The Mt. Pleasant Journal
January 1, 1869
Submitted by A.M.W.
Mt.
Pleasant is the County Seat of Henry County, Iowa, and is located near the
center of the county. It is on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, 28
miles west, or rather a little northwest, of Burlington. It’s situation is on
what was originally a beautiful high rolling prairie, with a body of timber
approaching from the western limit. Eastward of the city, the broad prairie
extends for many miles, and it is now a continual succession of well improved
farms. Some four or five miles to the southwest, Skunk River winds its course in
a southeasterly direction towards the Mississippi. Its bottoms, and the
adjoining slopes, afford some of the finest bodies of timber to be found in the
state. Between the Skunk River and Mount Pleasant, a stream known as Big Creek
almost surrounds the city, approaching within a mile and a half on the north,
west, and south. Fine groves of timber also border this stream and a number of
quarries afford and abundance of excellent building stone.
James
Dawson, the first white man who settled in the county, made his claim a mile and
a half west of Mt. Pleasant in the summer of 1834. In the fall of the same year
_______ Saunders came over from Springfield, Illinois and took a claim on the
present site of Mount Pleasant, and after laying the foundation of a cabin,
returned to Illinois. In February, 1835, he again came to Iowa, completed his
cabin, and settled permanently. During the same season, he temporarily staked
off a number of town lots. On one of these, his brother-in-law, Joseph Moore,
created the first house within the limits of Mt. Pleasant, in the fall of 1835.
It stood at the northwest corner of the Public Square, where P.C. Tiffany’s
store now stands. Here Mr. Moore at the same time started the first store, a
small stock of goods being on the ground before the building was completed. The
town was not regularly surveyed until the summer of 1836. The plat was duly
recorded February 3, 1837. On the 12th of May, 1836, Colonel John H.
Rudolph opened a store.
The
first death which occurred was that of a man named Pullun, who came from Indiana
in 1835. After being here but two or three months, he either accidently or
intentionally shot himself while hunting in the woods. His remains were entered
in what is known as the “Old Cemetery”.
The
first hotel was kept by a man named Martin Tucker, in 1836, the building being a
log cabin of diminutive size, that stood on North Jefferson Street, about where
the Journal office is now located.
A
post office was first established here in 1836 and Alven Saunders subsequently
well known in Iowa, and late Governor of Nebraska, was the first postmaster.
Hon.
John P. Grantham, it is claimed by some, had the honor of inaugurating the first
educational institution in what is now styled the “Athens of Iowa”. In the
spring of 1837 then being quite a young man, he opened a school in a log cabin
at the west end of town where he for some time daily imparted to a merry group
of boys and girls, the rudiments of an English education. That was over thirty
years ago, and only a few of the boys and girls who were schoolmates in that
primitive log school house still linger among the fathers and mothers of Mt.
Pleasant. But the schoolmaster still
knows the home of his early usefulness.
When
the asylum was built, Henry Winslow was employed to superintend the building,
which was commenced in October, 1855. The first patient was admitted February
27, 1861. In 1861, the building was complete and furnished. It now contains
nearly 400 patients. The state has expended over $100,000 upon the _____ and
making improvements upon the grounds connected therewith.
The
building is of the Elizabethan order of architecture, and of a quadrangular
form. The central portion is four stories high and the wings, three stories
above the basements. The walls are solid cut stone masonry, surrounding an inner
lining of brick. The central building is surrounded by a tower, the top of which
is 1000 feet from the ground. A smaller tower of cupola surrounds each of the
wings. These cupolas rise 90 feet above the ground. At the extreme ends of the
______ wings are return wings, each 101 feet deep by forty wide. A central wing
extends from the rear of the central building 110 feet deep and three stories
high. The central building is 90 x 70 feet. The whole building contains 125
rooms exclusive of those in the basement. It has 1160 windows, 600 doors, and
120 square feet of galvanized sheet iron in the roof. In the basement, there is
a railroad with iron rail one/eighth of a mile in length upon which a hand car
is used in carrying food from the central kitchen to dumb waiters beneath all
the dining rooms. The whole building is warmed by steam and all the machinery
for ventilation, elevating water, washing, etc., is driven by steam. Hot and
cold water is carried to every part through galvanized iron pipes. About 12
miles of this pipe is used. Ventilation is produced by means of a rotary fan 15
feet in diameter which is operated by steam. The building is now about lighted
with gas.
The hospital farm contains 178 acres of good land, nearly one half of which is sparsely timbered. The balance is rolling prairie. It is situated immediately southeast of the city limits. Mark Ranney, M.D. is the present superintendent.
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