USA > Iowa > Hancock County > History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 11
USA > Iowa > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 11
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35
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STATEHOOD
On February 12, 1844, more than thirteen years before Winnebago County was organized, the Iowa Legislature, acting under the author- ity of and with the consent of the Federal Government, passed an act providing for the election of delegates to a constitutional convention. The convention met at Iowa City on October 7, 1844, and finished its work on the first day of November. The constitution framed by this convention was rejected by the people at an election held on August 4, 1845, by a vote of 7,656 to 7,235.
A second constitutional convention assembled at Iowa City on May 4, 1846, and remained in session for two weeks. The constitution adopted by this convention was submitted to the voters of the terri- tory at the general election on August 3, 1846, and was ratified by a vote of 9,492 to 9,036. It was also approved by Congress and on De- cember 28, 1846, President Polk affixed his signature to the bill admit- ting Iowa into the Union as a state. At that time all the northwestern ยท part of the state was unorganized territory, or was included in the old County of Fayette, which had been established by the Territorial Legis- lature of Wisconsin in December, 1837. Fayette was probably the largest county ever established in the United States. It extended from the Mississippi River west to the White Earth River and north to the British Possessions, embracing all the present State of Minne- sota, Northwestern Iowa and all of North and South Dakota east of the White Earth and Missouri rivers, with a total area of 140,000 square miles. Winnebago County was included in the County of Fayette.
THE ORGANIC ACT
On January 15, 1851, Gov. Stephen Hempstead approved an act of the Iowa Legislature creating fifty new counties out of the unorgan- ized territory in the western portion of the state. One section of that act provided :
"That the following shall be the boundaries of a new county to be called Winnebago, to wit: Beginning at the southeast corner of town- ship 98 north, range 23, west; thence north on the line dividing ranges 22 and 23 to the north boundary line of the state; thence west on said boundary line to the northwest corner of section 7, township 100 north, range 26 west: thence south on the line dividing ranges 26 and 27 to the southwest corner of township 98 north, range 26 west; thence east to the place of beginning."
The boundaries as thus defined are identical with the county boun- daries at the present time. In the winter of 1856-57 Alexander Long
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was commissioned by the settlers of the county to go to Iowa City and use his influence with the General Assembly to have the north tier of townships in Hancock County attached to Winnebago. In company with a young man named George Meyers, he started on December 2, 1856, with a two-horse team and sleigh for Iowa City. That afternoon they encountered a blizzard, lost their way and were both frozen to death near "Upper Grove," Hancock County. The horses were also frozen. The bodies of Long and Meyers were not found until the fol- lowing April, when they were taken to Mason City for burial. An- other effort was made in the fall of 1863 to annex part of Hancock County to Winnebago, but it came to naught and the original boun- daries still remain.
None of the counties created by the act of 1851 was organized for some time afterward. Scattered over the vast territory was a solitary settler here and there, but in none of the counties was the population sufficient to justify a county organization. For judicial and election purposes the new counties were attached to some of the older and regularly organized ones, Winnebago being attached to the County of Polk. By the act of January 22, 1853, it was attached to Boone, where it remained until July 1, 1855, when it was attached to Webster. Mean- time a tide of immigration was pouring into Iowa and as early as Jan- uary 12, 1853, Governor Hempstead approved an act for the organiza- tion of counties, which act contained the following provisions :
"Whenever the citizens of any unorganized county desire to have the same organized, they may make application by petition in writing, signed by a majority of the legal voters of said county, to the county judge of the county to which such unorganized county is attached, whereupon the said county judge shall order an election for county officers in such unorganized county.
"A majority of the citizens of any county, after becoming so organ- ized, may petition the district judge in whose judicial district the same is situated, during the vacation of the General Assembly, whose duty it shall be to appoint three commissioners from three different adjoining counties, who shall proceed to locate the county seat for such county, according to the provisions of this act," etc.
Pursuant to the above provisions, the voters of Winnebago County presented a petition to the county judge of Webster County in the fall of 1857, and that official issued the order for an election of county officers. The date of the election is lost, but it is known that Robert Clark was elected county judge; Charles H. Day, treasurer and re- corder; B. F. Denslow, clerk of the courts; John S. Blowers, sheriff ; C. W. Scott, surveyor and superintendent of schools; Darius Bray, drainage commissioner.
