We regret that limited space will prevent our presenting a chapter descriptive of the bridges, dykes and roads of the county. Their history would make an interesting volume of itself, and is necessarily debarred from this work.

Of the buildings, the court house at Waukon, was erected during 1859 and 1860, and completed in 1861, by Chas. W. Jenkins and John W. Pratt, to whom the contract was let, in 1859, by the County Judge, George M. Dean. Its cost was $13,655, of which $5,000 was contributed by citizens of Waukon. As originally built, the rear portion of the first floor was occupied by a jail, with six cells; but this proved so inadequate for the secure retention of prisoners, and the county officers requiring additional room, it was finally removed altogether, and for the past few years criminals awaiting trial have been sent to the Decorah jail.

Previous to the building of the Court House they were confined in the Clayton County jail at Garnavillo. In 1870 two large fire-proof vaults were built in the Court House, at an expense of $2,000 or more, for the use of the Treasurer’s and Recorders offices----that of the former being also supplied with a burglar-proof safe, with a Yale time lock. In 1881, similar vaults were put in for the safe keeping of the records in the Auditor’s and Clerk’s offices. In 1882 the building was repaired, throughout, repainted, and is about to be arranged for heating by Ruttan furnaces in the basement.

After the county seat was removed to The Point, in 1861, a Court House was erected there---in the same year---of stone, somewhat smaller than the one at Waukon, and without a jail. It was built by the citizens of Lansing without expense to the county, in accordance with their bond to so do in case the county seat should be located there; but it has not been used for county purposes since 1867. The land was donated by Haney & Houghton and J. M. Rose. Col.Guilbert and Geo. W. Hays were the building committee who prosecuted the work, the total cost of which was not far from $5,000.

The County Poor Farm comprises the southeast quarter of section 8, Makee township, four miles north by east of Waukon, and was purchased of Joseph Burton, October 22, 1866, for $4,000. There was a large and substantial frame building on the place, which was built by Mr. Burton in 1856, with hard wood timber and matched siding. It was 29x37 feet, with one L 14x16 and another about 15 feet square. After its purchase by the county it was raised from a story and a half to two full stories in height, and the upper portion finished off.

On the evening ofJanuary 23, 1880, this house was destroyed by fire, involving a loss of some $2,000, as there was no insurance. A temporary building was immediately erected for the accommodation of the inmates until the present substantial brick structure was erected in 1881. It is 38x40 feet, two stories, each ten feet in the clear, with cellars under all, and is heated by furnace in the basement. Its total cost was about $5,000.
Contractors; John Griffin for the wood-work, Samuel Peck for stone and brickwork. It was built from the proceeds of a special tax of one mill on a dollar, voted by the people of the county at the general election of 1880.

In 1874, the question of a special tax, for the purpose of building a county jail, was submitted to the voters of the county, and defeated by an overwhelming vote. In 1880 a similar question was voted down by a majority of 735. In 1881, the question was again submitted, as follows:

"Shall the coupon bonds of the county, in the sum of $10,000, be issued, upon which to borrow money to be used in erecting a jail in and for said county at the county seat? Said bonds to be issued in denominations of not less than $100 or more than $500 each, and to bear interest at the rate of not more than 7 per cent perannum, payable annually on the 1^st of May of each year; the bonds to be issued of the date of May 1^st,1882. Said bonds to be made to become due; $2,000 on May 1^st,1883; $2,000 on May 1^st, 1884; $3,000 on May 1^st,1885, and $3,000 on May 1^st, 1886, and to be payable, principal and interest, at the office of the County Treasurer; and none of said bonds to be sold or exchanged by the county for less than their face value, with all interest accrued on them at the date of sale or exchange. And shall a special tax of one millon the dollar be levied on the taxable property of the county for the year 1882, and for each succeeding year thereafter until a sufficient sum is raised from said levies to pay said bonds with all accruing interest?"

