Lime Creek Township - Towns Histories
Last updated 04 March 2021
Dayton (Daytonville)
In October 1854, the town of Dayton was laid out in section 18, and what glory or prestige Wassonville may have been able to retain, it lost all its trade and for a umber of years Dayton showed signs of prosperity. The surrounding country was well settled and very productive, these being abundant resources from which a town of considerable size might draw sustenance.
However, the shriek of the first fire engine on the railroad sounded the death knoll of Dayton and what life and vitality it once possessed was transmigrated to the body corporate of Wellman. A new railroad was coming westward from the Mississippi. Coal mines at What Cheer had provided a new source of revenue for railway magnates and speculators, and Dayton soon was being moved southward to a new site along the route of the railway.
Source: WCGS Fall/Winter 2005 newsletter and Atlas of Keokuk and Washington Counties, Iowa (1971). This page was prepared and posted by Norma Jennings Dec 2012
Nira
Originally, it had only a nickname "Turkey Scratch", so called from the excellence of its grand and climate for the raising of turkeys. Then it grew space and petitioned the government for a post office. Uncle Sam told the petitioners to get a name.
Nira was an unusual name for a town, its origin going back t 1880 when Col. W.B. Bell was postmaster at Washington. It was to have a post office so as was the custom, the post master at the county seat was given the honor of naming the new "child." On Col. Bell's desk was the picture of his wife Nira Bell. Why not name it Nira? It was short, it caught he public fancy and Nira it became. George Moffet was an early settler, his "Nira" being the first child born in the town.
The railway company did not contemplate a station between Wellman and Kinross, but the neighborhood got together at C. C. Lewis' house in the summer of 1879 and decided to demand a station. J. N. Carr, William and V. W. Carris, Martin Stapleton, William Green, William Frink, Jos. Adams, William Hull, William McGahan, the Duers - Joe and Jack, Ezra Pool, and others were present at this meeting. They located the town that afternoon. The land for the town site was given by J. W. Lewis.
V.W. Carris and Mr. Lewis established the first grain and stock market and built the first elevator, Nirkpatrick built the first store - a grocery with living rooms behind. A cheese factory was cooperatively built and operated about 1886 or '87. Dr. Everson was the first doctor to locate in Nira and was there a number of years.
The first teacher of the Nira school was Anna Bloise.The first term was held in the spring of 1880. Nira church was cooperatively built by the neighborhood about 1896. The church was open to all denominations, though, for many years, the United Brethren only conducted services, they having been holding services for several years in the hall upstairs in the Carr building. The first church services were held in the make-shift school house in 1881.
The town of Nira suddenly sprang into prominence when the National Recovery Act flourished in 1933. It was decided to print N.I.R.A. stamps and through the efforts of Congressman E. C. Eicher their stamps were to be placed on sale at Nira, Iowa, the first place in the United States. People came from all over to buy the first stamps and have them canceled in the town itself.
Nira's big day was almost her swan song. At least a few months later, the post office was discontinued.
Source: WCGS Fall/Winter 2005 newsletter and Atlas of Keokuk and Washington Counties, Iowa (1971). This page was prepared and posted by Norma Jennings Dec 2012
Pilotburg
In about 1839 or 1840, a group of men were crossing the prairie north of Washington making out the Indian trails through the tall grasses led by a guide, A. Martin Thomson. They called him their pilot and so a beautiful grove they discovered was first called Pilot Grove, later changed to Pilotsburg. It was sort of a half way place between Crooked Creek and the English River.
The first marriage was a daughter of Ed Farley and John O'Laughlin, on Sept 5, 1844. the first child born in Pilotsburg in 1856 was Leroy Nicola.
The first school house was built in 1855. Lumber was hauled from Burlington for its construction.
Pilotsburg was always a religious center. The first comers were the Mormons, and after they left in 1849, the Seventh Day Adventists came in the fifties and built a church in 1862. The second church built by the Seventh Day Adventists in Iowa. In 1858 Methodism was introduced to the town.
Source: WCGS Fall/Winter 2005 newsletter and Atlas of Keokuk and Washington Counties, Iowa (1971). This page was prepared and posted by Norma Jennings Dec 2012
Wassonville
The town was laid out in March 1848. For many years there was a good mill located there, and considerable trading was done. It was on the most popular route from Iowa City to Oskaloosa, and was the first station on the line of the underground railroad, laid out by Supt. Woodin in 1856.
Much interest having been aroused at Iowa City concerning the fate of Kansas during the slavery agitation, a public meeting was held at Wassonville, at which several spirited speeches were made, but after the public meetings of a general character adjourned, a private meeting that an address or commission was drawn up and placed in the hands of Mr. Woodin, who seems to have been chiefly instrumental in opening up the line of communication. He succeeded in enlisting in the enterprise the most active and reliable men in the various towns which he visited who were in sympathy with the anti-slavery movement. It was necessary to observe great caution and secrecy, as the administration was at that time in sympathy with the pro-slavery party and United States marshals were on the lookout for armed bands on their way to Kansas from the north. The underground railroad having been put into good running order, Supt Woodin and his station agents did quite a business in forwarding 'emigrants' during the fall, winter, and summer.
