USA > Iowa > Palo Alto County > History of Palo Alto county, Iowa > Part 9
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1 Statement of F. H. Roper.
KEV. J. J. SMITH
117
THE OLD TOWN
who together by thrift acquired enough to retire from business cares and live in comfort to a ripe old age.
At this time Fort Dodge was the terminus of the rail- road and all lumber and supplies had to be hauled from there. Joe Mulroney was running a small stage from Fort Dodge to Spirit Lake once a week to carry the mail and such passengers as had no other conveyance. The arrival of the weekly mail was an important event and the whole town would turn out to welcome the stage on its ar- rival. In December of 1870 the McGregor & Missouri River Railway was built as far as Algona and from that time on, there was a daily mail by stage from Algona, and that place became the terminus and the base of supplies for Emmetsburg until the railroad was completed through in 1878.
The Catholic Church was the first church in the old town. It was erected in 1871 through the efforts of Father Line- han of Fort Dodge. Before this the settlers had gathered logs to build a church, but a prairie fire sweeping over the prairie had destroyed all the results of their hard labor.1 This new church was a large structure for those early days. Father Smith was the first pastor. He arrived at Emmetsburg in December, 1871, when the new church was only partially completed. With fearless energy and boundless faith the young priest began his life work in the new field. He completed the church and organized his parish. There were only thirty-nine Catholic families in the county then, but his sphere of activity was much broader. His parish contained eight counties, but as resi- dent priest he had charge not only of Northwest Iowa, from Hancock to the state line on the west, but also all those counties lying north of Humboldt, Pocahontas, Buena Vista and Plymouth. In addition to his charge in
1 Statement by Father Smith, Semi-Centennial Record Book, p. 211.
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HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
Iowa, he attended to Southwest Minnesota and Eastern Dakota. In the Iowa territory there are today twenty- seven priests, where the territory was once attended by him alone. Moreover, in the tireless and willing discharge of his duties on the wild and desolate frontier plains, he ministered to the needs of all, and was the kind and cheery friend and adviser of all the settlers, regardless of church or creed. Father Smith is still in active charge of his large and influential church at Emmetsburg, which has grown from the small beginnings so auspiciously started many years ago. No service that he has ever rendered during his long and devoted life has reaped such abundant fruit as those years of untiring devotion to the pioneers on the Iowa prairie.1
In the winter of 1871-2 the scattered Protestant families organized a Union Church, John L. Lang being the leading spirit, and Rev. B. C. Hammond, who lived on a homestead five or six miles northeast of town, preached for them. " This Union Church was afterwards duly incorporated and was the forerunner of the present First Congrega- tional Church of Emmetsburg. A Union Sunday School was also organized by Mr. Lang and conducted by him in the spring and summer of 1872. In August, 1872, that Little Giant of Methodism, Col. E. S. Ormsby, located in the old town and it did not take him long to gather to- gether that remnant of the tribe of Israel known as Meth- odists and organize a Methodist Episcopal Church and
1 Very Rev. J. J. Smith was ordained a priest in Dublin, Ireland, June 26, 1870. After coming to Dubuque on August 30, 1870, he was assistant priest at the cathedral for three months. He was then appointed pastor at Clermont, Fayette County, from whence he was removed to Emmetsburg in December, 1871. A very excellent comparison of those early days with the present, written by Father Smith, will be found in the Semi-Centennial Record Book, p. 211. See also sketch of his life and work in the Palo Alto Tribune.
ALEX. PEDDIE
M. F. KERWICK
119
THE OLD TOWN
Sunday School which have both been flourishing ever since.'' 1
Others began to locate in the town that was already as- suming considerable importance as a trading center. There were over 1,000 settlers in the county and Emmets- burg was the only town and trading point this side of Al- gona and Fort Dodge. T. H. Tobin, Pat Joyce, and John Hall started stores. E. S. Ormsby established the first bank in 1872 under the name of Burnham, Ormsby & Co., capital $10,000. M. F. Kerwick also came in 1872.
