ness" following the establishing of the Grange Store, on the site just west of the present Standard Oil station, by Paul Thompson, Jonas Duea, John Evenson and Abel Olson. All were farmers and each took his turn spending two days at the store. In 1877, the store owners, then operating under the name Evenson & Duea, moved into a new building they erected on the lot south across the street from the present Bergen Church. The post office was located in this store, also.
It was John Evenson, the postmaster, who gave Roland its name, suggesting it as an easy one to pronounce both in English and Norwegian, and easy to spell.
There were other stories as to how Roland received its name. One version is reported by the late P. A. Olson, editor of the Story City Herald, thusly: "In E. F. Bell's sprightly history of Roland, we are told that the name was suggested in a certain conversation in which a famous Danish character by that name was mentioned. In Goodspeed's History of Story County it is stated that Mr. Evenson got the inspiration for the name from a noted man in Norwegian history. The fact probably is that neither version is quite correct. History does record the fabulous deeds of a soldier in Charlemagne's day, about 1100 years ago, whose name was Roland. He was a Frenchman, but in time the story of his military feats was translated into all the languages of Europe, which makes it probable that those who read about him in Denmark thought of him as a Dane, and in Norway he came to be a Norwegian. So it is very likely Mr. Evenson got the name from this epic character, who undoubtedly was a Frenchman, not a Dane or Norwegian.
"Most people who have given the matter any thought no doubt believed Roland was named after the famous man or woman in French revolutionary times. During the past century the phrase, 'O Liberty, how many crimes are committed in thy name, ' was frequently met with in print. These were the last words of Madame Roland as she went to the guillotine to have her head cut off by the revolutionists whom she had for a time supported. Her husband, when he learned of her death, fell on his own sword, like King Saul of old, and took his own life. 'I refuse longer to live in a world where men can do so wicked a deed,' he said. These were the Rolands we thought had given our neighbor on the east its name. It seems, however, we, too, were wrong. "
In addition to the Evenson & Duea store, in 1877 there was a blacksmith shop just south of the store, operated by Albert Thompson, and a shoe repair business owned by Tom Johnson.
The coming of the Iowa Central Railroad in 1881 was a big boost for the young town. In December 1880, a 3-mill tax was voted for the new railroad which was to run from Marshalltown to Story City. The railroad was completed in 1882, and the station at Roland was opened March 23, 1882, with H. E. Carpenter as the first agent. With the arrival of the railroad, the Evenson store was moved to the present site of the Roland State Bank, and O. O. Stole and Jonas Duea started a hardware store in a building erected across the street, presently occupied by Borwick Plumbing G Heating. The post office was also located in that store with Mr. Stole acting as postmaster.
Allen's History of Story County has this to say of Roland, apparently gleaned from a newspaper clipping from the County Seat and dated November 22, 1882:
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