Main Street of Wyman about 1911. The view is from the southeast looking northwest. On the right is the depot on the C.B. &Q. The brick building on the left is the bank. In the late 1940s the first red building on the left was the grocery store with the post office in the back run by Dutch Oldt. Later, Gwen Mullen ran the store until it closed. C. Mitchell was the banker. The bank closed and was folded into the Crawfordsville bank in the 1930s. The bank building is now the Wyman Grain Co. Photo courtesy of Vivan Jennings.
HISTORY OF WYMAN
Based on several sources including clippings from The Winfield Beacon.
The first settler of the Wyman community was William Huston who came to the area in 1839 in a prairie schooner pulled by three yoke of oxen. William Huston had two sons, Joseph and John M. and a daughter who became Mrs. A.W. Shearer.
The narrow gauge railway was built in 1879. A young surveyor named Clark Eddy Wyman who worked for the railroad in Washington and Louisa counties was rooming in the community a the time the village was being platted. Wyman's landlady suggested his name for the town. Clark Wyman was born in 1854 in Twinsburg, Ohio. He died in 1930.
The first post office in the vicinity was opened at the John M. Huston home. In 1880, the location of Wyman was moved to its present site where a store and post office was erected. O. Branniger operated the first store. This structure burned in the fall of 1881 and was rebuilt in 1882. The new building had two rooms below (store and depot) and above were three rooms for living quarters. J .B. Dodds arrived from Columbus City and started business in this store. He became a prominent citizen and was a general merchant there for eighteen years. W.I. Huston was postmaster for several years. This building was later moved and a new depot was built.
T. G. Dunn was the first agent. His daughter, Sadie, later Mrs. G.W. Hay of Washington, went to Burlington to learn telegraphy and received $15 a month. Mr. Dunn came to Wyman in 1866 to the place east of town.
In 1882, Mr. Dunn built the first elevator. It was later enlarged, but was destroyed by fire in 1924. The owner at that time was Pauley T. Brown, who constructed a new elevator that was bought by the Wyman Supply Co., which had been organized January 17, 1918.
W.F. Orbin came here in 1885 and built the first house. He started to sell small articles in his home and was in business for many years. The next house in Wyman was moved in with horses in 1856 and was occupied by Levi Fishburn, who was a stock buyer. Thomas Cowie was one of the early settlers who settled on the farm north of Wyman in 1857.
Among the other early settlers who have survivors near Wyman are Joseph Huston who came in 1856; Joseph Jackson came with his family in 1856. He was a lieutenant in the Civil War. Samuel Turkington arrived in 1868, buying some of his land from Rev. Michael See, who, for 40 years, traveled over a circuit in the interests of the Methodist Church and who lived in the community many years.
Francis Samson came to Wyman in 1856; Joseph Purvis was then living on a nearby farm afterward owned by Jacob Super. Francis Samson lived the winters of 1856 and 1857 with Joseph Purvis. In 1899, his son Owen Samson put in the first telephone in the community. In 1900, a company of about 20 formed what was known as the Young America Telephone Co. W.F. Orbin was in charge of the switchboard. This switchboard was equally owned by Winfield, Young America, and a similar company west of Wyman, known as White Cloud. In 1920, the company sold its interest to the Crawfordsville Telephone Co.
The churches
The Reformed Presbyterian Congregation of Rehoboth was largely composed of families of Covenanters who came from Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1854 they settled near Wyman and on Oct. 19, 1854, they organized a congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church under the name Rehoboth. They chose Thompson Graham, Sr., and Joseph Purvis to serve as elders, and Thomas Garvin and Mr. McElroy as deacons.
At the same time, they extended a call to the Rev. Robert Cannon of the congregation in Pennsylvania many of them had belonged. Mr. Cannon accepted the call on Dec. 14, 1854 and was installed as their pastor. For several years they worshipped in private homes, but with the congregation growing quite rapidly, they erected a church in 1857. The site was about two and one-quarter miles east of Wyman. Mr. Cannon labored on until he had gathered a congregation of about 135 members when he demitted his charge in 1877 and went to Ohio.
