HERITAGE VIGNETTES by Marilyn A. Bekker

AROUND THE COUNTY

At 2:00 a.m. on July 3, 1911, the store of Elias Adams was discovered to be on fire. The building was located at Adams’s Station about 12 miles from the city on the Muscatine Western Railroad. Nothing was saved from the burned building. Adams had just put in a new stock of assorted merchandise and had a loss of $3,000 plus the building valued at $700. The post office was located in the building. All the letters in the office and about $20 worth of stamps and envelopes were burned. Two tramps seen off the road about the time of the fire, were suspected of setting it.

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Names of area communities often have a curious origin. On January 31, 1856, a town plat was filed for record by John P. Cook and William Lundy. While mining in California, Lundy was living near a small mining village called Atalissa, named for an Indian princes of a local tribe. He like the name and gave it to the town located in Goshen Township. Atalissa, would be presented with a corner lot. Atalissa Davis, born in 1857, was the fortunate infant who became the owner of a lot in Atalissa, Iowa.

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Atalissa, with its immense spring, was an ideal site for a railroad water tank. The spring was donated to the railroad company by William Lundy and the town began to grow. On January 14, 1856, Judge George Meason approved the town plat which met the requirements of the Iowa code. On January 31, 1856, it was filed with the county recorder. Atalissa was incorporated on November 28, 1899 and these papers were filed for record n January 7, 1901. The post office moved to the town from Overman’s Ferry in 1856 and N.C. Swanks was named postmaster. Swanks also constructed the first building in which he opened the first store. Atalissa was platted by Cook and Lundy on 80 acres owned, among the other land, by William Lundy who came to Goshen Township in 1847. After the financial failure of Cook, Charles W. Durant of New York became interested in the property. Early deeds for lots are signed by Charles W. Durant and wife and William Lundy and wife.

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Bayfield station opened in October, 1876 several miles northwest of the City in Lake Township, and served as a local loading site for livestock and farm products. A store was located there until 1926 and the stockyard remained until 1936. The tracks through the area were torn up in 1939. Area residents used the train to travel to Muscatine, particularly on Saturday, rather than hitch up a team and drive to town. The fare from Bayfield to Muscatine was 26 cents.

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Conesville, located in the center of Orono Township, was named for its founder, Beebe S. Cone. The lots were surveyed in 1870 and the first home constructed in July of that year by Alexander McCurdy. It was destroyed by fire in October, 1875. McCurdy also opened the first general store in Conesville. The post office was established in 1870 with B.S. Cone as postmaster. The first schoolhouse in Orono Township was located in Conesville and known as Township district School No. 1. B.S. Cone donated 200 feet of property to the B.C.R. & N. Railroad for the construction of a depot and the track was constructed from Todd’s Ferry on the Iowa River to the north line of Pike Township. The railroad station was known as “Cone”.

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Early homesteaders in the Cranston area suffered through many hardships as they began their lives in Iowa. The source of supplies was Bloomington, now Muscatine, a 14 mile journey on foot by Indian trails. The grain, which formed a vital part of their food supply, had to be taken to Ben Nye’s Pine Creek Mill located 10 miles beyond Bloomington. This meant a trip of four or five days. Usually the settlers took turns hauling the grain to the mill. One resident of the early days wrote of mosquitoes and other problems of nature. He told of a fever suffered by many which lasted eight to ten months. It was a difficult life.

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Fairport long ago was called Salem, but it also had the more expressive name of “Jugtown”. Its claim to this title came from its leading industry, the production of pottery. The soil at Fairport was especially adapted to this use and several pottery works offered employment of many of its citizens. The town also claimed to have the best river harbor between St. Paul and St. Louis. The water was very deep and permitted boat landings, even during low water stages. Basically a farming community, it originated simply a cluster of farm houses. Clamming and fishing also became part of Fairport’s early industry.

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Fruitland is the outgrowth of a necessity arriving from the immense amount of fruit and vegetables grown on Muscatine Island. During the years from 1875 to 1879, the acreage of watermelon and sweet potatoes increased greatly. It was very inconvenient and expensive to haul the crops to Muscatine. During the winter of 1875, Alexander McDermint called a meeting at which a committee was appointed to contact the Rock Island Railroad about establishing a station near the site of the old Town of Owega. The agreement was reached whereby the farmers would pay $1,000 and a building suitable for a store and post office would be built. In 1880, the Town of Island was established, the name later changed to Fruitland by the Post Office Department.

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John McGrew came to Iowa in 1835 and became the first settler in the High Prairie community. The name, High Prairie, was first given to the entire western third of Muscatine County extending from Letts northward to the sites of Ardon and the High Prairie Church. Samuel Lucas, Silas Goldsberry and Rudolph Altekruse settled on farms near the church in 1838. The first settlers came from Ohio and Pennsylvania while Iowa was still a territory. There were few fences and no railroads. “Stake and rider” rail fences were being used for enclosures when the first Hoopes family came to the community in 1856. In 1858 the High Prairie chapel was built. The tornado of 1868 destroyed the building but the church was rebuilt on the old foundation the same year.