The town had grown so naturally along the Coonan road, that no plat had been made at first and the buildings had been located in Coonan's corn field or pasture at the whim of the newcomer, but in the summer of 1870 Mr. Coonan had some blocks and lots surveyed out and later had the plat recorded as " Emmetsburg." 2
The Democrat, published by Jas. P. White, at Soda Bar, and the Advance, published by McCarty & Hartshorn and Harrison & Burnell, were the rival papers that flourished throughout the exciting campaign of 1870. But when White lost the treasurership at that election his paper soon after went out of business and the Advance sold out to Bates & Hagedon, who discontinued the old name and started the Palo Alto Patriot in June, 1873.3 After a year the Patriot sold out to the Palo Alto Printing Company, who dropped the old title and began the Palo Alto Pilot. The first issue was June 11, 1874, and was printed in the
1 "Fifty Years Ago in Palo Alto County," by T. W. Harrison, Register and Leader, July 8, 1906.
2 May 24, 1871, recorder's office, Palo Alto County.
3 The most careful search and extended inquiry have failed to find a single copy of either the Democrat or Advance, and it is believed that time and inattention have destroyed these valuable historical records. One copy of the Patriot was once discovered among some old papers at Algona. It was dat- ed June, 1874, and marked in pencil, "the last copy of the Patriot,"' and con- tained a notice of the dissolution of the firm of Bates & Hagedon, the pub- ishers. But even this copy is now lost.
120
HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
Old Town.1 J. C. Bennett, who worked on this paper, says : " When I first came in contact with it in July, 1873, it was a pretty badly mixed up outfit. It had evidently been stored in someone's barn at some time. The first ink we had to work with was about half straw. The first court calendar printed for use in the county was printed in the Pilot office in the early part of the winter of 1873. I have a copy of that somewhere. The Pilot office in the Old Town was located in the building that is now occupied by McCrum as a shoe store. It was made of nothing but siding and thin ceiling. The only press was an old worn- out hand press. Had to print the calendar on the old hand press in freezing weather, and it was pretty hard to do anything. . The Pilot was edited by different par- ties, first by J. L. Martin, then by Rev. J. E. Rowen, who was the Methodist preacher here. A. W. Utter was next editor. I was with it from the fall of 1874 to June, 1876." 2
In 1871-2 several houses were built on the hill a mile east of the Old Town. T. W. Harrison built his house in the spring of 1871 (the one now occupied by Mr. Appleby), Jolın L. Lang in the fall of 1871, and Captain Hartshorn and E. J. White built theirs in the spring of 1872. " These houses 3 were half way between the Old Town and the loca- tion where the new town was expected to be laid out. They were the first houses on the present town site of Em- metsburg as they are now in the northwest part of our present city."
"That (1872) was the summer of brides for the new town. Mrs. T. W. Harrison, Mrs. Emory King, Mrs. Al Jones, Mrs. Ben Johnson, and Mrs. A. L. Ormsby, all came as brides. Some of them were disappointed at not finding
1 Odd numbers of the Pilot have been found, and J. C. Bennett has pre- served a file, beginning with no. 20 of vol. i, Oct. 22, 1874, to no. 47 of vol. ii, May 11, 1876.
2 Statement of J. C. Bennett.
3 Statement of T. W. Harrison. Letter of Capt. E. J. Hartshorn.
C
W. J. BROWN
M. L. BROWN
121
THE OLD TOWN
a larger town in fact, as they had read glowing descrip- tions of it in the numerous letters from their lovers for a year or more before. But they made a happy addition to the new town society, and were each in turn vigorously, if not delightfully, serenaded by Duncan's Band." 1
" Among the old settlers who lived in the vicinity were ' Paddy in the Bush' (Patrick Nolan, who lived in the woods north of town) ; ' Paddy on the Flat ' (Patrick No- lan, who lived on the river bottom south of town) ; ' Paddy Green ' (Patrick Nolan, who lived on the west shore of Medium Lake) ; Mrs. Laughlin, the character of the com- munity, who lived south of town, always full of her jokes and witticisms; Dan Kane, who lived in the woods north of town; Mr. and Mrs. Martin Coonan, Sr., who kept the only boarding house in or about the town; John Pender- gast, who lived near the lake where Mr. Saunders's man- sion now stands; John Nolan, who lived on the west side of the lake; William O'Connell, who lived west of the river; Wm. E. Cullen, William Murphy, and Charles Hast- ings, who lived south of town; James Hickey, Larry Burns and Pat Lannon, who lived west of the river and south of town; James Nolan, Martin Laughlin, Lott Laughlin, Jerry Crowley, Miles Mahan, Ed Mahan, Billy Jackman, and Patsy Jackman, at Walnut; Mickey Jackman on the east side of the lake; T. H. Tobin, William Shea, Thomas Shea, Robert Shea, Joe Mulroney, Kiren Mulroney, Will- iam Mahar, and others at Soda Bar in Nevada township; Michael Kirby, John Doran, Dan Doran, and others, west of the river in Great Oak township; John Neary and Thomas Welch, east of the river, and some others whose names I do not now recall." 2
Other people located in the town from time to time, until in 1874 there were forty or more business buildings and
