SHELBY COUNTY
By Ed. S. White
Shelby County, in the second tier of counties east of the Missouri River and in the fourth north of the south boundary of Iowa, lies between the forty-first and forty-second parallels of north latitude and between the ninety-fifth and ninety-sixth degrees of longitude west from Greenwich.
In general its land is rolling, but there are important river valleys following the winding courses of Indian Creek, in the southeastern part of the county, the various branches of the Nishnabotna River, Silver Creek, Keg Creek, Mosquito (Musketo) Creek, Pigeon Creek, and Mill Creek in Grove township.
The county belongs to the drift area, the soil being composed of the finely ground and pulverized rock material, carried from the north untold ages ago by the great glaciers. Some gravel deposits appear in a few places in the county and more particularly in Mill Creek in Galland's grove. The subsoil geologically known as loess, is commonly known as clay, yellow in color. Its capillarity is very great, bringing up when stored by ample rainfall, moisture as required by crops, in a manner somewhat like the rise of oil in a lamp wick. The soil stands well extreme drouth.
The heaviest monthly snowfall was in the years 1899-1914 in Shelby County, was 17.5 inches in January 1902; 32 inches in March, 1912; 29.3 inches in March, 1901. The traditionally heaviest snowfall and hardest winter in Shelby County is that of 1856. In eastern Iowa the snowfall for that winter was 54.4 inches, but in 1860 in eastern Iowa the snowfall was 56.05 inches and in 1867, 61.97 inches, statistics covering the years 1849 to 1868.
Shelby County has been visited since its settlement by white man at least three times by tornadoes, covering large areas. The first known storm of this character appears to have occurred in June, 1866, coming from southwest to northeast and covering territory in Botna valley near Harlan and especially northeast of the town, running through parts of Center and Douglas townships. Although Shelby County has had several severe drouth years, one in 1894, there has never been a complete crop failure.
Shelby County was named and its boundaries fixed in 1851 by legislation of the third general assembly of Iowa in session at Iowa City. The county was named in honor of Gen. Isaac Shelby, a distinguished leader of the Revolution.
The first election in the county was held in 1853, and the county organized in 1854, in which year its officers qualified.
On December 3, 1853, Judge Samuel H. Riddle of Council Bluffs, appointed Lorenzo Butler of Harrison County, J. F. Vails of Crawford County, and Marshall Turly of Council Bluffs, as commissioners to locate the county seat, previously named by the general assembly of Iowa, "Shelbyville". Shelbyville was platted Oct. 30, 1854, by W C. James, Addison Cochran, H. H. Fowler, Henry J. Runnels, and Andrew Fouts. County officers of 1854 were Mansel Wicks, county judge; V. G. Perkins, district clerk; M. M. Beebe, sheriff.
Although not shown on the plat books in the office of the county recorder a very early village staked out by Mansel Wicks and a man named Dodge, existed in now Center township, near the former home of L. D. Sunderland. A store was started by Jacob Majors. The village was short-lived.
The first pioneers settled in the native groves, building their log cabins in Galland's Grove, Hacktown, Cuppy's Grove, Bowman's Grove, Wick's Grove, Leland's Grove, and in other tracts of native timber. Here they found ready at hand material for cabin, fuel and shelter and ready access to water. Physicians were few and far between. When flour and cornmeal became scarce, and winter storms made trips to Kanesville (now Council Bluffs) impossible, housewives ground buckwheat or other grain in coffee mills.
The earliest settlement appears to have been made by Abel Galland and his son, in 1848, in what is now Grove township. Abel Galland was a brother of Isaac Galland who came from Indiana to Lee County, Iowa, founding the town of Galland at the head of the government canal above Keokuk. It appears that Abel Galland came from Indiana in 1831, and settled in Van Buren County, Iowa, there founding the town of Farmington, and that Galland came to Kanesville in 1846. The first settlers of Galland's Grove, now a part of Grove township, were members of the church known as Latter-Day Saints, members of the non-polygamous branch of the Mormon church.