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The next step was to locate the county seat. Application was ac- cordingly made to Judge Asahel W. Hubbard, judge of the Fourth Judicial District, in which Winnebago County was at that time located, to appoint commissioners for that purpose. He appointed T. E. Brown, of Polk County; Dr. William Church, of Webster County; and Dr. William Farmer, of Boone County. These gentlemen visited Win- nebago in the summer of 1858, and after looking at the proposed sites for a county seat, reported in favor of "the east half of the northeast quarter of section 35, township 98, range 24, where in March, 1856, Robert Clark laid out the town of Forest City."
FIRST COURT-HOUSE
Winnebago County was now organized, had a full set of county offi- cers and a seat of justice, but the officers had no place to transact busi- ness. Temporary quarters were found in a small building and a petition was circulated asking the county judge to take the necessary steps to erect a court-house to cost $20,000. The petition was signed by every legal voter in the county, except one, and armed with this authority Judge Clark entered into a contract with Martin Bumgardner to erect the court-house. Bonds to the amount of $20,000 were issued and Judge Clark, accompanied by M . Bumgardner, went to New York, where the bonds were sold. Mr. Bumgardner brought back a stock of goods and opened a store, postponing the erection of the court-house "to a more convenient season." After a delay of some time the authorities noti- fied him that the court-house must be built at once. Plans were se- lected and Mr. Bumgardner began work on the foundation. Then came a change. The office of county judge was abolished by act of the Legislature and a board of supervisors established in its place.
The first board of supervisors in Winnebago was composed of E. D. Stockton, A. K. Curtis and John Anderson. Mr. Curtis was clerk of the courts and member of the board ex-officio. The new board de- cided that $20,000 was too much for the county to pay for a court- house and passed a resolution to annul the bonds issued by Judge Clark. Mr. Bumgardner was also enjoined from the further prosecu- tion of the work. The action of the board involved the county in a lawsuit and the courts finally decided that Judge Clark's action in issuing and selling the bonds was legal, and that the county was liable for their redemption.
After some delay, Mr. Bumgardner went to work on a smaller and less costly court-house, which in due time was completed. By what authority this building was erected is not certain. When it was finished, Mr. Bumgardner demanded his pay and appointed W. C.
THE ORIGINAL BRICK COURTHOUSE, FOREST CITY Built in 1861 by M. Bumgardner. Frame addition in 1877. Torn down in 1896 and replaced by the present splendid structure.
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Stanberry, of Mason City, as his agent to settle with the supervisors. The records of the meeting of November 3, 1863, contain a copy of the following
AGREEMENT
"I have this day sold to Winnebago County, Iowa, the brick court- house erected by Martin Bumgardner on the public square in Forest City, Iowa.
"Also-a certain contract entered into, by and between Robert Clark, county judge, and Martin Bumgardner, wherein the said Bumgardner, for the sum of $20,000, agreed to build a court-house in said Forest City on or before the 9th day of June, 1864, said contract having been by said Robert Clark, county judge, extended to the 9th day of June, 1869. Therefore the court-house still remaining unbuilt and the money unpaid, I agree to relinquish all claim or claims upon said contract and the same to be entirely null and void.
"Also-The forced contract by which the first named court-house was built.
"Also-The sum of $4,800 in bonds and coupons and interest there- on, which the said Stanberry relinquishes to said Winnebago county. The said W. C. Stanberry, for himself, the firm of Card & Stanberry, of which he is a member, and for Martin Bumgardner, doth covenant that he is the owner in fee simple of all the property named and that he has a good right and lawful authority to sell the same, and does by these presents sell the same to the County of Winnebago, Iowa.
"W. C. STANBERRY."
"We, the undersigned, supervisors of Winnebago County, State of Iowa, accept the above proposition of W. C. Stanberry, and order the clerk to issue county warrants to the said Stanberry, when the said Stanberry complies with the above proposition, to the amount of $3,500; two thousand dollars of which is in full payment for the above described court-house and fifteen hundred dollars of which is in full payment for the bonds and coupon bonds and contract as therein set forth.