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Moscow is one of the oldest towns in the county. Silas Webster and Charles Drury were the first settlers, arriving from Indiana in 1836. Cemetery records reveal burials as early as 1837 with Webster being the first. James Mitchell opened the first store in 1836 and had a good business with the early settlers and the Indians. William Hendrickson operated the first ferry across the Cedar at this point and a Mr. Miller ran the last in 1885, when a wagon bridge was constructed there. Daniel Henderson laid out the town site and the plat was filed for record on August 18, 1863. In 1854 the railroad passed the town and a railroad bridge was built.

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S.W. Stewart and his wife came to Iowa in 1837 and settled in Moscow. In 1839, the built their cabin and opened a wood shop where chairs, spinning wheels and other needed household furnishings were made. Stewart became one of the prominent men of the town. He later recalled that in a short time Moscow had a tavern, a wood shop, a blacksmith shop and a broom shop. There were three doctors and no preachers, except on Sunday. For amusement, settlers hunted, fished, lay around town and yarned and bragged, pitched horseshoes, shot at a mark for beef and raced horses. The standing bet for a quarter race was a gallon of whiskey, for a half-mile it sometimes went to five gallons, and the whiskey was to be consumed on the grounds.

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Four lots located in Moscow formed the basis for the first deed ever recorded in Muscatine. The lots sold for slightly more than $1 per acre at that date, November 7, 1838. The deed, written with an old quill, occupied the first page after the index of the oldest deed book in the County. It recorded the sale of 1.07 acres of land with all improvements and appurtenances thereon to Peter Perry and his heirs. The seller was Charles Henderson who had purchased the land in Dubuque earlier the same year. Henderson had owned the lots during the period before citizens of Bloomington had received their lot number.

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Four hundred people journeyed to New Era for an elaborate July 4 celebration in 1913. A children’s program took place in the morning at the New Era Gymnasium, followed by a basket dinner. Athletic stunts were the feature of the afternoon, which also included music by an orchestra, vocal selections by Florence Brandt and an art exhibit which drew another 200 people from Muscatine. Walter Balluff, a davenport attorney, delivered the afternoon’s main address. The evening program was musical, featuring the orchestra, Miss Brandt and a number of children.

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The town of Nichols was named by Benjamin F. Nichols in honor of his father, Samuel, who was responsible for the arrival of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern Railroad Company establishing a depot at that site. The first building in the town was erected in 1871 by Dr. S.H. Smith and was used as a drug store and a home. The post office was established in October, 1870, with Benjamin Nichols appointed the first postmaster.

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Nichols area residents were shocked by the murder of one of their young people in June, 1894. Seventeen year old, Mary TeVoert, was shot five times as she ran from her slayer. She died a few hours later. Twenty-seven year old, Jacob Ising, a successful immigrant farmer of the area, had lived at the TeVoert home and had become enamored of the young girl, but she had continued to accompany other young men to neighborhood events. On the afternoon of June 28, he waylaid her as she returned from a neighbor’s home in a cart. When she declined his proposal, he took a gun from his pocket. She ran, but to no avail. Following the shooting Ising ran in the opposite direction and shot himself. Neighbors refused to allow him to be taken into their homes. After seven hours he was dragged to a nearby corn crib, where he died 17 hours later.

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In the 1850’s, the stage which ran from Muscatine to Davenport made the Inn at Montpelier, the half-way place between the two cities. It was 14 miles from either town. The stage made a weekly run. The shelling industry had its boom in Montpelier as well as other river towns but the principal occupation of the vicinity was farming. Pottery making held great promise and at one time kilns of large capacity were constructed. After operating several years, the industry died out. Montpelier township is one of the oldest in the County, being favored by the first resident in the County, Benjamin Nye, who arrived in 1843.

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In 1900, three firms comprised the business district of Pleasant Prairie, northwest of Muscatine. The hamlet, situated at a crossroads, had a general store, a post office and a blacksmith shop; of these, the post office was the largest. The village had come into existence in the 1850’s when the store and blacksmith shop were needed because of the distance to the city. There was also a school and a Methodist Church. Sweetland Center, six miles northeast of Muscatine also boasted a school and Methodist Church. The business district had only one building in 1900, a combined post office and general store. In those early days, the Muscatine-Davenport stage line passed through this farm community.

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The plat of the town of Stockton was filed in September, 1855. Quite a settlement had existed on the town site for years and the place was known as Prairie Mills, getting the name from the mills established there by Burrows and Prettyman. The village had also been known as Farnham, a name given by an early settler, and as Fulton. The post office was established by 1855. Burrows and Prettyman, well known Davenport businessmen, also opened the first store. The first building of the community was that of a hotel erected by A.C. Fulton. The busy town was served by two railroads.