This proposition was adopted by a majority of 129 votes, and in the spring of 1882 contracts were awarded as follows: Stone-work, brick-work and excavations, to Samuel Peck & Son for $3,000; carpenter’s work, tinner’s work and painting, to A. J. Rodgers, for $3,000; cell-work, window guards, iron doors,etc., to Diebold Safe and Lock Company, for $3,400. Afterwards acontract for heating furnace was let to the Ruttan Furnace Company, through A. J. Rodgers, for about $600. The building is now in course of erection, and promises to be one of the best of its class in Northern Iowa. It is of brick, stone and iron, 74x33 feet in extreme; the jail part will be one-story of 17 feet, and iron roof entirely fire-proof; the part for the sheriff’s residence two stories of 10 feet each. The location is on the county square in Waukon, a short distance south of the courthouse.

EDUCATIONAL.

The early comers into this county were largely from New England and other portions of the east, where good school facilities were enjoyed; and bringing with them their love for and belief in the absolute necessity of education, the establishment of free public schools was one of the first things they look to after getting comfortably housed in their new homes. To Postville we believe belongs the honor of possessing the first public school in the county, established there in the summer of 1848. The first schoolhouse was built near Hardin in 1849. In the central portion of the county the first school was undoubtedly that taught by L. W.Hersey, in the winter of 1852 and 1853, in a log cabin built by Deacon Azel Pratt for a dwelling in the fall of 1850. The first public school in Lansing was begun in February, 1853. The first in Waukon in the early winter next following, taught by L. O.Hatch. Previous to this D. D. Doe taught in Makee Township just east of Waukon. Quite early in the fifties, Reuben Smith built a small school house on his place in Yellow River, and employed a teacher to instruct his children, probably admitting those of his neighbors to the benefit of the school also. The first public school in Smith’s district was taught by C. T. Granger (nowCircuit Judge) in the winter of 1854-5.

An examination of the following figures, complied from reports of the County Superintendents for various years, will give a better idea of the condition of educational matters in our county than anything else we could here lay before the reader.

In 1867 there were 6,083 persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years. In1873, 7,511; in 1875; 7,705; in 1877, 8,450; in 1880, 7,927; in1881, 7,520, distributed among the various school districts as follows:

In 1851 there were seventy-eight school districts in the county, and one hundred and forty-seven teachers were required to supply all the schools, of whom the nativity was as follows:

Male/Female

On Atlantic Ocean....................................................................1/0

Canada................................................................................... 3/3

Connecticut..............................................................................1/1

England................................................................................... 0/1

Germany..................................................................................2/0

Indiana.....................................................................................1/1

Illinois...................................................................................... 1/3

Iowa......................................................................................18/62

Ireland.......................................................................................1/0

Maine........................................................................................0/1

Maryland................................................................................... 2/1

Massachusetts.......................................................................... 1/0

Michigan.................................................................................... 3/1

Minnesota.................................................................................. 0/2

Missouri..................................................................................... 0/2

New York................................................................................... 3/3

Nova Scotia.................................................................................0/1

Ohio........................................................................................... 0/8

Pennsylvania................................................................................3/1

Tennessee...................................................................................1/0

Vermont.......................................................................................1/0

West Virginia............................................................................... 0/1

Wisconsin...................................................................................1/11

The following statement shows the more interesting of our county school statistics compared for the years 1873, 1877, and 1881:

EXPENIDTURES

School House Fund

Contingent Fund

Teachers’ Fund

From the second Tuesday in October, 1880, to the second Tuesday of October, 1881, certificates were issued as follows:

Males/Females

Number receiving professional........................................................................5/ 0

Number receiving first-class...........................................................................13/ 23

Number receiving second-class......................................................................19/51

Number receiving third-class........................................................................ 37/110

Total number of certificates.......................................................................... .74/184

Number of applicants rejected........................................................................16/58

Number of applicants examined......................................................................88/230

Number certificates revoked.............................................................................00/00

Average age of persons receiving certificates....................................................24/21

Number who had no experience........................................................................2/25

Number who had taught less than a year..........................................................15/23

In 1877 they were as follows:

Males/Females

Number of first-class......................................................................................28/30

Number of second-class................................................................................ 26/68

Number of third-class......................................................................................2/17

Total number issued........................................................................................56/115

Applicants rejected..........................................................................................7/18

Applicants examined.......................................................................................63/133

Average age of person receiving certificates.......................................................25/20

Number certificates revoked.............................................................................2/0

NORMAL INSTITUTES

Teachers in attendance

The county possesses but one private school (aside from the sisters schools at Lansing) of importance, the Waukon Seminary, J. Laughran, principal, for many years a prominent educator of this county. Its report for 1881, was two teachers and forty pupils.