William Jordan, a son-in-law of Abel Galland, with his family lived in the Galland log cabin during the winter of 1848-49. This family is believed to have been the first white family to spend a winter in the county.
The second pioneer settlement in Shelby County was probably made ar "Hacktown", in Fairview township, on the east side of the Nishnabotna River, about 2 miles south of the present town of Corley. The first group of pioneers being natives of Fountain County, Indiana, including Abraham Watson, Constantine Watson, Jonathan V. Watson, and William Hack and his two sons, Leander and Perry, all of whom apparently came in 1852.
In the spring of 1853 came Henry Custer, Sr, and his family, including his sons, Rudy, Henry, Jr., and Benton C. In 1854 Albert Hack and his son, H. P. Hack, arrived. In 1855 came Wesley McKeig.
West of the Hacktown settlement, across the Nishnabotna River and in Section 17 of Fairview township, was the Waterbury's Grove settlement, where Stephen Waterbury and his son, Lewis, natives of New York, settled in 1853.
Beginning about the date of the Hacktown settlement was the Cuppy's Grove community, where Dr. W. J. Johnston, probably the first physician of the county, a Pennsylvanian, and his family, and Adam Cuppy and his family, arrived in 1852.
The pioneer community of Bowmab's Grove, located about 6 miles east of Harlan, was established about 1853, apparently by Alanson Sweat and Dwight Terrill, Ohioans. Either Leonard Bowman or his son, Daniel, Pennsylvanians, both of whom came to the grove about 1853, possibly in 1854, gave the grove its name.
Large blocks of foreign-born immigrants early established themselves in Shelby County, and greatly contributed to the up-building of it. The Danes in the '60's began colonization of the settlement known as Cuppy's Grove in Monroe and Fairview townships, establishing a strong Danish Baptist church there. A little later pioneer Danes of the Lutheran faith settled on the open prairies of Clay township, establishing a flourishing church there, and founding the present town of Elk Horn. Many Danes also settled in the townships of Jackson and Polk. A great many German pioneers in the '70's took up residence in Monroe, Fairview and Shelby townships, where their descendants are now numerous and important. They are Lutherans, chiefly. The Westphalia township German settlement began about 1871 or 1872, where a community of the Roman Catholic faith was planned and established.
It is likely that Shelby County, in common with most of southwestern Iowa, was long the hunting ground of several Indian tribes. Pioneers found stone arrowheads on the prairie in various parts of the county. R. R. Sandham, formerly of Harlan, discovered in the woods near Harlan, a stone mortar and pestle, apparently used by the Indians for grinding corn. A Shelby County newspaper of January 29, 1877, mentions Indian graves in the north part of the county, presumably in Galland's Grove, and that Indian graves had been opened and therefrom taken a set of silver ear-rings, beads, a pipe, arrowheads, and stone tomahawk. Early U. S. land surveys, plats and field notes, now in the office of the county auditor, show that there was an Indian trail traversing the west part of Jefferson township, and running north and south, crossing the Nishnabotna River near the northeast corner of the southeast quarter of Section 30, and crossing Elk in the northeast quarter of section 6.
In the western part of Iowa, mails did not arrive regularly from the east until about 1852 or 1853, a single team and small hack in 1852 making the round trip from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, taking a week to ten days. Council Bluffs, then known as Kanesville, was the first post-office for Shelby County pioneers. On January 25, 1852, the U. S. government was advertising in the Council Bluffs "Nonpariel" for bids for carrying the mails from Adel, by Greenvale, Panora, Guthrie Center, Bear Grove, Exira, Botany (at Bowman's Grove), Harlan, Shelbyville, Manteno, Olmstead and Woodbine, to Magnolia, 121 miles and return twice a week. Another route from Council Bluffs ran northeast through Harrison County to Fort Dodge, having Manteno on its route, a course of 150 miles and back, once a week.
The general assembly of Iowa in 1862, by joint resolution, asked the Iowa senators and representatives in congress to have established a tri-weekly mail route from Des Moines, by way of Panora, Guthrie Center, Exira, Harlan, and other points to Magnolia, in Harrison County. In 1870 a mail route ran from Harlan to Logan, and another from Harlan to Westside on the C. & N. W. railroad.
