CHAPTER XVIII.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES. (CONT'D)
From History of Audubon Co., Iowa (1915)
by H. F. Andrews
AUDUBON.
The town was laid out by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, on the southwest quarter of section 21, Leroy township, September 23, 1878. This land was claimed and squatted on as a homestead by one Edward Robinson. The growth of the town was phenomenal. It was promoted not only by the prestige of the railroad company, but also, among others, by the influence of Ethelbert J. Freeman and Capt. Charles Stuart, public-spirited gentlemen, who devoted their energies to building a town in the then wilderness. It started with an auction sale of its town lots on October 15, 1878; and the first day's sales aggregated six thousand one hundred and ninety dollars. Before night work was begun building business houses, which continued vigorously through the winter; and for several years afterward, and even to the present time, periodically.
Alex H. Roberts, who has since continuously lived at Audubon, and who attended that lot sale and then bought the lot upon which his store is now situated, on December 16, 1878, wrote to his home paper at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, an account of the new town of Audubon, describing its progress, conditions, prospects, etc. It is the best account of Audubon at that period yet found. Mr. Roberts wrote:
"When I first visited this place, October 15, the day the lots were first offered for sale, there was not a completed house in the place, and but three or four in course of erection. Today we have over fifty houses and the different businesses are represented about as follow: One bank, five general stores, one jewelry store, two hotels, one restaurant, three meat markets, three blacksmith shops, one harness shop, one livery stable, two coal yards, two lumber yards, one elevator, three grain dealers, etc. A school house, twenty-two by thirty feet, was completed ten days ago, and school opened last Monday, with fourteen scholars and Bob Hunter, teacher. * * * The county seat is located at Exira, a village thirteen miles from here, near the south end of the county, and will, I think, without doubt, be removed to this place next fall. (Which proved to be prophetic.) Although it is now mid-winter and the mercury lingers near zero, yet the sound of the saw and hammer is to be heard on all sides, and only last week three large business houses were commenced, and I understand another banking house and hardware store, two-stories high, besides many smaller ones, are to be built this winter. * * * The railroad was completed December 6, and since that time not less than ten thousand bushels of corn have been hauled in here, and four carloads of wheat shipped. A depot twenty-four by one hundred feet is now being built."
A month later a local newspaper contained a flaming description of the new city:
"THEN AND NOW.
"Don't it beat the royal star spangled American! But a few short months ago, in the place where we now sit, encircled by all that exalts and embellishes civilized life (perhaps), the rank thistle nodded in the wind, and the wild polecat flipped his caudal appendage in the prairie grass, or words to that effect. Pshaw! We thought we were running a Sunday school paper in Exira! It is not often that we get sentimental! But what we started out to say is this: Less than four months ago we roamed around over this town plat, trying to trace out the streets and alleys by the short stakes planted a short time before in the high prairie grass. Not a building had been erected, and in fact there were no signs that any would be erected for some time to come. The grass had already been killed by the autumn frosts, and the cold wind betokened winter at hand. Nearly every one predicted that nothing would be attempted in the way of building until springtime. Today (January 22, 1879,) we are sitting in a handsome two-story building. In the rear room two presses are running, and their incessant click! click! click! announces that the 'art preservative' has found its way to the 'new town,' as it was then called. Around us are papers and books, in profusion, and several persons--strangers to us then--some reading, some talking; but all here to make a home. In front is a fine street, and scores of teams and busy people hurrying to and fro; the iron horse is snorting and puffing beside a magnificent depot, and passengers are leaving the train and hurrying to hotels and other places. Half a dozen dray teams are hauling goods up the streets; the hotel bells are ringing to call the many new-comer guests to dinner; the sound of the tools used in nearly all trades can be heard; upward of a hundred buildings, many of them magnificent ones, adorn the town plat, and we see Audubon, then a naked tract of prairie, now a veritable and flourishing young city, the liveliest of its age in Iowa--as hundreds who see it every day freely admit. We venture the prediction that in one year from today the population of the place will reach nearly one thousand. And why not? It is tributary to, and will command, the entire trade of as beautiful country as the sun ever shone on, for a distance of fifteen miles, east, north and west, and about half that distance south."
FIRST BUSINESS DIRECTORY.
During the winter of 1878-9 the following professional firms and business houses were established: Land agent-Ethelbert J. Freeman. Lawyers-Henry W. Hanna, Joseph L. Stotts, Melvin Nichols, Nash & Phelps, J. Mack Love, Frank M. Van Pelt, Matt Matthews, Benjamin F. Thacker, John H. Carroll, all from Exira; H. U. Funk, John W. McCord. J. O. Andrews, T. J. Reigart. Physicians-John D. Holmes, from Hamlin; Hugh Bell, John F. Cloughly, Joseph T. Breniman, Peter M. Sheafor, R. H. Brown. Jeweller-Elias W. Beghtol. Railroad agent-Ebenezer C. Brown. Hotels-D. H. Walker, from Exira; Reynolds House; Matthias & Gaylord, from Arcadia. Boarding house-John Steiner, from Carroll. Bank-Van Gorder & Whitney, from Exira. Drug stroes-Alex. H. Roberts, from Mt. Pleasant; William Claughly, from Mitchellville. General stores-Benjamin F. Howald, from Atlantic; E. H. Ryan, from Council Bluff; E. M. Funk; Wilson Burnside, from Carroll. Grocers-Gleason & Lundy, from Red Oak; J. F. Wells, from Anita; A. S. Hatch. Hardware-Martin & Keller, from Atlantic; Stephen H. Shryver, from Bloomington, Illinois. Furniture and undertaking-Horace Prentice, from Mechanicsville. Meat markets-Chester W. Wheeler, from Viola; Samuel Hunter, from Exira. Livery stable-Gardner & Baxter, from Arcadia. Harness maker-David E. Soar, from Exira. Shoemaker-John Both. Graindealer-Wilson Burnside, from Carroll. Grain, lumber, lime and coal-Charley Stuart & Son, from Neponset, Illinois. Lumber-A. A. Hubbard, from Atlantic. Coal and grain-Frank H. Burr, from Atlantic. Contractors and builders-J. H. Carruthers, H. C. Paul, P. McKinley. Drayman-James A. Pollett. Saloons-Sanford Boatman, from Atlantic; John Frahm, from Davenport; J. E. Tucker, from Boone. Public buildings-Railroad depot, school house.
