'A CENTURY OF MEMORIES'
OF VAN WERT, DECATUR COUNTY, IOWA

1880 - 1980

TOWN GOVERNMENT
 
City Records for the early years of Van Wert could not be found. We did find some early Mayors and Councilmen as follows:

1903
Ed Holt, Mayor; H.O. Tuttle, Recorder; W.F. Glair, Treasurer; R.E. Ball, Assessor;
J.J. Wall, Marshall; Ed Murray, Street Commissioner;
Councilmen - Marvin Brown , George Kane, John Powers,
Mel Thompson, C.M. Crane and C.A. Walker.

1906:
Lewis Holt, Mayor; F.R. Porter, Recorder; E.O. Stearns, Treasurer;
M.P. Garber, Assessor; Isaiah Fry, Street Commissioner;
Councilmen -- T.M. Craft, J.D. Stickler, John Powers,
B.F. Hall, Elmer Hampton, and A.L. Belding.

1908:
A.E. Price, Mayor; J.M. Halstead, Recorder; E.O. Stearns, Treasurer;
S.C. McKee, Assessor; F.R. Fuller, Street Commissioner;
Councilmen -- E.G. Murray, J.M. Allen, G.W. Johnson,
J.D. Young, M.F. Thompson, and A.L. Belding.
Other Mayors of our time have been:
J.M. Allen,C.F. Mallatt, G.W. Johnson,I.M. Fry,
O.B. Trisler, H.E. Hughes, W.C. Turk, Ray O'Hair,
Raymond DeVore, Herman Brown, Dick Parmer, Larry Fry,
Ronald Parmer, Don McClure, Ron Fry, Wendell Jones,
Chett Reed and Garould Mills.
Town Clerks mentioned in minute books have been:
R.H. Lamoree, G.W. Johnson, L.G. Poller, C.M. Saylor,
Harold Fuller,I.F. Price, Lillian Jones, Helene Woods,
Paul Heckathorn, and Juanita Mills.
City Treasurers have been:
J.B. Moon, O.L. Boatman, G.W. Johnson, Raymond Tompkins,
Paul Heckathorn and Mary Fulton.
On July 25, 1932, an ordinance prohibiting electrical interference with radio reception and providing for punishment for the violation thereof was drawn up and read two times and approved on the above date. No record can be found of this ordinance being repealed.

From the April 2, 1934 minutes we find that an election was held on March 26, 1934, with 182 ballots cast.

Judges for the election were Will Tiedje, S.G. Edge and Jim Hawkins. For Mayor, H.E. Hughes - 180 votes; Mrs. Frank Rush, 55 votes; J.M. Halstead, 1 vote; J.A. Hawkins, 1 vote; and G.W. Johnson, 2 votes.

For Treasurer: S.C. McKee, 53 votes and S.G. Edge, 110 votes.

For Councilmen: O.F. Foland, 82 votes; Isaiah Fry, 115 votes; F.A. Hall, 58 votes; David Jones, 104 votes; Elmer Houck, 47 votes; Len Scadden, 79 votes; W.H. Snider, 65 votes; Ben Collins, 75 votes; John O'Hair, 105 votes; Willis Turk, 121 votes.

April 16, 1934 minutes show the council approved and sent a letter to C.G. Eby of Leon that all street lights with the exception of the four on Main Street be discontinued as of May 1, 1934.

November 1, 1948 shows the town council opening bids for placing gravel on the streets according to voters which had been posted previously. As Elmer Gilbert had the low bid or 70 cents per ton for hauling the rock from Osceola it was agreed to have him haul at least 150 tons to 200 tons. The following streets were to be graveled:

1 Block south of the Methodist Church
1 Block west of Elmert Houck's
1 Block south of Mrs. Houck's
Also to connect up the rock by going
north of Nelson Rhoads and west to Gilberts
1 Block south of Roscoe Wilson;
1 load rock in front of Will Simmerman's

In reading through the minute books, we find that the elections were held in March. However, a special town meeting was held October 8, 1951, due to the fact the General Assembly had passed a law requiring all city and town elections to be held the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November.

The first election held on Tuesday was on November 6, 1951 with 15 votes cast.
Mayor: Herman Brown, 14 votes.Treasurer: Paul Heckathorn, 15 votes. Councilmen:
Will Simmerman, 14 votes.
Malcolm Tiedje, 15 votes.
Nelson Rhodes, 10 votes.
Will Pelsor, 15 votes.
D.V. Cox, 11 votes.
Will Spidle, 5 votes.
Bert West, 1 vote.
City Coucilmen over the years have been:
John O'Hair, J.E. Prather, C.F. Mallatt, Alfred Smith,
Harry DeVore, Isaiah Fry,Len Scadden, C.L. Wing,
Herman Brown, Malcolm Tiedge, H.O. Tuttle, W.E. Pelsor,
C.E. Burkey, E.N. Hampton, Willis Turk, J.A. Hawkins,
Wray Randolph, Leo Boatman, Raymond Tompkins, Fred Robbins,
Wm. Tiedje, M.F. Thompson, R.A. Palmer, Ben Collins,
Ed Lipsett, David Jones, Orval Foland, Nelson Rhoades,
Will Simmerman, D.V. Cox, Oren Fuller, Eddie Rood,
Herb Scadden, Ron Fry, Merlin Pelsor, Jim Clemens,
Gerald DeVore, Earl Fry, Don Morris, Don McClure,
Larry Fry, Jim Clemens, Layton Schuldt, Garould Mills,
Georgia Cox, Lonnie Cowden, Mary L. Schuldt, Chet Reed,
Garry Fry, and George South.
Town officers of 1980:
Mayor: Mike RoweCity Council:
Mrs. Dorman (Kathy) Reed
City Clerk and Treasurer: Gloria McClureMrs. Lane (Mary L.) Schuldt
Mrs. Bob (Donna) Hatfield
Duane Otto
Terry Hainlline
The 1980 council face the same problems as our predecessors, however, in a larger prospective. A policeman is not needed, since Van Wert is in the county-wide Sheriff program. The Decatur County Sheriff is Steve Layton.
 
FIRE DEPARTMENT
On February 1, 1954, Mayor Fred Jay told of a meeting he had recently attended concerning volunteer fire fighting. Discussion followed as to having a meeting in the near future. In May of the same year it was voted to buy fire equipment.

August 2, 1954, Bill Spidle accepted the position as Fire Chief. Our Fire Chief in 1980 is Terry Hainline.

The fire equipment was housed in Tiedje's Garage until a new fire station and community building were built in 1974.

Van Wert was the victim of several destructive fires. In 1903, all the businesses on the west side of Main Street north of the tracks were burned. They were rebuilt with an opera house, fraternity hall and six offices occupying the second floor of the three brick stores. This block burned again in February, 1915, but was soon rebuilt.

The building south of the track on the west side burned some time before August 1909 as they were being rebuilt at this time. The three hotels burned at different times.

Around 1917, the north side of the East-West road burned. This block included Sticklers General Store, Harpers Hardware, E. Jones and Sons Butcher Shop, Heroda's Rest., Charley Barry's Harness Shop and R.W. Pray's Cafe.

Pages 81-84
 
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