In 1838 the first settlement in Lime Creek Township was established at Wassonville. there was quite a dispute over two claims that were staked out and it was settled in favor of the Watters and Wassons. they built a mill on the north side of the river. This mill burned down in 1848 and another mill was built on the south side of the river in 1850.
By 1853, Wassonville's population was 300, caravans on their way to California, Kansas, and Oregon were stopping there to rest their teams, procure supplies, and rest from the rigors of overland journeys.
Flood waters of the English River caused the settlement to be moved further south. In 1854 Lewis Longwell purchased the site of Daytonville, the highest point in Washington County, and in 1858 or '59 the Wassonville post office was moved to Daytonville.
Source: WCGS Fall/Winter 2005 newsletter and Atlas of Keokuk and Washington Counties, Iowa (1971). This page was prepared and posted by Norma Jennings Dec 2012
Wellman
The early history of Wellman goes back to 1838, when the first settlement in Lime Creek Township was established at Wassonville. In the fall of 1837 a party of hunters came up the English River, saw a promising site for a water mill and staked out a claim. The party comprised the Watters boys, James, Samuel, and Thomas; and Thomas, and Henry, Joseph, Benjamin, and Robert Wasson to guard the claim, which a few weeks later was disputed by N. W. and Daniel McFarland, who also staked out a claim that included the mill site.The dispute was settled in favor of the Watters and Wassons, however, and the following year the Watters and Wassons returned with their families, built a mill and laid out the town of Wassonville on the north side of the river. This mill burned in 1848 and another was built on the south side of the river in 1850.
By 1853 Wassonville's population was 300, caravans on their way to California, Kansas, and Oregon were stopping there to rest their teams, procure supplies and rest from the rigors of overland journeys. Jim Lane and company stayed there over Sunday in 1856 enroute to Kansas. John Brown was here three weeks resting a lame mule and left two boxes of clothing which he expected to call for later but never returned. Slavery was a burning question, and it is reliably reported that slaves were secreted in Wassonville during their flight by underground railway from the South.
Flood waters of the English River caused the settlement to be moved farther south. In 1865 Lewis Longwell purchased the site of Daytonville, the highest point in Washington County, and in 1858 or '59 the Wassonville post office was moved to Daytonville. Only a few houses and the mill remained of what was once prospering Wassonville. Daytonville's glory soon fading however, for a new railroad was coming westward from the Mississippi. Coal mines at What Cheer had provided anew source of revenue for railway magnates and speculation, and Dayton soon was being moved southward to a new site along the route of the railway.
This was the beginning of Wellman, for the new village was laid out on land owned by Joseph Wellman in 1879. The President of Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern Railway, gave the village its name, in honor of Mr. Wellman.
For six years it developed as an unincorporated town. In response to the need for ordinances and village officers to direct the affairs of the town in public interest, the circuit court of Washington County was petitioned by 28 electors residing in the territory to become incorporated and the court appointed J. W. Gemmill, C. G. Clark, Charles Grassell, W. A. Downing and J. L. Mathews to hold an election to decide the matter. The election was held on Oct. 23, 1885, and the majority of voters favored incorporation and he next step was the election of officers.
The election was held on Dec 3 of the same year and according to the "Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County" published in 1887, the following officers were elected to serve until the regular annual election in March 1886. T. J. Allen was elected Mayor, D. F. Kirkpatrick, Recorder, B. W. Nicola, J. L. Mathews, E. F. Smith, Henry Longwell, James Wisner and Lewis King, councilmen.
A letter written on Sept. 1879 from Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wellman states, "Two families have moved into town. Fifteen or sixteen buildings are going up. We can hardly look out without seeing grain or hogs going to market. They have a telegraph office down here. They had a dispatch from Washington City two or three days after they put it up. The lots sell from about $100 to $250 per lot. There are going to be three dry goods stores, a hardware store, a grocery store, and a restaurant. We don't knowhow many hotels there will be."
The following is part of a letter from Isaac Leighton. "S(h)ingles are three dollars per thousand in our new town. The depot is two stories high. There are eight or ten buildings in town and more are going up every day. Last Thursday thirty-two loads of stock and grain came into Wellman. The cars are running west of the county line."
On Jan 19, 180, Mr.Isaac Leighton wrote that, "the two o'clock train had thirty one cars yesterday."
Some important events in the history of Wellman was the removal of the Methodist Episcopal Church from Daytonville to Wellman in about 1881, and the building of the public school.
Source: WCGS Fall/Winter 2005 newsletter and Atlas of Keokuk and Washington Counties, Iowa (1971). This page was prepared and posted by Norma Jennings Dec 2012
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