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NOTE: If I had a better quality photograph, I used it instead of the scan from the actual book. I have also inserted some post-2006 photographs.
(125 years) 1881 - 2006 We on the fun days committee started out to create a calendar, and put a notice in the paper looking for the twelve best pictures. Little did we know that we would end up with such wonderful photos that we felt we had to share and try to preserve the memories as much as possible. This book is not intended to cover everything. We have done our best at putting together a book that you can enjoy, that will show a little bit of what life was like in 1881 and a little bit of who it is today. During our research, we have also learned some facts that we feel you might enjoy. We hope this is a book that will stay in your family and you will tell your grandchildren what you remember or what your parents have told you about these places. We have not included all the family pictures that were give to us as we were really trying to focus on places. Some of the pictures do include people in order to show you that part of our past. Our sincere thanks to, Karen Thompson and Sandi Stogdill for scanning our pictures. We also thank Dan Riggs for his help in enhancing the photos and his endless advice. We would also like to thank Ray Bryant, Leo McConnell and Alma Greene (our Grand River historians) for all their memories in helping us identify the pictures (and for the stories that go with them). This has truly been a labor of love for all our Fun Days Committee. Enjoy!
2. What year did Dr. H. C. Bone come to Grand River?
3. What was the average size of a farm in Decatur County in 1884?
4. What would be the fare to travel by Pullman (not coach) from Osceola to San Francisco in the 1890's?
5. What date was the first council of Grand River organized?
6. Who laid out the town of Grand River and when?
7. What year was the current fire station completed?
8. How many trains a day came through Grand River at the railroads peak?
9. How much were the yearly telephone dues in 1936?
10. When was the Grand River post office established?
11. What year did the Grand River Rodeo Company start?
12. What year was the first iron bridge constructed across the river 1/2 mile East of town?
13. What businesses was Wood Binning in?
14. What year was Westerville founded?
15. What year was the first Grand River Local printed?
16. When was the first school building erected in Grand River?
17. What year was the first Grand River Alumni held?
18. When was the fire that destroyed the E.C. Lamoree Hardware & the Ehle Cafe?
19. What year was Funktown (Funk's Mill) established?
21. In 1928, how many phones were on the Grand River phone system?
22. How many country schools were in Richland Township? Can you name them?
23. Who had the first car with lights in Grand River?
24. How many country schools were in Grand River Township? Can you name them?
25. What year was J-20 paved east of Grand River to Interstate 35?
26. How many cemeteries are there in Grand River Township?
27. What year did a cyclone destroy the Center school in Grand River township?
28. What year was Grand River incorporated?
29. What year was the gymnasium added to the Grand River school?
30. What was the size of the gymnasium floor & what was it made of?
31. What is the elevation of Grand River?
32. Where is the old telephone switchboard housed?
33. What year was Ruth & Royal Boles hired as managers of the Grand River phone company?
34. What year was Iowa admitted as a Sovereign state?
35. What date was the last train through Grand River?
36. What was the first talking movie shown in Grand River? When?
37. What year did the Westerville post office close?
38. When was the first election held in Grand River?
39. Why is Charles E. Perkins name on many abstracts in Grand River?
40. Who was the first Mayor of Grand River?
The railroad section has to be the first in this book, as Grand River was founded and laid out in 1881 for the purpose of laying out towns along the route of the Humeston & Shenandoah Railroad. One of the highlights of the Railroad history was when President Teddy Roosevelt made a whistle stop speech in 1903 when he was campaigning for re-election. People lined the tracks almost to the river & souvenirs were made by laying hatpins, safety pins, and coins on the rails to be run over by the train.
NOTE: The smallest child, in the back, is Nelson Shields. He is standing between his sister, Lucille (Shields) Boles and his father, Oscar Shields. The man at the very top on the right is Bert Stark (Noel Stark's uncle). The [county board of] supervisors at the time were: W. H. Campbell, C. W. Carr, T. Morris and T.E. Leeper. It is believed that the man standing in front at the left is Mr. Leeper.
NOTE: bridgehunter.com identified this bridge as the Euritt Bridge, "Built in 1882 by Phoenix Iron Company of Philadelphia PA and erected by Daniel and Webster of Garden Grove IA. . . . The main span is a 126' seven-panel wrought iron Pratt through truss with a 13' roadway; 18' high. [In 1995, bridge is] intact but appears to be closed to traffic."