According to the State census of 1875 ( the latest available) there were in the county but 271 persons over sixteen years of age who could not read, out of a population of 17, 868.

RELIGIOUS

Among the early settlers of the county were Christian men and women, who brought their religion with them into the wilderness and were not willing to abandon the public ordinances of the gospel, but in the humblecabin, or the groves---"God’s first temples---they gathered at the summons carried from house to house that "a preacher is coming," and raised the simple hymns of praise, the devout prayers, and listened to the earnest exhortations of the devoted pioneer ministers, who traveled through heat and cold, rain and shine, from settlement to settlement, preaching the gospel bringing news of the outer world, ministering consolation in the days of trial, burying the dead, and marrying the sons and daughters. The ministers were given a hearty welcome in every home and in the homes of many settlers, whose rough speech and rugged ways would not indicate that they were of Puritan stock, the missionary found a cordial hospitality that made them indeed oases to him.

The earliest religious services of which we have any knowledge, were held by Rev. Lowery, a Presbyterian, at the Old Mission in 1835, but there were no settlers in the county then to participate in them.

In 1840, the old Mission was made an appoinament by the Methodists, and was filled at stated times by the Rev. Sidney Wood, whose Circuit was Clayton County, and 1841, Quarterly Meeting was held there and presided over by the Rev. Alfred Brunson, who came over from Prairie du Chien, August 3, 1882, where he had resided since1866. He was born in Danbury, Fairfield County, Connecticut, February 9, 1793. He first came to Prairie du Chien as amissionary to the Indians in a buggy from Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Galena, and from there in the saddle, and in the pioneer days traveled through the country from the Galena Riverto Lake Superior, and from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, on horse back in all kinds of weather, preaching the gospel to the settlers and natives.

The first Catholic missionary was Father Thomas Hare, who came in 1851 and established the first permanent church in the county, in Lafayette Township. Further of this influential missionary will be found under the head of Wexford, in the chapter on villages.

Of the other early ministers, we find mention of the following among the remnants of early county records that are still in existence.

On the 27^th day of March, 1850, A.M. Eastman produced to the Clerk of the Court his license as a minister of the gospel, of the Congregational Church, obtained and bearing the seal of the Court of the County of Des Moines, and received authority to solemnize marriages.

August 24, 1850, "a certificate was issued to Eldridge Howard, M. G.," authorizing him to solemnize marriages, he presenting a similar certificate from the Clerk of Jackson County, with credentials of the M. E. Church.

Rev. Howard held services in the Post settlement as early as 1848.

July 9, 1851, a similar certificate was granted to Joel Baker, who presented his credentials as an ordained minister of the Baptist church.

In the fall of 1851, D. W. Lyons was a Presbyterian minister in the southern portion of the county; and Alfred Bishop, a preacher of the M. E. Church, performed marriage ceremonies on Yellow River.

Nov. 10, 1851, Ole Peter Peterson presented his certificate as a regular local preacher of the M. E. Church, and was given authority to solemnize marriages.

July 15, 1852, Neils Oleson Brandt presented his certificate of ordination as minister of the gospel of the Lutheran denomination, from Bishop J. L. Arup, of Norway; also certificates of O. L. Clausen, Supt. Of Norwegian Lutheran Church of Wisconsin, and the Clerk of Jefferson County, Wis.

Rev. Francis Walshhad charge of the Catholic Church of Lansing and vicinity from about 1852 until the summer of 1863. He is at present at Keewick, Iowa.

In 1852, Rev. E. Howard, before mentioned, preached in Center township, using his own dwelling house for a church. It was a low shanty of only one room, 16x16 feet, and stood on the farm now owned by O. Deremo.

The Methodists organized a class at Postville in December, 1850.

