1750? The "H" tree was formatted by the Indians.
1850 First white settlers in Milford Twp.
1856 Thomas Hughes family started the Mill.
1856? Formation of Pleasant Grove Congregation.
1858? Start of Pleasant Grove School, School #1.
1858 Formation of Milford Township, Story Co.
1860 Prairie fire that killed a family of 6.
1865 Four Corners Tree planted by Cyrus Spring
1867 Earliest tombstone Pleasant Grove Cemetery.
(Brought in from another cemetery)
1869 Story County Poor Farm started.
1871 Railroad vote passes in Milford Twp.
1874 Present Pleasant Grove Church constructed.
1876 Soper's Mill bridge constructed.
1877 Pleasant Grove Cemetery ground purchased.
1880? Start of Christian Church in Sec 18.
1884-85 Brick Pleasant Grove School first used.
1894-95 Severe drought closes Soper's Mill.
1918 New County Home built following a fire at old.
1920 School starts at the 5 schools at Sec 15 site.
1923 Four Corners tree cut down.
1924 New brick School is first used by students.
1926 We win our 1st Co Basketball Championship.
1927 First Graduating Class
1931 State Corn Picking contest at County Home, Sec 35.
1931 Pipeline crosses Milford Twp South to North.
1948 Powerline crosses Milford Township East to West.
1948 Milford declared Iowa's most rural Twp.
1954 Trailer Park established in SW of Sec 18.
1956 We win our 2nd Co Basketball Championship.
1956 New Gym constructed.
1957 We win our 3rd Co Basketball Championship.
1959 First Hard Surfaced Road entirely in Milford.
1961 Last Graduating Class.
1961 National Animal Disease Lab started.
1968 Interstate 35 opened across Milford Twp.
1977 Worst Drought for Milford Twp.
1978 Milford Twp only steel bridge added to Register of
Historical Places. See page 51.
1986 Milford Twp, Sec 23, declared Iowa center.
1988 Wakefield Woods established.
1991 Last use of School for education purposes.
1991 Rural Water established
1991 Milford Township Consolidated School sold.
2004 New Fence at Pleasant Grove
2007 Another record high water mark on upper Skunk River.
2010 Pleasant Grove added to Nat'l Register of Historic Places.
2010 Record attendance at Book's Antique Plowing day- 44 tractors
2011 Electric Highline rebuilt across Milford Twp
In the winter of 1863 in a Nevada Paper there is a clip about the Mail Carrier on the Fort Dodge-Nevada route becoming disorientated and lost during a blizzard on the di- agonal road in the grasslands between Nevada and the Skunk River Crossings and wandering for "a long time". As a result he had both feet severely frozen before he could find any home or shelter where he could find comfort from the rag- ing storm. Apparently, this must have been in the center of Milford Twp.
I found it quite interesting to notice that in the 1864 paper there was a listing of the Township officials of Milford Twp. Apparently these were all elected positions.
On the county Board of Supervisors from Milford Twp was Milton Evans.The Twp Clerk was P.E. Bechtell.
The Constables were G.B. Kooser and Andrew Scott.
The Justice of Peace was S.W. Adams.
The Assessor was Fred Reichord.
The Twp Trustees were Geo. Loucks, John Rich and Samuel Rich.
When the office of the Township "Justice of the Peace" and that of Township "Constable" were eliminated in Milford Twp has not been discovered.
In the fall of 1871 Milford Township had the opportunity of voting a 5% tax to support the con- struction of a railroad that supposedly was to connect Monroe, Iowa, with the Northern Pacific Railroad in Minnesota. Ideally, this road would have come through Milford Township and Milford Township was to be the last township to vote on this issue. The Nevada Paper reports:
Or so read the Nevada paper in the fall of 1871. With all of the "hype" in the Nevada Paper, when this vote occurred in late December, the measure passed. Perhaps the road was, for some unexplained reason, moved west to become the railroad, north and south, through Gilbert: or perhaps different railroad barons that were in favor of the route through Gilbert got their act together faster and when that construction began, there was no economic value in having another railroad just a few miles to the east that would miss the population and freight from a place like Ames. Update on "Vote"- page 311
Ol' Milford Farmer wonder if: Clear conscience is sign of bad memory.