Phelps, Carl Cook (died 1 May 1930)

PHELPS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 11/13/2011 at 10:45:35

CARL PHELPS HAS GONE
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One Of Grinnell's Best Known And Most Respected Men Is Called By Death.
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WAS A DESCENDAMT OF ONE OF PIONEER FAMILIES.
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A Successful Business Man. Sincere And Outspoken. He Will Be Missed By Many Friends.
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Carl Phelps has gone. Born in Grinnell Nov. 4th, 1869, a little over sixty years ago, he probably has known this town better than any other man. The Phelps family were among the earliest settlers here. They came in a covered wagon from Wisconsin, reaching here about July 21, 1854. L.C. Phelps, the first of the family, was an outstanding man in every respect, strong, vigorous, and active. He held, from the very first, a strong place in this community. He located on the ground where the city office now stands and here, in the latter part of 1854, they built a home and kept the first hotel. Here was spread the first Thanksgiving dinner in the colony. Every one had moved out of the Long Home except two or three who maintained it and kept it as a stopping place for new arrivals. Cold and uncomfortable as it was, it was still habitable. In 1855, the Congregational association of Iowa churches met here in June. The Phelps home, or hotel, was thrown open to the visitors just as an ordinary home. The sign "hotel" was torn down and was never afterwards set up.

Mr.Phelps was always an active and vigorous boy. He knew what was going on in the town and became a part of it. He was always active, intelligent, and foremost in sports and in all activities in which young boys participate. When he grew to manhood, he entered the employ of a hardward firm and followed in this line a good many years. He afterwards took charge of the restaurant in the Rock Island station. He always attended to the business in which he was engaged and he made a success here and later entered the restaurant business in the present location of the Metropolitan, having purchased it from Frank Thackeray, who had been there for some years.

Mr. Phelps was recognized by everyone as generous, kind hearted, and industrious. He was out-spoken in his views and whether you were well acquainted with him or not, you never had to ask questions to find out how he stood on any public question, whether it affected the local community or national politics.

If you were once a friend of Mr. Phelps, you continued to be a friend, because you enjoyed not only his strength of character, but his attention to duty, and you also enjoyed his companionship and out-spoken manner.

Funeral services will be held Saturday morning at 10:30 o'clock from the Clayton Phelps home at 811 Eighth avenue, conducted by Rev. E.M. Vittum.

Active pallbearers will be: Ferd J. Kiesel, Paul Meyers, Chas. Manly, James Ashing, Peck Martin, Karl Cessna.

Honorary pallbearers will be: Jim Lynch, Chas. Cessna, J.S. Copeland, Jim Buswell, Wm. Nelson, Ernest Harris.

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BUSINESS TO STOP FOR PHELPS FUNERAL

The Closing committee of the Chamber of Commerce has asked Grinnell business houses to close for one hour Saturday morning, from 10:30 to 11:30 during the funeral of C.C. Phelps.

Transcriber Note: Buried Hazelwood Cem. in Grinnell, Iowa. Source WPA records