23, 1858.
It is said that a member of the general assembly, Rev. Carl Means, who represented this district when the county was organized, suggested the name for the county seat to be located as Clarinda in honor of a niece of Alexander M. Tice, a pioneer of the county. Her name was Clarinda Buck, a daughter of John Buck, of Nodaway county, Missouri. She was a young lady of charming personality and very much admired for her beauty of person and character. She became a wife and moved to Port- land, Oregon, where she died nearly a half century ago.
In 1866 it was concluded by the citizens of Clarinda that the growth of the town warranted its incorporation. To further this end, a petition was presented the county judge on October 10, 1866, signed by the proper num- ber of freeholders, whereupon the judge, John R. Morledge, granted the prayer and established the town of Clarinda under authority of the state laws. The first election was held in March, 1867. Since its incorporation the following have served as mayors of the city :
John R. Morledge, W. R. Harrell. F. L. Cramer, H. Hiatt, three years, John R. Morledge, J. M. Briggs, H. Hiatt, two years. J. M. Briggs, H. Hiatt, Thomas Evans, three years.
The incorporated town grew very rapidly and became of sufficient im- portance and dimensions as to demand a charter as a city of the second class. This was consummated in time for the spring election of 1882. N. B. Moore was the first mayor after this change and remained in office three years. He was succeeded by Raymond Loranz, two years, John R. Good, two years, F. P. H. Stone. J. E. Hill, M. J. Hoge, D. H. Childs, C. W. Fos- ter and E. B. Westcott, who is now serving his second term.
CLARINDA.
Where, a third of a century ago, waved the tall grass in graceful swells and the rippling murmur of the sparkling and unchecked waters of the Nodaway river, flowing hard by, now stands the great and ever pointing in- dex hand of civilized and Christian life-the church spire and the school- house dome. Where less than fifty years ago the Sac and Fox Indian tribes held their war dance, one sees hundreds of bright-eyed school chil-
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(Iren, gamboling about a magnificent school building in youthful glee. On the self same spot that but a few short decades ago the savage natives in their superstition worshiped the Great Spirit, or his visible attributes, the sun, the moon, the wind, or the peaceful flowing river, today we find hun- dreds of devout and intelligent men and women, worshiping the true and living God, within the walls of beautiful temples built by a civilized race. Here and there throughout the city, the church spires point to the blue vault above and just beneath them swings a ponderous bell, the tongue of which tells the stranger of a religious people. Again, in the very heart of this busy mart, towers up one of the most substantial and unique court house structures to be found in all Iowa.
Another feature of beauty which adorns the capital of Page county is its great number of magnificent shade trees, including evergreens of the rarest varieties, some transplanted from soil in the south, while yet others were once mere saplings found growing on the stony altitudes of the Rocky Mountains and brought here long before there was a mile of railroad built west of the Missouri river. Scarcely a street in the limits of the fair city but what is made more charming by the giant branches of maple, elm, locust, pine, spruce, mountain ash and cedar trees, planted away back in the carly '50s, by such thoughtful pioneers as Dr. J. L. Barrett, who was the first to set out shade trees in the place. So great was this gentleman's passion for evergreen trees that at an early day persons away east, who did not know his given name, would not infrequently address letters to The Evergreen Doctor, Clarinda, Iowa.
It matters not from what position one views Clarinda the trite saying, "God made the country, man the city," ever and anon seems to repeat itself. Whether one drives along the well paved streets and views the many elegant residences nestled in among the trees and surrounded by an evergreen sward carpeting, or whether the stroll about the busy market streets, in sight of three hundred market teams hitched around the public square, or whether one proceeds toward the spacious and well proportioned hospital for the insane, a state institution, which is situated about a mile to the north of the city, the same feeling comes over one. Even the care and respect shown to departed friends, who rest beneath the surface of Hazelwood cemetery be- speak the culture, refinement and Christianity of the populace. Iowa has numerous beautifully situated towns and cities and Clarinda may justly be classed among the prettiest and from its many slight elevations one can get a glimpse of rural scenes, which in midsummer or early autumn time is indeed a feast to the eye. Looking in any direction, one's eye rests upon broad acres of finely cultivated farm lands with all the best improvements. The panorama presents the heavily loaded apple orchard with its ripening fruit ; the vast cornfields : tlie waving grain; the natural and artificial forest tree. the branches and foliage of which half hide the lazy like motion of scores of neatly painted windmills and which silently draw from the carth water for man and beast. The scene is charming but now we must go back to the business center and record things connected with the
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EARLY HISTORY OF CLARINDA.