About 1800 the fauna of the county included probably the buffalo, elk, deer, black bear, beaver, otter, ermine, badger, swift (a species of fox), timber wolf, wild cat (also called "bobcat" by the early pioneers), an occasional panther, the lizard or newt (sometimes calledb"ground pup"), rattlesnake, blue rucer, black watersnake, mallard, teal, and other wild ducks, geese, an occasional swan, prairie chicken, quail, wild turkeys, etc. In a diary of the Lewis and Clark expedition, passing up the Missouri River about 50 miles from Shelby County, in 1804, it is recorded that deer, turkeys, geese, beavers and catfish were abundant, and that a badger had been captured by the party.
In 1858 and 1859, Shelby County citizens met with residents of other counties at Council Bluffs, and at Magnolia, in Harrison County, for the purpose of taking action to secure railroads. By May, 1861, the Mississippi & Missouri railroad (now the Rock Island) was open only to Marengo, in Iowa County. On December 8, 1874, Harlan businessmen met to discuss railroads for Harlan. Platt Wicks, W. J. Davis, J. B. Swain, Washington Wyland, Thomas Wood, J. H. Louis and others spoke. In July and August, 1878, elections were held in the townships of Harlan, Westphalia, Jefferson, Greeley, Polk, Douglas and Lincoln, to vote a tax for the construction of a branch of the Rock Island from Avoca to Harlan, the proposition carrying in all these townships, except Jefferson and Polk. The first construction train over the new branch of the Rock Island arrived in Harlan, November 27, 1878. In 1881, the C. & N. W. extended its line to Kirkman, and in 1899 from Kirkman to Harlan. The C. M. & St. P. R. R. Company completed its line through the county in 1882. The C. G. W. railway, then known as the Mason City & Fort Dodge railroad, completed and put its lines in operation in November, 1903. The Atlantic Northern & Southern railroad, from Altantic to Elk Horn and Kimballton, in Audubon County, was constructed and in operation in the latter part of 1908. This line and also the Northwestern line from Kirkman to Harlan no longer exist.
When the Civil War opened it is estimated that one man out of every six able-bodied men then resident within the boundaries of the county enlisted in the army. This military roll of honor includes at least 54 men, many of whom were wounded and some killed in action on southern battlefields. Again in the Spanish-American and Philippine Wars, the young men of Shelby County quickly took their places in the ranks of the U. S. army, the larger number enlisting in the Iowa National Guard.
Although the county was heavily populated by men and women of foreign-birth and their descendants, numerous and influential at the opening of the World War, yet the county went most loyally to the support of the United States. Each liberty loan went well over 100%, the Y. M. C. A., and Knights of Columbus funds met their respective quotas fully, and all of the war drives met complete support.
The most distinguished soldier born in Shelby County, and educated in the city schools of Harlan, is Major General George Sabin Gibbs, U. S. Army, now retired, whose military service began as a private in the Spanish-American War. When on June 30, 1931, he requested retirement from active service, he had served more than thirty-three years in uniform, and had occupied every grade in the army, from private to chief of the Army Signal Corps, with rank of major-general. During the World War Gen. Gibbs participated in the Aisne-Marne and Meuse-Argonne campaign. The Distinguished Service Medal was conferred upon him.
The first newspaper in Shelby county apparently was the New Idea, founded by Samuel Dewell, published at the now vanished village of Somida (Simoda), the first issue in 1858. This newspaper was followed by the Shelby County Record, first published March 5, 1859. The first Harlan newspaper was the Shelby County Courier, first published January 30, 1859. All of these pioneer newspapers were short-lived. The Shelby County Record as a permanent newspaper, although later issued under various names, was established at Harlan by R. H. Eaton, in July, 1870. It was subsequently owned by different editors and publishers, including Messrs. H. L. Wood and R. W. Robins. In 1876, the Harlan Herald, then in existence, George D. Ross, editor, was merged with the Shelby County Record, under the name of the Herold. The Herold was originally established December 18, 1874.