1 T. W. Harrison's statement.
2 Statement of T. W. Harrison.
122
HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
houses. But all the buildings along the Coonan road were small and cheaply constructed, as it was realized that the railroad company would locate a depot on its own ground and that those on the Coonan plat would have to move or there would be two towns within a few miles of each other. It was in the summer of 1874 that the Old Town reached the acme of its existence, for in a few short months it dis- appeared like the mist before the morning sun and the new and fairer city on the hill took its place in history.
1
PAT JOYCE
THE NEW TOWN OF EMMETSBURG IN 1878
CHAPTER XII
The New Emmetsburg
With all its sudden growth and outward prosperity, the old town of Emmetsburg on the river was but transitory. The buildings were all rough, temporary structures, or built on posts, as it was expected that the railway would plat a town elsewhere, and that the town would have to be moved some time. Mr. Coonan did not take the trouble to convey lots or plat the town for several years. Moreover, the location which chance had selected was not at all suit- able for a permanent town.
This unsettled condition produced a spirit of uneasiness among the people that grew stronger as the railroad com- pany in 1873 began to build from Algona westward. Even when railroad operations suddenly ceased, the dissatisfac- tion with local conditions grew until in 1874, when the agitation for a change began to take definite form.
Gen. John Lawler of Prairie du Chien, Wis., who was an officer of the railroad company, had bought the northeast quarter of section 25-96-33 for the purpose of a town site and the railroad had been surveyed through that tract. Austin Corbin of New York City owned the northwest quarter of section 30-96-32, adjoining the Lawler quarter on the east, and was anxious to get in on the town site proposition. T. W. Harrison was the attorney for Mr. Lawler and the railroad, and Geo. B. McCarty was the at- torney for Mr. Corbin. Mr. McCarty thus describes the negotiations : " Mr. Corbin gave me special authority to act for him and to visit the officers of the railroad company with a view to making arrangements looking to the loca-
124
HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
tion of a depot and town site. In July I went to Prairie du Chien and saw Gen. John Lawler, who promised to meet me in Milwaukee next day. I then went to Milwaukee and saw S. S. Merrill, general manager, and Alex Mitchell, president of the railroad, and had several hours' session with Lawler, Merrill and Mitchell, and an agreement was then reached that the railroad company was to proceed at once in connection with Austin Corbin and plat the north- east quarter 25-96-33 and the northwest quarter 30-96-32 into a town site and town lots; that the township line be- tween said quarters should be the principal street and that the depot should be located within 200 feet of said line and that a court house square be platted on the highest point east of said line and dedicated to the use of the county for court house purposes, provided the county took steps to locate the county seat there within a reasonable time. That a public park of not to exceed a square of four blocks should be located on the high ground near the northeast corner of the northeast quarter 25-96-33 and dedicated to the use of the town as a public park. That they were to proceed at once to plat out the town site and when so plat- ted that part of the site on the northwest quarter of 30-96- 32 should be equally divided between Austin Corbin and John Lawler, that is each alternate lot or block as the agents of the respective parties should agree.