The first act toward starting a town at the point where now the bust- ling city stands was the sale of town lots in September, 1853. The lot upon which Hawley's Opera House now stands was bought for fifteen dol- lars, while the common price for other than corner locations was two and three dollars per lot. Many lots were sold to Isaac Hulbert for the means with which the county judge could make good the government preemption fee at the land office, for it will be remembered that the county owned the town site by right of entry.
Many people of today wonder how it came about that the locating com- missioners fixed on this section of Page county as the proper point at which to locate the seat of justice. The act which governed them in this read "as near the geographical center of the county as may be, having due regard to the present as well as the future population of said county." At the time of the location the population of the county was almost entirely confined to the eastern portion of the county. There were those living in the county then, who predicted the time would come when it would be inconvenient for those in the western part to come so far to the county seat, but a majority argued. with honest convictions, that the then barren waste lying to the westward never could and never would be settled. These honest mortals were indeed mistaken as the "barren waste" between Clarinda and Shenandoah is. today one of Iowa's finest farming districts.
The first little shanty that was on the town plat was brought from the Neff farm south of town by Mr. Hulbert. It had been used as a school- house, in which Rev. Samuel Farlow's wife taught one term of school. This rude structure was removed to the west side of the public square and used for the accommodation of the first term of district court held in the new county scat. This was in September, 1853. The building mentioned was twelve by fourteen feet, neither plastered nor ceiled. The judge's stand was constructed after the manner of those employed for a speaker's stand at a grove picnic.
The second building was a log house erected by Clark Brown on the north side of the square and used as a store.
The third building was a "round log building scutched down," as the old settlers termed it. That is to say, round logs were used and hewn down after they had been placed in the building. The structure stood on the site of the present Odd Fellows' block, and was used in 1855 for a hotel by George Ribble and called the Clarinda Hotel.
At this time William I .. Barge was acting county judge and lived in a small log house where the residence of J. H. Powers was afterward built.
A postoffice was established in 1854. Judge Snider was postmaster.
Early in the summer of 1854 Camp & Conn commenced selling from a very limited stock of merchandise, kept in the old court house shanty, before spoken of.
The same season the old "cottonwood" schoolhouse was built and in it Elijah Miller taught the first school held in the plat.
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Late that fall Gordon & Townsend sent a wagon load of goods into town. Judge S. F. Snider and family were the only inhabitants of the village and in September, 1854, James Shambaugh bought the goods of Gordon & Townsend and opened a store on the north side of the public square.
In 1855 J. H. Polsley commenced selling goods on the south side and in the fall of that year J. 11. Powers, who had been here during the sum- mer, returned and bought Mr. Shambaugh out.
About the same time Rogers & Buchanan, of Savannah, Missouri, started a store on the northwest corner of the square and were later on succeeded by T. R. Hinchman.
The first physician to locate at Clarinda was Dr. J. L. Barrett, who came from Indiana originally, in 1855, and practiced his profession here for a long period. He is now deceased. Dr. Samuel Kridelbaugh came that year.
J. J. Barwick, the first resident attorney, located here in 1854. Dr. A. H. East was the next attorney to become a member of the Page county bar. He was also a successful physician.
In the fall of 1855 a term of school was taught in the "old cottonwood" by J. H. Wilson.
In the spring of 1856 Dr. J. H. Conine established an office and later opened a drug store.
During the summer of 1856 Kridelbaugh & Douglas started a drug busi- ness, in which N. C. Ridenour, afterward prominent through his newspaper. the Democrat, was a clerk. Dr. Kridelbaugh was appointed postmaster. He held the office for a time and kept the drug store, in a "dugout," south from the present Page County Bank site. In 1857 D. C. Ribble purchased Douglas' interest with Dr. Kridelbangh.
The same year, 1857, John R. Morledge, afterward colonel in the Union army, established himself in a law business, which he followed many years.
In these early days time hung heavily and dragged on slowly, only an occasional stranger's face being seen. To live was the pioneer's idea. Spec- ulation was not rife at that date, as now. Fortunes were made by hard work. The whistle of the long-billed snipe was music to the ear of Page county's pioneers. It was free and well it was, for no money they had could go for luxury, unless that luxury might be a twenty-five cent letter postage or a gallon of good whiskey, the price being the same amount as letter postage in 1855.
EARLY COMMERCIALISM.