W. M. Oungst founded the Harlan Hub, December 9, 1880. The Hub, in July, 1883, was merged into the Herald, and the Herald in turn in July, 1886, became the Shelby County Republican, was merged into the Herald, and the publican, which was published by Oungst & Rhinesmith until 1889, when Oungst sold his interest to P. B. Brown. In 1903, Brown purchased the interest of Rhinesmith. Subsequently P. B. Brown and his son, D. K. Brown, (now state printer) conducted the newspaper until the year 1938, when the paper then and now known as the News-Advertiser, was purchased by the present editor and proprietor, Glen Liston.
The Harlan Tribune, only Democratic paper in the county, was established June 11, 1879, by A. D. Tinsley and U. S. Brown, Tinsley later purchasing Brown's interest and operating the paper until 1882, when it was purchased by E. T. Best, who, on December 19, 1883 sold the paper to Attorney G. W. Cullison and A. D. Walker. On February 27, 1884, Cullison sold his interest to Walker, who on January 1, 1885, sold the paper to W. C. Campbell, who remained in active charge of the newspaper until his decease. The newspaper is now published by Leo Mores.
The Industrial American was established July 16, 1887, by A. T. Cox and his brother, M. B. Cox. On September 2, 1910, it ceased publication when sold to the proprietors of the Shelby County Republican, and of the Harlan Tribune.
The Shelby News, one of the oldest county newspapers, was established March 22, 1877, by Ed. L. Heath. Later it was edited and published for many years by John Pomeroy, and later by Evert Stewart. The paper is now owned and published by C. O. Wayne.
The Defiance Argus was established June 10, 1882, at Defiance, Iowa, its founder being F. Bangs. Later this paper came to be known as the Enterprise, and was edited and published by S. E. Zollinger. Later the paper ceased to exist.
The Vaegteren, meaning "The Watchman", the organ of the Danish Baptist Church in America, now published at Elk Horn, Iowa, dates its beginning from January, 1877, then published at Harlan where for many years it was edited and published by J. C. Lunn, now deceased. The present editor is Rev. M. A. Wesgaard. The Elkhorn-Kimballtown Review is published by Paul L. Griffith.
Undoubtedly the earliest religious public worship by Protestant churches in Shelby County began with the members of the Latter Day Saints church in Galland's Grove, the real cradle of Shelby County. Probably the earliest missionary worker in Shelby County was Elder Thomas Dobson of this faith, with Elder John A. McIntosh closely following.
It is said that County Judge H. A. Tarkington, a member of the Methodist church, preached the first sermon in Harlan, in 1859. So early as 1870, Rev. Gilman Parker was holding revival meetings for the Baptist church in the county. Capable he was, for in one day he preached three sermons, taught a Bible class, organized a Sunday School, drove 18 miles, and performed a marriage ceremony. The Harlan circuit of the Methodist church was 40 miles long. The annual salary of a minister serving this circuit was but $446.21. Yet this preacher says: "The memory of those days is pleasant. There was an absolute abandon to the work at the church."
In 1871, A. H. Ketteler had obtained the agency for selling a township of land for the C. R. I. & P. RR company, Mr. Ketteler, binding himself to secure 50 settlers in the first 18 months, but failed. In October, 1873, Fluesche Brothers assumed the agency for the C. R. I. & P. RR company in selling land in Westphalia township for the purpose of establishing a church there and of founding a settlement of German Catholics. It is said that Herman Schwarte was the first settler. The building of the first church was begun in 1872, and the present brick church at Westphalia, erected in 1881, the brick for this church being made from the clay taken from a ridge a short distance back of the church. Rev. Father A. B. Weber was the priest in charge of the parish at the time of the building of the present brick church. The first priest of the church was Rev. Father Joseph Kneppe. The second was Rev. Father Peter Maly, a native of Bohemia. Rev. Father P. Brommenschenkel came from Riverside, Iowa, in 1886, and rendered long and distinguished service. The cornerstone of the present parish church was laid in 1888.