" It was further agreed that before said division was made each person who owned a lot in the Coonan plat with a business or dwelling building thereon and would move his building to the Corbin and Lawler site before Decem- ber 1, 1874, should have a lot donated to him upon which to locate his building, and other persons who would build and erect a good, substantial, new business building or residence on said plat on or before December 1, 1874, should have a lot donated to them, in consideration of their
125
THE NEW EMMETSBURG
moving or erecting buildings. It was provided that no two persons should be located on adjacent lots. There must be at least one intervening lot between. That after locations were made deeds should be made to said parties and remaining lots divided. It was also stipulated on the part of the railroad company that this agreement was to be subject to the approval of Gen. Dodge, chief engineer of the company, and that before said town was so laid out and platted Gen. Dodge should designate on the ground what land was required by the railroad company for right of way and depot grounds and Gen. Dodge should definite- ly locate the right of way, tracks, and depot site and that when the road was constructed to Emmetsburg the rail- road company contracted to erect their depot on said site so selected and make it their permanent depot site. I then went to Madison, Wis., and saw General Dodge and he ap- proved of the agreement and agreed that he would have the plat of depot grounds and site ready within ten days, or as soon as he could take some additional measurements, etc. It was also agreed that I was to act as the agent for Austin Corbin, and T. W. Harrison was to act as agent for the railroad company, and we were to proceed to sur- vey and plat the town as soon as possible." 1
By this compromise a town site war was avoided, and the original plat was called Corbin & Lawler's Plat of Emmetsburg and is so known to this day. This division also secured for the county-seat the beautiful court house square, and the spacious public park in the west part of town. The Corbin quarter in Freedom township had or- iginally been homesteaded by Thomas Mahar in the early sixties. His cabin stood at the southeast corner of the
1 Statement of Geo. B. McCarty. These recollections of early days by Mr. McCarty have never been published, but a copy of them may be found in the Semi-Centennial Record Book.
126
HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
court house square and only a few years ago a slight de- pression there plainly marked the place of his cellar. Mr. Mahar abandoned his claim soon after taking it.
While these preliminaries were being arranged, T. W. Harrison was busy preparing for the removal of the Old Town to the new location. Mr. Harrison describes these events as follows : " One morning in June, 1874, when I went to my office, I found a delegation of the business men waiting for me. They said that a meeting of the business men was being held in one of the stores and they wanted me to come over to it. I was then the attorney and agent for the railroad company, and they wanted to know if I thought the railroad company would plat out the railroad town site and give them a lot for each building they would move over if they would move at once, as the risk from fire was too great where they were, and their stocks of goods were getting too large to carry without insurance, and they wanted to get on permanent lots and enlarge their build- ings. I told them I thought the company would do that, but that the company would want some guarantee that they would move in case the railroad town site was platted. They told me to draw up any kind of an agreement and bond I desired, and they would sign it. I prepared an agreement and bond with a forfeiture of $500 each in case they did not move as soon as the lots were ready for them, and they all signed it, fifteen of the leading business men of the Old Town. I took the agreement and bond to John Lawler, the vice-president of the railroad company at Prairie du Chien, Wis., and he said, 'Yes, the company will do that,' but that he would have to submit it to the directors in New York City. He said it would take about a week for him to get an answer and for me to return home and hold myself in readiness upon receipt of a tele-
127
THE NEW EMMETSBURG
gram from him, to go ahead then and plat the railroad town site." 1
When at last the telegram was received stating that the negotiations had been approved, Mr. McCarty and Mr. Harrison hired Le Roy Grout to do the surveying and be- gan to plat and lay out the new town.2
" The grass was tall, in many places up to our hips, and in some places as high as our heads. Not a tree nor a shrub in sight -just prairie. We got a team and mower and set flags and would mow two swaths through so we could see to set and line up the stakes. When the survey was well along the question of moving came up. In the meantime dissensions had arisen. Coonan had become awake and was offering special inducements for them to stay and others got discouraged at the thought of moving out on the prairie and locating their buildings in the tall grass, without a furrow broken, no roads or paths. In fact it did not look very inviting. About this time some of the dissenters held a meeting and resolved they would not move and about one-half of them agreed to this. Then the question came up and was discussed pro and con for three or four days." 3
Martin Coonan told them that a hard winter was coming on and that they would freeze and starve out in " Stake-
1 T. W. Harrison, "Fifty Years Ago in Palo Alto County," Register and Leader, July 8, 1906.
2 This account of the beginning of the new town is taken mainly from the statements of T. W. Harrison and Geo. B. McCarty, the two principal actors in this drama. As here given it is reënforced by the recollections of M. L. Brown, E. J. Hartshorn, Alex. Peddie, J. C. Bennett, and others. Mr. Harrison's statement, as it appeared in 1906, contained some inac- curacies which he would doubtless have corrected if a later revision had been made after talking with others and refreshing his memory. The ac- count presented in these pages has been carefully verified and is believed to be an accurate history of this interesting period. See early files of the Pilot for the life of the new town. See also Appendix D for sample items.
