Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific is the rail that ran through the village of Metz. This rail line, like all the others, progressed slowly through the state. "It got as far as Iowa City in 1858, where it stopped for several years unable to proceed westward, and barely paying running expenses.
Toward the middle of the war (Civil), however, work was resumed, but the oftrepreated promises that the cars would run into Jasper County "in ninety days," were always 'honored in breach,' and not in the observance, until 1867. . . .
The road was completed to Newton in the latter part of May 1867. The first freight received was on the 31st of that month, and the first shipment made June 10th. The road was completed to Des Moines in the same year. ~ History of Jasper Co., 1876, page 433.
The rail road provided work for many people in the Metz area.
Charles Lind, Basil Clement, Homer Clement, Otto Callison, Bill Shelly, Louis Gerhart
Photo courtesy of Ruby Gibson Jacobs
"This is a small station on the Rock Island road, about midway between Newton and Colfax and contains seven or eight dwellings. Several trains do not stop here at all, and the station was established as a convenience to the neighborhood. A small stock of lumber is kept here - a very great convenience to the surrounding farms." ~ History of Jasper Co., 1876, page 506.
The Metz Depot
Photo courtesy of Ruby Gibson Jacobs
This photo is not identified as to the station, but it may be the Colfax station. The man on the right with the mustache is my grandfather Frank W. Lippincott. He was the station agent in Earlham and then Colfax. I am guessing that the photo was taken around 1910 to 1920. It looks like insulators are on the bottom of his chair legs.
Station photos courtesy of Dorra L. Bost
This photo was identified as the Colfax station. The man in the back row 2nd from the left again is Frank W. Lippincott. The time frame of this photo is probably the same as the other photo. Unfortunately, the other men were not identified.