Dr. A. T. Ault, on August, 1858, plotted territory for a town to be known as Harlan. On April 4, 1859, the electors of the county voted on the question of the relocation of the county seat, the result being that Harlan was chosen in lieu of Shelbyville, which then together with Simoda (Somida), also on aspirant for the honor, soon fell into abandonment and decay. Harlan was named for James Harlan, who in 1855 had entered the U. S. senate. Ault's plat of the town was on the lower ground in the north part of the present city.
Harlan was incorporated as a town on May 1, 1879, and became a city of the second class in 1896. Today its population is 3,726, and its rate of growth steady and substantial.
The Western Town Lot Company, May 30, 1881, platted portions of sections 30 and 31, in township 81, range 37, to be known as the town of Irwin. Antedating the platting of Irwin was a village slightly to the southwest and close to the Nishnabotna River, known as Tibbottsville, where a postoffice was established in 1879. This village was named in honor of William Tibbotts, a very early pioneer, who had built a dam there across the river and erected a flour mill. Subsequently an additional plot was made to the town of Irwin, known as the Irwin's Addition. The postoffice of Irwin was established October 3, 1882, with D. S. Irwin as postmaster. The altitude of the town is 1,266 feet.
The first postmaster at Tibbottsville, in 1879, was G. E. Thompson. The first school teacher in the town was Miss Jessie Baker, afterward Mrs. Charles Sweeting. Theodore Palmer was editor of the first paper. D. S. Irwin, J. I. Myerly and D. T. Quinn were attorneys-at-law. Irwin was incorporated in the spring of 1892.
Defiance, lying in section 13, Union township, was platted by the Milwaukee Land Company on February 20, 1882. Subsequent plats were made by Messrs. Havick, Flaugher and Hains. The first settlement on the land where Defiance now stands was W. J. Williams, one of its first merchants.
The land on which the town of Shelby now stands was first owned by James Hawkins, an Englishman, veteran of the Mexican and Civil Wars, who entered land there in 1855. He built a log cabin on the banks of Silver Creek southeast of the town of Shelby in 1865. The first house built in Shelby was the section house of the Rock Island Railway Co.
The town was platted December 29, 1870, by Benjamin F. Alien and Thusie M. Allen, being a part of section 33, in township 78, range 40. An additional plat was made by Hoyt Sherman as assignee of the estate of B. F. Allen on January 26, 1876. Subsequent plats were made by Kline, Davidson & Coughran, Davis and McEwen, Tucker and Von Eshen.
Shelby was incorporated October 11, 1877. The first mayor was J. W. Harrod. The first town council was: John Davis, B. F. Davidson, J. H. Smith, D. H. Boget and David Carling. The post-office of Shelby was established May 13, 1870, with William Mack as postmaster. The altitude of Shelby is 1,304 feet. Shelby is supplied with electricity by the municipal plant at Harlan.
The Milwaukee Land Company, April 12, 1882, platted a portion of section 23, township 80, range 40, as the town of Panama. It was incorporated May 13, 1885. The first mayor was Lyman H. LaSalle. The first council was: T. A. Kavanagh, George McKnight, George W. McCoid, A. K. Graves, and F. R. Lock. The postoffice of Panama was established September 8, 1882, with John W. Kleeb as postmaster. The altitude of Panama is 1,251 feet. Panama has a population of 255, 1940 census.
Elk Horn, a town in the extreme southeastern part of the county, was established and developed largely by a sturdy and courageous band of Danish pioneers and their descendants. Perhaps the earliest settler in the vicinity of Elk Horn was Chris Johnson, coming from Moline, Illinois, and establishing his residence on Indian Creek in Clay township in 1867.
The first plat made in what is now known as Elk Horn was November 2, 1901, on lot 10 of section 1, township 78, range 37. The plat was acknowledged by the Danish Evangelism Lutheran Society of Elk Horn by Niels Olson, president, and Jens Rasmussen, secretary, and by the United Danish Evangelism Lutheran Church of America, by E. B. Christensen, president, of Omaha, and L. Johnson, secretary, of Waupaca, Wisconsin.