Note the town pump (with bucket & drinking cups). The Opera House upstairs with a hardware business downstairs. The clothing store closed around 1920 & the building was used for a grocery store. Since 1942 it has been tavern and pool hall. (Patty's Back Door Bar & Grill in 2009.)
Fire destroyed DE. C. Lamoree Hardware & Ehle Cafe on February 6, 1936 for a loss of $15,000. The space was never rebuilt. It was used to show outdoor movies and as
horseshoe pits by Well Taylor and many others.
NOTE: Robert Jimmerson built a new station located east across the street from his former station, pictured above.
The Dekalb House was built in 1868 by Dr. Benjamin Dekalb, a Virginia physician who moved to Iowa following the Civil War. In the above photograph, Elizabeth and Fred Burchett are standing in front of the house, April of 1917. Harve DeKalb lived in one room of the house.
This barn was built by Joseph Crees in 1859 of hand-axe hewn timbers with mortise & tenon joints where they joined one another & are fastened by hand-whittled wooden pins. The barn was erected on roughly squared limestone blocks, presumably quarried from bedrock along the nearby riverbanks. Some of the cross-members & tie beams overhead are whole logs, hewn only at the ends, still retaining their bark. The planks were joined to the mow frames with square iron nails.
From Iowa Barnagain Foundation site, 2005: "Pre-Civil War Barn on the lovely Grand River was built by Joseph Crees, Pennsylvania native, who lived in a log cabin east of the farm site before building a home and a 'large commodious barn for his stock and grain.' Hand-whittled pins were used to join the frame pieces. Known as the VanLaar barn, it is now owned by the Steve McClallen Family. "
The 5th caption was for Reese Boles barn.
Unfortunately, barns are becoming hard to find. Who doesn't remember putting hay in the haymows, playing hide and seek, and swinging from the barn rope?
F. X. White, General Contractor of Eldora, IA, built a new high school and grade school building at a cost of $25,000. George Lloyd was president of the school board and T. T. Beck, secretary. 39 school bond coupons were issued at $12.50 each. $487.50 was paid to Geo. M. Bechtell & Co. of Davenport, IA. The new school house was dedicated on December 7, 1916.
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 Courtesy of Decatur County Historical Museum, Leon IA
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 Courtesy of Decatur County Historical Museum, Leon IA
the year ending March 31, 1934
W. B. Day, out going Clerk
Those present were: Mrs. W. Wadsworth, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Plummer and Kenneth and Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Williams, of Centerville, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Williams and Mary Marie, of
Albia, Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Wadsworth and family, of Colfax, Mrs. Mary Tillotson, Ada and Lester Tillotson and Mrs. Bernice Carper and sons, of Osceola, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wycoff and family, Charles Hukill, Mrs. Stella Brammer, Marion and Sandra, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Adams and Laura, Mr. and Mrs. Well Taylor and Randall, Dale Taylor and Shirley Schooler. We join their many friends in wishing Mr. and Mrs. Taylor many more such happy occasions.
The bride wore a teale blue dress and the groom was attired in a dark blue suit. Both young people are well known and have the best wishes of the community.
2. Each day fill lamps, clean chimneys, and trim wicks. Wash windows once a week.
3. Each clerk will bring in a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's business.
4. Make your pens carefully, you may whittle nibs to your individual taste.
5. This office will be open at 7 A. M. and close at 8 P. M. daily, except on the Sabbath, on which day it will remain closed. Each employee is expected to spend the Sabbath by attending Church.
6. After an employee has spent 13 hours of labor in the office, he should spend the time reading the Bible and other good books.
7. Every good employee should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years.
8. Any employee who smokes Spanish cigars, uses liquor in any form, gets shaved at a barber shop or frequents pool or public halls will give me good reason to suspect his worth, intentions, integrity, and honesty.
9. The employee who has performed his labors faithfully and without fault for a period of five years in my service, and who has been thrifty and attentive to his religious duties will be given an increase of 5 cents a day in his pay providing a just return in profits from the business permits it.
Those who would us feel, must feel themselves. * * * * Nothing breaks up a class reunion faster than for members to point out to their wives that the youngest looking man there is a bachelor. * * * * The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. - Shakespeare.
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1. How many schoohouses were in Decatur County by 1890?
20. How many cemeteries are there in Richland Township? Can you name them?