The Rev. Edward Elsey was later ordained and installed in charge. In 1884 the congregation moved the church into Wyman. The parsonage was built in 1897. The church continued services until the 1920s.
For years the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church held services in the Jackson Schoolhouse. Later the Hoosier End School was built and was used for Worship. Ministers usually called in the af-ternoon after conducting services at Winfield. Later the ministers were shared with the Crawfordsville church. In 1895 a church was built in Wyman, the land for the site donated by the railroad. The Rev. Parker was the minister. Around 1912 the circuit was discontinued and the members transferred to the Winfield and Crawfordsville churches. The church was sold at public auction to Clyde Beauchamp who built his house from this structure.
On May 22, 1924, the little town of Wyman was almost totally wiped out at the noon hour. Fire was discovered in Crawford & Price's store. Clinton Paisley, manager, was at dinner when someone yelled "Fire!" He rushed to the store, but the flames had gained such headway that he could not get into the building, and it was impossible to save anything. The cause of the fire is unknown, but seems to have started in the attic. Everything was destroyed including the building, which belonged to Mrs. Emily Larkin.
This building was located at the north end of the business section, and a strong north wind soon swept the flames to adjacent buildings. The hardware store, owned and operated by F. M. Enke & Son, was next in the path of the fIames and is a complete loss. The next place in line was Billie Orbin's residence and the telephone office. This build-ng being a frame structure, was quickly consumed. Some of the contents of Mr. Orbin's house were carried out by the huge crowd that had assembled. The bank building received major damage. The stock of goods at Shirley Bartlett's store, on the extreme south, was almost entirely carried out by many willing hands, but the building is said to be quite badly smoked up.
The depot, across the street, caught fire several times, but flames were put out.
A large crowd gathered from all around the country, willing to aid in every possible way, but with no fire pro-tection of any kind except a bucket brigade, it was impossible to check the progress of the flames.
The school
Children in the area attended school in various country schools until they consolidated in 1911. Three of the school buildings, Hoosier Bend, School No.5, and Lone Star were moved into Wyman and school was held in these buildings until the new brick building could be completed. Fifteen thousand dollars in bonds were sold to pay for the building, three acres of land bought from C. E. Humphreys, and the teachers' salaries for the first year. About 75 children from Hoosier Bend, School No. 5, Lone Star, Young America, and Elm Grove schools became students at the Wyman Consolidated School. Organizing the consolidation were Knox Dunn, Griffith Humphrey, Roll Rees, Charlie Zickafooze and Levi Metzger. The ball diamond was built in 1912. In 1923, a gymnasium and extra rooms above the gymnasium were added at a cost of $27,000.
The first teachers were William Brown, whose salary was $65 per month, Rachel Wylie and Lois Cannon, whose salaries were $40 per month. Elsie McLean received $30 per month as janitor.
Lois Helena Cannon started school at Possum Hollow, a Country school one and one-half miles from her rural home near Crawfordsville. She and her three younger sisters walked to school, carrying their lunches in old syrup tins, except in bitter cold weather when their father drove them in the wagon. The one-room school was heated by coal in a pot-bellied stove, and water was brought in daily from neighboring farms, since there wasn't a well on the property. Part of the water was put in a wash basin that was shared by everyone, and the remainder was used for drinking water with everyone using the same cup and towel.
Each student started in the "first reader." There were no report cards, but advancement from grade to grade seemed to be determined by the completion of each consecutive reader for the next eight years. Each school year was divided into three terms; fall and spring were about two and one-half months while the winter term was a little longer. There was a two-week break be-tween terms, and there was a summer vacation. In 1910, the reported cards did not arrive in time for graduation so seven small rolls of wallpaper were tied with a ribbon and handed out at the ceremony.