Portsmouth stands on land first owned by William Wiliams, who in the '60'sbuilt a log cabin there. The town began its existence with the coming of the C. M. & St. P. railway.
On August 8, 1882, the Milwaukee Land Company platted a portion of sections 16 and 17, in township 79, range 40, to be known as Portsmouth. The town was incorporated in 1883. The post office was established September 12, 1882, with George Walters as postmaster. The altitude of Portsmouth is 1,200 feet.
Earling, like the towns of Panama, Portsmouth and Defiance, practically began with the coming of the C. M. & St. P. railroad through the county in 1881-82. The town was named for President Earling of that railroad, although its first name was Marathon. The town was platted August 21, 1882, by the Milwaukee Land Company on part of section 5, township 80, range 39. The town was incorporated in 1892.
Albert Keep, trustee, October 22, 1880 platted a part of the west one-half of the northwest quarter of section 22, township 80, range 38, as the town of Kirkman. A number of out-lots of the town of Kirkman were subsequently platted and subdividied. Kirkman was incorporated on March 7, 1895. The town of Kirkman has a population of 185, census of 1940.
The town of Tennant was incorporated in 1915. It is located on one of the most beautiful plateaus in western Iowa. It has a population of 109, census of 1940.
The present villages include Botna in Jefferson township, Westphalia in Westphalia township, Corley in Fairview township, Jacksonville in Jackson township, Redline, Poplar, and Fiscus in Polk township, and Rorback in Clay township.
Probably the first attorney to carry his professional card in a newspaper was A. C. Ford, who in 1858, informed the people of Somida and vicinity through the columns of the New Idea, that he was an attorney and counsellor-at-law. J. W. DeSilva, a New Yorker, was the next lawyer to begin practice coming here in 1869, followed by Platt Wicks, a Hoosier. Many others came, so that in 1878 there were 15 lawyers in the county. The Harlan bar has produced three members of supreme courts: Cyrus Beard in Wyoming, H. P. Burke in Colorado, and Ernest M. Miller in Iowa. W. F. McNaughton, born in Shelby County, became justice of the supreme court of Idaho.
The first physician to locate in the county was Dr. W. J. Johnston, who settled in Cuppy's Grove in 1852. His grave is in the Bowman's Grove Cemetery. Dr. Adam T. Ault came a few years later than Dr. Johnston, but appears to have been interested chiefly in a small stock of merchandise.
On June 1, 1905, the Harlan Chautauqua Assembly Association was formed at Harlan. This organization for approximately ten years exerted an outstanding influence for good in Shelby County. By means of it the people of the county had extraordinary opportunities of seeing and hearing many of the most famous persons of the nation.
Many Shelby County men achieved high distinction in politics. Representing the Democratic party, there should be mentioned Hon. Nelson G. Kraschel, a resident of Harlan since 1910, who was elected to the office of Lt. Governor of Iowa in the fall of 1932, re-elected in the fall of 1934, and in November, 1936, elected governor of Iowa, defeating George A. Wilson, the present Republican governor. George E. Miller was chosen speaker of the Iowa house of representatives and at present is U. S. marshal for the southern district of Iowa.
Shelby County Republicans attaining distinction, include: Hon. H. W. Byers, a well-known Harlan attorney, who became speaker of the Iowa house of representatives, later attorney-general of Iowa, and prominently mentioned for governor of Iowa and for U. S. Senator. After leaving office he became commerce counsel of Des Moines in which position he tried many important cases, some reaching the U. S. supreme court. Attorney H. P. Burke is now, and has been for many years, a member of the state supreme court of Colorado; Attorney Cyrus Beard became a member of the Supreme Court of Wyoming; Attorney W. F. McNaughton, member of the Supreme Court of Idaho; George A. Luxford, former county superintendent of schools in Shelby County, became a judge of the probate court in Denver, Colorado; David K. Brown was appointed state superintendent of printing in 1939 which position he still holds.
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