The Early Days of Bunker Mill Bridge 2013

SCHLABAUGH, MOORE, GROUT, HUSSEY, MEYERS

Posted By: Mistina Christner (email)
Date: 7/24/2018 at 08:14:30

Source: Kalona News 9/19/2013

The early days of Bunker Mill Bridge

The Bunker Mill Bridge was built in 1887, predating the arrival of lifelong Kalona-area resident Doris Moore, born Doris Grout, by 39 years.
This brief oral history is adapted from a conversation held with Jim Hussey on Sept. 22, 2013.

My great-grandfather arrived here in 1842 in a covered wagon, looking for his in-laws who had arrived two years before. He liked the area, and stopped for the night north of where the Grout Cemetery is now to see what the area looked like.
There was nothing in the way of roads. He saw smoke to the southwest and thought it must be Indians. He rode out to meet them, and it turns out they were his in-laws. I don't know how he ever found them. He stayed, built a cabin, and my ancestors have been at the same farm as where he settled.
Years ago, there was a little village out there. Middleburg. There was a blacksmith's shop, a post office, and they built a school. I grew up with my parents in the same house as my grandparents, and a lot of that was talked about.
My mom was raised north of Middleburg School. She was born on the 3rd of January 1889. In the 1930s, she would take us on little trips down to the river and to the Old Mill Bridge to go fishing. I don't know if we ever caught any fish, but I think it was a place where my mom felt comfortable.
There were no signs of the old mill. It was gone by then, but she remembered the mill and would tell us about it. That's where people went to get their grain ground. The mill was next to the old stagecoach line that ran between Dubuque, Iowa City, South Liberty - which doesn't exist anymore - and Washington in what must have been the 1850s.
There was also an old road to the east as you crossed the bridge that wiggled along the river and eventually hooked up with the roads that went between Richmond and Riverside.
Richmond was settled before Kalona. When the railroad came they were going to run it through Richmond, but they decided it would be cheaper not to cross the English River twice and to run the railroad straight through Kalona.
Mr. Meyers in Kalona donated land this side of the river for the railroad. He raised Black Angus cattle and had a bull named Kalona, which is how Kalona got its name. That's why we're known as "Bulltown" today.
I've always been interested in history. The history of our nation is in that old stagecoach road. It's how our country was settled.
We need to do everything we can to pursue funding for the bridge. Keeping that trail would be a real plus. We need to keep our memories alive.

The Friends of the Bunker Mill Bridge will be present at a booth at the Kalona Fall Festival, being held this Friday and Saturday, September 27 and 28. To contribute to the Friends of the Bunker Mill Bridge, send donations to FBMB, PO BOX 962, Kalona, IA 52247.