3 Geo. B. McCarty's statement.
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HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
town " as he called it; that they had better stay right where they were and he would give them all the lots they wanted. These were potent arguments, and the business men became exceedingly lukewarm on the subject of mov- ing. I had procured a house moving outfit to come here from Humboldt with their teams and tools, all ready to do the moving. The business men dreaded the trouble and expense of moving. The house movers were clamoring to commence their work, and one day while I was out of town they loaded up my office, moved it out and dropped it on the corner where the Waverly Hotel now stands, and it stood there a lone speck on the prairie for two or three weeks. If it had not been for the bond the business men would have been strongly inclined to remain where they were. But I assured them with great earnestness that the company would collect that bond from every one of them. Finally we got the four leading merchants together in a room, and handed them the plat of the new town and said that we would give them their choice of corners and give each of them two lots on a corner if they would move over at once, and wherever they located would center the busi- ness of the town, and be the most valuable property in town. They said that was fair, and that they would do it."' 1
It was on September 2, 1874, that the Harrison office was moved up to the new site and as the first lone building on the prairie, marked the beginning of the prospective town. The second building moved up was the McCarty office building, occupied by McCarty & Hartshorn, which was located on lot 2, block 51, where it stood just south of the present McCarty & McCarty law office until burned in April of 1909. The third building moved was the White & Shea office, which was moved over to the opposite side of
1 Statement of T. W. Harrison.
-
-
CLOTHING
----
n
EMMETSBURG IN 1881
--
THE PRESENT EMMETSBURG
129
THE NEW EMMETSBURG
the street, to lot 1, block 52, where Berger's store is now located. The fourth was Tobin & Co.'s general store.
" Early the next morning," says T. W. Harrison, " the movers loaded the Tobin store building on their trucks, and started for the new town, while all the people looked on and wondered. The building was not large, but it took several days to move it to the new site, and Mr. Tobin was selling goods out of the back door all along the way. He was so well known and so universally liked, and the nov- elty of the situation gave him such an advertisement that a large crowd of customers followed him to the new town, and his business was larger than it had ever been before, so much so that he said he wished that the other merchants would not move, but leave the new town trade to him and he would be perfectly satisfied."1 This building was placed on the corner where the Tobin Block is now occu- pied by the Farmers' Savings Bank. The fifth was the Ketchen & Lenhart clothing store, which was moved to lot 1, block 37, the corner where the Emmetsburg National Bank now stands.
"Then came a halt," says Geo. B. McCarty in describing the events. " No one would make a start. Those who had moved up cut the grass and set out a few hitching posts and were ready for business. Several days were spent in trying to get others to move but without avail. About this time T. C. Davis, who was the postmaster, said that he would put up a building if they would give him a lot. He selected lot 6, block 37, and began his building. In the meantime we had forwarded a petition to Washington to have permission to move the postoffice, but red tape and remonstrance held it up for some time. In the meantime two or three small dwellings had been moved up. Then Ormsbys agreed to have their bank building and E. S. Ormsby's house moved. P. Joyce and Jas. Fitzgerald,
1 Statement of T. W. Harrison.
130
HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
each having a general store, refused to move, and the others joined with them, John D. Hall saying that he would move if the others would agree to. Finally a meet- ing was held at which there were those who had moved and those favorable, which lasted until near midnight to devise ways and means to break the deadlock. The mov- ers' outfit was idle and on expense and they threatened to leave. It was finally agreed that the parties present would pay the movers when not at work for the next week and appeal to the people of the county. A painter by the name of Walt Duncan was put to work painting boards - 'Staketown or bust,' Staketown being the name given to the new town by those opposed, 'On to Staketown,' 'Staketown only station on this line,' 'Staketown will pay more for farm products and sell goods cheaper.' These were nailed on to stakes and set up on all roads, nailed to bridges, etc., and men were sent out and sta- tioned on all roads to appeal to the farmers to stand by us and aid us in having one good town and the county-seat located there without a county-seat war; that the location was a central one and that the railroad would build their depot there under their contract, etc. Whereas on the other hand it would be two small towns within one and one-half miles of each other, always scrapping and fight- ing, a county-seat war, postoffice fight, etc., which argu- ments seemed to take well with the farmers (Emmetsburg was the only town in the county at that time, no other trad- ing or business place). Many of them permitted signs to be put on their wagons or chalked, 'Staketown or bust,' and would drive straight through the Old Town to 'Stake- town.' It was a winning card and turned the tide of events. The Tobin store had to get extra clerks and one Saturday took in $153 in cash and over $200 worth of farm products. Had to saw 2 x 4 lumber and set them in the ground to hitch teams to. While the Old Town had a
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