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William A. Clark arrived to live in the Wapsinonoc settlement in 1836. On November 8, 1838 he became the owner of 80 acres of land for which he paid $1.25 per acre. He is credited with many firsts in the West Liberty community. He was the first to set a plow into the prairie soil of the settlement. His cabin was used as the first election house in 1839, and in it the first sermon was preached by Elder Martin Baker of the Christian Church. William Clark was the first man to bring wheat flour into the settlement. When he walked to Dubuque on business, he brought back some 20 or 25 pounds of flour because he was tired of eating corn meal all the time.

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The incorporated Town of West Liberty was organized in January of 1868. Articles of incorporation were drawn up and it was believed that all was in order. Town business operated accordingly until 1884. When records were checked, it was found that the official documents had never been issued by the State Legislature. Through the efforts of Senator Pliny Nichols of West Liberty, the documents were completed on May 2, 1884. The first town hall was constructed in 1886. With a municipal water plant approved by vote of the people in September, 1888, an electric light plant established in 1897 and the first sewer system built in 1911, the Town of West Liberty continued to grow.

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August is West Liberty Fair time! The first fair included Cedar County and the adjoining townships in Muscatine and Johnson Counties. This was 1859. By 1863, the group had split. In 1864, the Muscatine county group had purchased 40 acres, later sold it and leased the present grounds. The first fair was held at the site in September, 1872. One of the first things they did was to establish a good premium list and to make a good race track. P.N. Gibson was the starter of the house races for 25 years. Senator J.E. Nichols is known as the “Father of 4-H Club Work” at the West Liberty Fair.

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An attempt to dynamite a safe in the West Liberty post office failed on August 12, 1913. Shortly after 1:00 a.m. Lawrence Swem and his son, Azil, were awakened by the noise of the first explosion. They hurriedly dressed and rushed to the post office where they were fired upon by the robber standing guard outside the buildings. Swem was struck by a number of shots, but not seriously injured. Other citizens, aroused by the shooting, turned in a fire alarm which woke up the whole town. One of the robbers had taken the precaution to shoot out the only street light nearby and under cover of the darkness and confusion they made their escape.

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More than 1,000 head of horses were shipped out of West Liberty to eastern markets and farms during the winter of 1927-28. About a third of them had been bought within a 100 mile radius of West Liberty, while others had been auctioned off at the local barn. On March 8, 1928, 125 head were sold at P.N. Bison’s sale ring. The top horse sold for $237.50 and the top pair for $435. The top pair of mules were sold to Littig, the contractor, for road work on No. 32. The selling price was $355. Horses sold at the market were shipped to Chicago; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Lima, Ohio and some were sold to local farmers.

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311 Tons of tomatoes were canned in the West Liberty Canning Factory I none week of September, 1931. So many were received one Friday, that peelers were unable to take care of the work and more than 40 businessmen and their wives went to the plant an worked several hours. Their earning were turned over to the local Red Cross. Miss Alva Boyle peeled a record 50 pails or 700 quarts on that busy Friday. Peelers were paid 7 cents a pail and a bonus of one and a half cents was paid each peeler who stayed throughout the season without any absenteeism. So many tomatoes were arriving in mid-September, 1931, that the plant limited grower’s delivery to ten baskets per acre per day.

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In September, 1854, Butterfield and Stone platted the original town of Wilton and it was recorded in October, 1855. An appropriate name became the next important step. One favored an Indian name, another suggested Cedar Junction, but since that inferred a small railroad station, it was deemed inappropriate. Mr. Butterfield advocated the name of Wilton, the name of his native home-town in Maine. Finally, it was suggested that Butterfield present a list of six names. Of the sic, Green and Stone chose two – Wilton and Glendale. After some consideration Glendale was chosen and for nearly a year the community was known by that name. However, before the plat was recorded, they had re-considered and Wilton became the permanent name.

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In 1888, seven years after Wilton lost the round house operation of the Rock Island Railroad, an effort was made to get the town back on its feet economically. The town fathers decided to sink a well in search of gas or oil. At 1,100 feet the driller abandoned the project in spite of an agreement to go to 2,000 feet. In 1890, under the optimistic leadership of Mayor C.W. Norton they tried again. A new driller deepened the shaft to 1,480 feet and hit water. The flow of 450 gallons per minute was diverted to Mud Creek. There the highly mineralized water, mixed with creek water, produced a grey-brown foam. Mud Creek was the source of the railroad’s water supply and the effects of the foam on locomotives were disastrous so the well was capped. The efforts were not a total loss, however. The following year the town’s water system was installed and the well provided the town with plenty of good, if slightly hard, water.

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The Wilton Fair was an exciting event on that community’s calendar. The fairgrounds located at the site of the present R.E.A. grounds, included two horse barns, one barn for race horses, a cattle barn, hay barn and chicken shed. In addition, there was a grandstand, 100 feet long, and an octagon shaped floral hall. The half-mile track was as good as any in the vicinity and brought race horses throughout the Midwest, the best pacers and trotters. In the early years auto racing was included on the fair bill. Wilton Fair days ended in 1915.

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