"Witness our hands this 3d day of November, 1863.
"CHARLES D. SMITH, Chairman. "WILLIAM LACKORE, "B. F. WELLMAN."
Thus after several years of litigation, in which some ill feeling was engendered, Winnebago County became the possessor of a court-house
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sufficient for the county's needs. The building erected by Martin Bumgardner was two stories in height, with rooms for the county offices on the first floor and court and jury rooms on the second. A frame addition was built in 1877, and with this improvement the court- house served the county until the erection of the
PRESENT COURT-HOUSE
On June 17, 1896, the board of supervisors took up the considera- tion of a petition to remove the county seat to Lake Mills. The peti- tion had been generally circulated over the county, and at the time it was presented to the board it bore the signatures of 1,154 legal voters. Those opposed to the removal of the county seat had been busily en- gaged in getting up a remonstrance, which was presented to the board on the same day and was found to have been signed by 1,645 legal voters. In addition to this remonstrance, certain citizens of Forest City came forward with the following proposition :
"To the honorable board of supervisors of Winnebago County, Iowa: You are hereby formally notified that a fund has been sub- scribed to be used in the erection of a courthouse in Forest City, Iowa, provided the county seat is not removed from said Forest City, and that a written guarantee of such fund to the amount of $20,000 is now on file in the office of the auditor of said county. The fund so guaran- teed is hereby formally tendered to Winnebago County, Iowa, subject only to the condition contained in the said subscription and guaranty."
The census of 1895 showed that there were 2,346 voters in the county. As the petition to submit the question of removing the county seat to the voters at the next general election was signed by less than one-half, and the remonstrance was signed by a majority of the legal voters of the county, the board of supervisors took the following action :
"Whereas, a fund has been subscribed to be used in the erection of a new courthouse in Forest City, Iowa, provided the county seat of Winnebago County be not removed from Forest City, and
"Whereas, a written guarantee of such fund to the amount of $20,000 is now on file in the office of the county auditor of said county, which said guarantee is good and sufficient, and
"Whereas, a formal written notification of the above facts was filed in the office of the citizens' committee of Forest City on the 8th day of June, 1896, therefore be it
"Resolved, that such fund so guaranteed be, and the same is here- by formally accepted by the board of supervisors in behalf of Winne- bago County, Iowa, in accordance with the conditions thereof, and be it further
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"Resolved, that this board proceed to take the necessary steps to cause such courthouse to be erected as soon as possible."
The next day (June 18, 1896) a public meeting was held at the office of the county auditor at 3:30 P. M. Michael Evenson, one of the supervisors, called the meeting to order and stated the action taken by the board the day before. He also stated that the meeting had been called for the purpose of appointing, or selecting, a committee of citizens to act in an advisory capacity with the board of supervisors in the erection of a new courthouse. After some general discussion of the matter, the following were selected as members of the committee : Gilbert S. Gilbertson, Thomas Jacobs and Eugene Secor, of Forest City; N. I. Nelson, Lake Mills; L. M. Staba, Buffalo Center; James Ellickson, Thompson; M. O. Skuttle, Norman; and Charles Isaacs, Le- land.
On June 30, 1896, the board of supervisors and citizens' committee met to select plans. Eight architects submitted designs, those of Kinney & Orth, architects of Minneapolis, Minnesota, being chosen. Bids were then advertised for and on July 21, 1896, the contract was awarded to H. A. Gross, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, for $20,496. The contractor lost no time in carrying out his part of the agreement, and on January 6, 1897, the building committee certified that the court- house was complete. It was then accepted by the board of supervisors.