The first goods were sold by Camp & Conn in 1854.
The first school was taught by Elijah Miller in the "old cottonwood" during 1854.
The first blacksmith shop was opened in 1854 or 1855 by Ray Hardesty, who located on the west side of the public square. He was an expert and the glow of his forge was to be seen by day and by night. It was here that his brawny arms forged from iron freighted from St. Joseph, Missouri,
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the first breaking plow in Page county, which was good for anything. It was a fifteen inch rod plow and could be drawn by three horses. The plow was designed and partly made by its owner, Isaac Van Arsdol. This was a new departure from the old ox breakers and soon the rod breaker became popular.
The first to work at wagon repairing was John Allen, who came about 1854 or 1855.
Among the first harness makers here or in the county was Alexander Scott, in 1860.
The first shoemaker who understood the trade was Columbus Bridges, who came in 1855.
The pioneer drug store was that opened by Dr. Conine in the spring of 1856.
The first hotel was the combined log and framne house known as the Clarinda Hotel. It was run for hotel purposes in 1855 and was conducted by George Ribble.
The first doctor was J. L. Barrett, M. D., who came in June. 1855.
The first attorney (regular) was J. J. Barwick.
The first railroad train rolled into Clarinda from Villisca in November, 1871.
The first grain warehouse was erected in 1871 by Butler & Crooks
. The first agricultural implements sold in a regular way was in 1863 by William Butler, who freighted "Manny's" combined reaper and mower from Des Moines, and sold many of them at two hundred and eighty dollars.
The pioneer photographer was a young man who was reared here, named Owens. Traveling artists preceded him.
The first to engage in the livery business was Lem Davison.
The first exclusive boot and shoe store was run by Beeman & Caldwell early in the '70s.
The first exclusive clothing house was that of "Val" Graff.
The first exclusive hardware stock was owned by Al. Collins, in the days of the rebellion.
The first to deal in a regular millinery stock were the Smith Sisters, in 1865-66.
The pioneer dentist was probably Dr. Sanborn, at the close of the war.
The first brick block erected in Clarinda was the one built in 1866 by Butler, Thompson & Company and was a part of the block now used by Graff's clothing house.
The first to deal in lumber (soft wood) was Osgood & Kimball. about 1870.
Pottery was burned by Kridelbaugh Brothers in 1850.
The first church was the Methodist Episcopal, erected in 1856.
The first schoolhouse was built of logs in 1854.
The first death on the plat was Milton Guthrie, who died in 1856, of fever. Infants had been buried on the plat prior to that but had lived off the plat.
As to the first sermon preached, there seems a difference of opinion. Some claim Rev. Samuel Farlow, Methodist, while others claim "Uncle
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Jimmy" Stockton, a Cun:berland Presbyterian clergyman, to have been the first.
CLARINDA POST OFFICE.
The people for the first year or so had no postoffice but depended upon the Nodaway office, kept at Boulware's Mill, but in 1854, under President Pierce, an office was established here, with County Judge, S. F. Snider, as postmaster, who was shortly succeeded by John and J. B. S. Polsley, re- spectively. In 1856 Dr. Kridelbaugh was appointed and held his office, at first in a sort of "dugout," side hill basement, covered with boards and earth, which was located near the alley running in the rear of the present Clarinda Bank building. It was not high enough to allow a tall person to enter clear in to the rear of it.
Kridelbaugh was succeeded by John Haskins and he in turn by A. R. Anderson, who was afterwards a major in the Civil war and later a mem- ber of congress. He resigned to enter the Union army, and his deputy, Thomas Evans, received the appointment, serving from 1861 to 1866, when Vice President Andrew Johnson appointed Samuel J. Thompson, who was dubbed "Andy," and who held the position until 1869, when President Grant appointed Frank L. Cramer, who was also express agent. Dr. Van Sandt then took the office and conducted it with the aid of his son until about 1875, when A. Loranz received the appointment and held the office until his death in 1881. John Miller succeeded him and served during the Gar- field-Arthur administration. Upon the election of President Cleveland, democrat, he resigned and Newton C. Ridenour received the office April 18, 1885, and held the same until Benjamin Harrison, republican, was elected president. Mr. Ridenour was succeeded by Henry Loranz, who took the office May 1. 1889, and held over one year after the expiration of his term. Since that time the postmasters and the years in which they were appointed to office are as follows: Roy H. Chamberlain, 1895: C. A. Lisle, 1899: J. H. Dunlap, 1901, who is the present incumbent.
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