Chapter 16, pages 127-131
One of the interesting but less-well-known early-day towns of Mills County was Solomon, a community founded after the Council Bluffs & St. Louis Railway was completed on its almost diagonal course across the county in 1879. It later became the Wabash Railway and today is the Norfolk & Western. Solomon was in the southeast corner of Mills County, some three miles from the east border and less than a half mile from the Fremont County line. It was named after one of the county's pioneer lawyers and lawmakers, the Hon. Daniel H. Solomon, who also had large land holdings in Deer Creek township and was reported to have owned a section in the vicinity of the town that bore his name. Joel Solomon, possibly a relative, was one of the county's pioneers and also a large landowner in Deer Creek township.
The Hon. Daniel Solomon was engaged in the practice of law for a number of years and also represented Mills and seven other counties in the State General Assembly and the Constitutional Convention of 1857. That he was one of that body's influential members is shown by the fact that at the quarter-century commemoration of that convention held in Des Moines in 1882, he was one of the principle speakers, discoursing on the "Westward Course of Empire." He also taught the first school in Glenwood.
Through the influence of Mr. Solomon and others, Deer Creek township voted a five per cent (mills) tax on property to help build the new railway. The town of Malvern and other townships on its proposed line also voted similar financial aid.
There is no record of exactly when the village of Solomon was started but the Atlas of 1891 showed a plat of the town which then had an elevator and office owned by (E.C.) Kayton & (G.C.) Eacrett on the side track; and another building, probably a warehouse a block north at the corner of Main and North Streets. The post office was across the street from the warehouse and five other buildings, one housing a blacksmith shop, were scattered about the community, on Center Street and First Street. The post office was established in July, 1880, with Henry C. Bedison as postmaster.
In 1883 there was a saloon in Solomon and The Malvern Leader's correspondent for the community sent in an item headed: "Almost a Murder in John Hall's Saloon." The story told of one Alex McCharque of Missouri who got into an argument with the bartender over a 30-cent charge for playing pool, then pulled out a gun. A farmer of the neighborhood, David Brodock, tried to stop the fight and in doing so was shot by McCharque who was quickly arrested and taken to the Malvern jail for the night, then to the county jail at Glenwood the next morning. Feeling ran high against McCharque and D.H. Solomon prosecuted the case.
Mr. Brodock recovered from the shot but seemed to have had a bad year as far as violence was concerned. An item in the December 3, issue of 1883 told of a well digger, Charles Houstine of Imogene, working on a well on the Brodock farm who had a large bucket of dirt fall on his head, crushing the skull and letting "from eight to ten ounces of brain leak out" when Dr. Campbell and Brothers of Malvern came to treat the injury.
The saloon may have been a source of controversy. In the early 1880's Mr. Hall charged that one R.K. Lewis both burglarized the saloon and beat him. Lewis had sold the saloon to Hall only a short time before. But generally life was more tranquil in Solomon. In August, 1884, C.H. Rhodes of Emerson moved to the community, leaving only one house vacant. In January, 1888, Mr. Dean, the school teacher, had to dismiss school a few days because of a severe cold. G.K. Eacrett, helping at the elevator, took in seven cars of grain in two days and also shipped a batch of hogs to Omaha. P. Maher, Din McCarty, Henry McCardle and M. Fellows were some of the farmers of the vicinity mentioned in the news from Solomon.
In 1890 the Solomon news writer reported that "prospects for a new church here are very flattering of late." It was also learned that W.C. Davis had added a lot of new goods in the grocery line and was doing a good business. He had cabbage and sweet potato plants for sale as well. The news writer also observed that "if they start a package house in Solomon, look out for dynamite and flying packages." By that time, evidently, the saloon had closed and there was some consideration for a store to sell liquor by the bottle where a saloon wasn't wanted.
The little community did much business in shipping grain and livestock and there was frequent mention of this in news items. Mr. Horn, said one, "struck a good market with seven cars of cattle shipped from Solomon last week." Other items told of the Solomon mill (probably a feed grinding facility in connection with the elevator) grinding much feed and occasionally so many farmers brought wagons of grain to town that they had to wait in line to unload.
But Solomon failed to grow and the nearby communities of Strahan and Imogene were highly competitive. Like an old soldier, the town gradually faded away. Its plat was given in the Atlas of 1910, but little other information. Charles D. Costello of Malvern, who lived in the vicinity of Solomon as a boy when his father had a farm in the vicinity recalls that in the 1920's there was still an elevator there, and pens for holding livestock. He hauled grain to the Solomon elevator on a number of occasions.
Joe Doyle of rural Imogene, who now owns the land on which Solomon stood, remembers that the elevator was active through the 1930's and was then operated by Tommy Conner who also had such a facility at Imogene. He recalls that the town had an active community life. An informal race course was laid out on the level road west of town and some spirited contests were held there on summer Sunday mornings. The stores and other places of business other than the elevator closed in the 1920's or before. Gradually the houses were moved to other locations and in the course of time only the elevator remained. Even before it was torn down much of the land in the original plat had returned to farm use.