THE POOR FARM
Those who break away from an old community and go out upon the frontier to develop the resources of a new country, and incidentally to better their own fortunes, are never weaklings. As a rule the pioneers are men and women of strength and courage, blessed with good health, full of energy, well endowed with fortitude, and capable of contending
ith the difficulties that the first settlers in every new country have to meet and overcome. It was so in Winnebago County. Among such persons there is little need of established charities. If some settler met with misfortune and needed assistance the neighbors were always willing to lend a helping hand, hence it was many years before the county authorities found it necessary to establish a home for the unfor- tunate poor. The first mention of such an institution in the county records is found in the minutes of the supervisors' meeting on January 1, 1883, when the following action was taken by the board :
"The board of supervisors of Winnebago County, Iowa, deem it for the public interest to establish a poor farm and whereas Winne- bago County is a small county it has been thought best to negotiate with Worth and Hancock Counties and ascertain if they are willing to
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unite with Winnebago County in said proposed project."
Knut Jolison was appointed by the board to visit Worth and Han- cock Counties and consult with the supervisors with regard to a poor farm, to be located somewhere near the junction of the three counties and maintained by them jointly, in proportion to the number of in- mates in the institution from each county. If Mr. Johnson ever made a report it cannot be found, but the project evidently did not meet with the approbation of the authorities of Worth and Hancock, as such a farm was never established.
On April 5, 1904, the board of supervisors of Winnebago County, then composed of J. J. Holland, W. H. Combs and C. O. Thompson, adopted the following resolution : "That a farm to be used as a poor farm, to consist of not more than 160 acres, be purchased, and that county bonds to the amount of $20,000 be issued and sold to pay for said farm and the necessary buildings and improvements thercon," etc.
The board then advertised that bids offering tracts of land to the connty for such farm would be received until May 16, 1904. Several sites were offered, at prices ranging from forty to sixty dollars an acre, and the board decided to visit and examine each before making any purchase. Before this part of the proceedings could be carried out a question arose regarding the legality of the bonds, which invest- ment companies refused to take. The question was referred to the county attorney for his opinion and he advised the board that the ques- tion of issuing the bonds should have been submitted to the voters of the county for their approval or rejection. On September 5, 1904, the board ordered that the proposition should be submitted to the electors at the general election on November 8, 1904, when the bond issue was endorsed by a vote of 1,530 to 597. The bonds were then issued and sold without difficulty.
On June 5, 1905, the board purchased of Amanda Severs, adminis- tratrix, a tract of ninety acres in the eastern part of King Township. The farm consists of the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter and strip of forty acres across the east side of the northwest quarter of section 25, and ten acres in the south side of section 24, upon which the poor house stands. The land was purchased for $5,000 and the remainder of the proceeds of the bond sale were used in making the necessary improvements. The bonds have since been paid and the county owns unencumbered a poor farm that is adequate to all the requirements of an institution of that nature for years to come.
In the chapter on Township History will be found many interesting facts relating to the early settlement and organization of the town- ships, and in the Statistical Review will be found a complete list of the county officials since it was organized in 1857.
AN EARLY-DAY STREET SCENE IN FOREST CITY
Building opposite team and buggy, occu- pied by First National Bank, 1876-1883.
BANKS
WINNEBAGO COUNTY BANK, FOREST CITY, DECEMBER, 1850
MAIN STREET, FOREST CITY, 1896
CHAPTER III.
TOWNSHIP HISTORY
CONGRESSIONAL AND CIVIL TOWNSHIPS-ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP-EXTEN- SION OF THE SYSTEM WESTWARD-IOWA TOWNSHIPS-FIRST TOWNSHIPS IN WINNEBAGO COUNTY-PRESENT DAY TOWNSHIPS-BUFFALO-CENTER- EDEN-FOREST-GRANT-KING-LINCOLN - LINDEN - LOGAN - MOUNT VALLEY-NEWTON-NORWAY-HISTORICAL SKETCII OF EACH-RAILROAD FACILITIES-SCHOOLS-POPULATION AND WEALTHI.
Townships in the United States are of two kinds-congressional and civil. The former, as established by the official survey of the pub- lie domain, is six miles square, except in rare instances, and contains an area of thirty-six square miles. It is designated by a number and is bounded on the east and west by range lines. The civil township varies in size, the boundaries often being formed by natural features, such as creeks, rivers or mountain ranges. It is distinguished by a name instead of a number and further differs from the congressional township in that it has a local government as a minor political subdi- vision of the county.