The only requirement to teach in those days was to pass a county exam. Lois taught one fall term at a country school before the district was consolidated and a brick building was built in Wyman, Iowa in 1912. She was the "first room" teacher, which was grades 1 through 3. There were 46 students. She was required to wear a girdle, and could not be married. High School only consisted of grades 9 and 10 at Wyman School ill 1912.
Miss Cannon's teaching career ended when she became Mrs. Samuel Washington Kepper on June 10, 1915.
Besides being institutions of education, the country schools served as overnight stops for hoboes. Probably one of the best-known of these was "Purina" Bill, named for a patent medicine with a high alcohol content. Every time he sas smoke coming out of a schoolhouse chimney, he would say, "Boy, that looks good to me!" No one knew where he came from, but he would work by the day for anyone who needed some help. When he had made a little money, he would take off again on his rounds and maybe come back again the next year. Finally, when he had not returned for a long time, someone heard that he had been found dead in a schoolhouse near Burlington, probably frail an overdose of "Purina."
The community
In 1908, the Wyman Savings Bank was built and began operation. In the same year, Clyde Matthews built the store. Shirley Bartlett was in business in this place for some years.
The ladies of the community organized a club known as the Wyman Community Club, June 29, 1922. It is primarily a social organization, but has supported many good causes. It gave the piano and other donations to the school. It has given to the Red Cross and orphan homes and gives to families in need in the community.
The Welsh settlement was located north and south of Long Creek, between Cotter and Wyman. The Welsh founded the Zion Congregational Church located beside the Cambrian Cemetery. A few years later, Salem Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church was built, and then the Cotter Bethel Church, located a mile south of the Cotter Church. The Salem and Cotter churches later became Presbyterian.
John A. Rees came to Iowa in the early 1840' s and used the money he brought back from the California Gold Rush to pay for his farm.
Two brothers, Evan H. Davies and John H. Davies, brought their families to Iowa in the 1850's after a brief stop at the Welsh settlement near Cincinnati, Ohio. Most of them dropped the "e" from the Davies name to Americanize it. Since many had the same name, they used the following terms to distinguish the different families; Evan H. 's sons were "Bryn," "Elm Grove," "Plas," and "Voty." One son did not have a name for his farm. John H. 's sons were "Prairie" and "London." There was another Davis called "Racine," who was not related, but married one of the "Elm Grove" daughters. Evan H. and John H. There were three Hugh Davises who lived side-by side on the Columbus Junction mail route: Hugh "Prairie" Davis, Hugh "Plas" Davis, and Hugh "Racine" Davis.
Old clippings tell of 1921 Wyman baseball
By Marian Waters
CRAWFORDSVI LLE, Sept. 21, 1921 - There are still some who recall the great Wyman baseball team of yore. The account of one of the games as reported in the Oct. 7, 1921 Crawfordsville Imprint.
The line up for this particular game was Roll Davis, C.; Oliver Rees, SS.; Russell Zickefoose, CF.; William Rees, 2B; Fred Humphreys, 3B; Evan I. Rees, RF; Lester Davis, LF; Lee Holland, 1B; Rees Davis, P. Some had played together since 1912. The Wyman baseball club closed the season last Friday in one of the fastest games ever played on the local field, by defeating the Junction 3 to 2. Wyman also beat the Junction Labor Day at Columbus Junction 3 to 2.
So Friday the Junction came back strong at Wyman with the best players that could be rounded up in southeast Iowa. Five cities of Southeastern Iowa were represented in their line-up, including a battery from Ottumwa, two from Letts, two from Muscatine, one from West Liberty and two from Columbus Junction. Wyman played their home team.
"It was a pitcher's duel between Simpson, a "south-paw" from Ottumwa, and Rees Davis, Wyman, the latter getting the better of the argument, as well as pitching one of the best games of his career. He held the visitors to two scratch hits while the Wyman sluggers piled up five on Simpson.
Wyman has played seventeen games this season, losing 3. They shut-out their opponents six times and were shut out once. They scored 86 runs in 17 games to 44 for their opponents.