The Rossville Baptist Church was organized Aug. 27, 1853, and J. S. Mitchell was its first Clerk. The first pastor was Rev. J. S. Shofield, since whom the following have ministered unto that charge, viz: Elder Moreland, J. A. Poole, Newell, C. D. Farnsworth, Starr, Frink, Dye, Cooley, and J. M. Wedgwood, the latter until the summer of 1882. The church has no pastor at present, but maintain the prayer meeting, covenant meeting, and Sunday School. The present church membership is sixty-five. They have a good church building, erected in 1861; and had a parsonage until quite recently they disposed of it. N. E. Brace is Deacon at present, and N. Mitchell, Clerk.

The Lansing Congregational Church was organized in April, 1854.

The Waukon Baptist Church was organized June 17, 1854, on Makee Ridge.

The Waukon M. E. Church was organized the same year, 1854.

The Waukon Catholic Church was established, northwest of that town, about the year1855.

The German Presbyterian Church of Waukon (now of Ludlow), organized Aug 11,1856.

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Waukon, in 1857.

The Mount Hope Presbyterian Church, of Union City Township, was organized by Rev. Joseph Adams and J. W. Crawford, in June, 1858. It was supplied in its earlier years by Dr. A. H. Houghton, of Lansing; and by Rev. Frothingham, (then of Caledonia, Minnesota, we believe), and Rev. Herndon.

The German Zion Evangelical Church of Columbus Ridge, is a flourishing organization. In July, 1873, they dedicated a fine new frame church, costing $1,000, and all paid for. Rev. L. Schuerer was pastor of the church at that time.

There are four Norwegian Lutheran Churches in the county, of which two are in Paint Creek, one in Lansing, and one at Fagrie Prairie. In 1877, the latest statistics we have at hand, they comprised a total membership of 998, of which East Paint Creek church had 423, west Paint Creek church 433, Lansing 61, and Fagrie Prairie 81.

The Lycurgus Catholic Church, on Lansing Ridge, is also a large and flourishing body, under the charge of Father Slattery. They have possessed a large stone church for many years, which was greatly enlarged by an addition erected, we believe, in 1879, or 1880.

STATISTICS OF POPULATION, ETC.

The population ofAllamakee County at different periods since its organization hasbeen as follows:

1849............................................................................................................. 227

1850............................................................................................................. 777

1851............................................................................................................. 1300

1852............................................................................................................. 2000

1854............................................................................................................. 4266

1856............................................................................................................. 7709

1859............................................................................................................. 10843

1860............................................................................................................. 12237

1863............................................................................................................. 13465

1865............................................................................................................. 13957

1867............................................................................................................. 16003

1869............................................................................................................. 16766

1870............................................................................................................. 17868

1873............................................................................................................. 18304

1875............................................................................................................. 19168

1880............................................................................................................. 19791

Bytownships its population was:

NATIVITY OF POPULATION.

1870/1875

Number born in Iowa,.................................................................................. 6,774/8,654

Born in United States but not in Iowa,......................................................... 4, 991/4,685

Born in foreign countries,............................................................................ 6,103/4,959

Born of foreign parentage,...........................................................................11,800/6,548

Whose father only was foreign born,........................................................... 667/306

Whose mother only was foreign born,......................................................... 332/120

The following figures are interesting for comparison:

1867 1875

Number of dwellings,..................................................................................2,762/3,339

Number of voters,........................................................................................3,081/3,653

Number of militia........................................................................................1,998/2,366

Foreigners not naturalized........................................................................... 493/329

In 1857 the number of miles of railroad in operation was 5, in 1872 it was 41, and in 1880 it was 65.

ASSESSED VALUATIONS

ABSTRACT OF VOTERS FOR GOVERNOR

August 5, 1850, the County first voted on the Governorship, since when the votes have been as follows:

(Scattering, 1875, 4, 1877, 109)

1879----J. H. Gear, 1795, H. H. Trimble, 1584; Daniel Campbell, 206; scattering, 2---total vote, 3587.

1881----Buren R. Sherman, 1355; L. G. Kinne, 1258; D. M. Clark, 254----total vote, 2867.

ABSTRACT OF VOTES FOR PRESIDENT

Allamakee County first voted for Presidential candidates in November, 1852. The vote at the several elections has been as follows:

*Breckenridge, 5.

~*~*~

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