The civil township doubtless had its origin in the old Teutonic "mark," though it was transplanted to this country from England. Says Fiske: "About 871 A. D. King Alfred instituted a small terri- torial subdivision nearest in character to and probably containing the germ of the American township."
The "small territorial subdivision" instituted by King Alfred was known as the "tunseipe." It was the political unit of popular expres- sion, which took the form of mass convention or assembly and was called the "tun moot." The chief executive of the tunscipe was the "tun reeve," who, with the parish priest and four lay delegates, re- presented the tunscipe in the county assembly or shire meeting.
In the settlement of New England, the colonies were at first gov .. erned by a general court, which also possessed legislative powers. The court was composed of the governor of the colony and a small coun- cil, usually made up of the most influential citizens. In March, 1635, the General Court of Massachusetts passed the following ordinance re- lating to the local government of certain districts :
"Whereas, particular towns have many things that concern only
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themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs and disposing of busi- ness in their own town, therefore, the freemen of every town, or a ma- jority of them, shall have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, and all appurtenances of said towns; to grant lots, and to make such orders as may concern the well ordering of their own towns, not repugnant to the laws and orders established by the General Court.
"Said freemen, or a majority of them, shall also have power to choose their own particular officers, such as constables, petty magis- trates, surveyors for the highways, and may impose fines for violation of rules established by the freemen of the town-provided that such fines shall in no single case exceed twenty shillings."
That was the beginning of the township system in the United States, and the "tun moot" of King Alfred's time became the "town meet- ing" in New England. Connecticut followed Massachusetts with sim- ilar provisions regarding local self-government, and the system was gradually carried to the states of the Middle West. In the southern colonies the county was made the principal political unit for the gov- ernment of local affairs. Eight counties were organized in Virginia in 1634 and this method spread to other colonies, except in South Caro- lina, where the units corresponding to counties are called "districts," and in Louisiana, where they are known as "parishes." All the coun- try conquered by Gen. George Rogers Clark in 1778 was erected into "Illinois County" by the Legislature of Virginia.
The first provision for the establishment of civil townships north- west of the Ohio River was made by Governor St. Clair and the judges of the Northwest Territory in 1790. Even yet in New England the township is of more importance in the settlement of local questions of a political nature than is the county. The town meetings are still held regularly and through them most of the business of local government is transacted. Every proposition to expend any considerable sum of money for public purposes is first submitted to the people at the town meeting. In the South the township is little more than a name, all the local business being transacted by the county authorities. From the time the first townships were established in the Northwest Territory the two systems of township and county government have been well balanced throughout the Middle West, the schools and roads usually being under the control of the township officials, while business that affects more than one civil township is managed by the county officers. In nearly every state in the Mississippi Valley it is the custom to sub- mit to the voters at a general or special election the question of issuing bonds for county or township purposes-a custom that originated in the old town meetings of New England.
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IOWA TOWNSHIPS
Township government was first established in Iowa while the state was attached to Michigan Territory. The Legislature of that terri- tory in September, 1834, created the Township of Julien, which in- cluded the entire county of Dubuque-that is, all that part of Iowa lying north of a line drawn due west from the foot of Rock Island. Winnebago County was therefore a part of Julien Township, Dubuque County. South of the line was Flint Hill Township, which embraced all of Des Moines County. When Iowa was made a part of Wisconsin by the act of April 20, 1836, the first Legislature of that territory set about amending the laws, and the act of December 6, 1836, provided that "Each county within this territory now organized, or that may be hereafter organized, shall constitute one township for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the amended laws."
In the act of Congress organizing the Territory of Iowa, approved by President Van Buren on June 12, 1838, was a provision that all township officers should be elected by the people. In his message of November 12, 1838, to the first Legislature that was ever convened in Iowa, Gov. Robert Lucas said: "The subject of providing by law for the organization of townships and the election of township officers, and defining their powers and duties, I consider to be of the first importance and almost indispensable in the local organization of the Government. Without proper township regulations it will be extremely difficult, if not impracticable, to establish a regular school system. In most of the states, where a common school system has been established by law, the trustees of townships are important agents in executing the provisions of its laws."
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