During the year 1879 the present court house was erected by the railroad company and its use was tendered to the county for five years free of cost, in case the county seat should be brought to Audubon. Charles Stuart & Son erected the finest brick office, for their extensive business, of the kind to be found in Iowa. At the general election the same year it was voted that the county seat be changed from Exira to Audubon, which was accordingly done.
The following new business interests were also established in 1879: Lawyers-John M. Griggs, from Exira; A. F. Bell. Dentist-Doctor Hoover. Hotels-E. Weston, J. H. Grant. Restaurant and bakery-Emil Bilharz, from Seneca, Illinois. Drug store-Joseph T. Breniman. Merchants-Lundy Brothers, C. Egbert, Elkanah S. Foster, John F. Consigney, Frank Gleason, Evan Davis, John H. Kate, Mallory & Jay, Noah Keller, Shryver & Mundy. Furniture-O. C. Jewett, W. H. Miller, Scott Brothers. Agent for implements-Williams & Morrow. Meat market-A. A. Zaner. Liverymen-I. N. Simpson, W. P. Gardner, Goodwin Thompson. Harness maker-Louis Tramp. Shoemaker-John Ott. Barber-Wilson D. Blackwood. Blacksmiths-Neil Ross, Keen & Jump, R. G. Sands, H. B. Wilson. Milliners-Mrs. Frank Gleason, Mrs. Newmire, Miss Donaldson. Photographers-T. B. Mendenhall, I. E. Hilsabeck. Grain dealer-George Gray, from Gray. Lumber dealer-H. Umphrey. Draymen-James Bennefield, Joseph Allee, A. H. Herring, Joseph Heath. Saloon-Henry Rohrbeck.
ROSTER OF VOTES.
List of men entitled to vote in 1879: George Atkinson, J. W. Bacon, F. A. Hacker, H. C. McMillan, Henry Welch, I. N. Simpson, Charles H. Tefft, J. T. Minor, J. H. Keese, J. H. Thompson, William Noel, J. H. Whitman, L. M. Anderson, N. R. Simpson, I. W. Baker, ---- Van Horn, John Ewing, Ed. Robinson, Henry McGuire, John Steiner, A. F. Loomis, George Frederick, John Hoffman, William Mallony. W. R. Collins, Wilson D. Blackwood, John Frahm, William Speas, Sylvestor Ary, J. H. Gardner, M. T. Adams, John W. Griffin, Nick Roth, James Holland, Wilson Burnside, S. W. Smith, Daniel W. Matthias, John Gorner, Ed. McMahon, W. D. Bates, J. Bartlett, W. C. Heckendorn, A. M. Smith, J. C. Shutes, Arthur L. Sanborn, J. Schryver, J. H. Thorpe, J. H. Brayton, William J. Myers, J. F. Wells, E. F. Fales, Frank Hobart, N. T. Fraker, Harry Collins, Charles Newmire, R. A. Chaplin, John Cartwright, A. A. Zaner, F. M. Ellis, Ed. B. Cousins, Frank H. Burr, J. D. Sleeper, J. F. Ford, E. M. Funk, William Hastings, H. A. Arnold, John Martin, Henry Atkeson, J. W. Pollett, Joseph L. Stotts, Henry Hester, Gideon Williams, H. G. Walters, M. W. Decker, M. D. Baily, Henry E. Cole, I. L. Dermond, C. C. Ellett, E. C. Honewell, James A. Scott, J. W. Lewis, I. P. Baker, W. Tulbert, J. O. Andrews, E. C. Meacham, H. H. Willis, J. F. Esty, Harry Loomis, Charles Buck, Michael Boust, J. T. Pryor, Samuel Hunter, James McVay, Hans Frahm, I. E. Hilsabeck, John Coquillett, Elisha Baxter, Neil Ross, John Schreck, John Holland, Mixe Loy, Ebenezer C. Brown, George Cox, A. C. Gaylord, H. C. Paul, Sylvester K. Landis, ---- Rutherford, P. Kearney, John C. Wilson, C. M. Maddox, O. W. Andrews, Stephen H. Schryver, Benjamin F. Thacker, ---- Eaton, Emerson H. Kimball, D. A. Railsback, Charles Knox, George S. Knox, J. C. Williams, J. E. Tucker, Henry Newmire, John Dunn, M. N. Marble, Charles Mesorve, George W. Ellis, Alex. Fowler, W. P. Clark, Chester W. Wheeler, H. U. Funk, George N. Funk, Lee Funk, Sammie P. Rhoads, Joseph Gaylord, Henry Engleking, J. H. Grant, J. W. Louder, P. McKinley, D. H. Walker, Robert M. Hubbard, Byron S. Phelps, A. F. Rogers, H. W. Van Gorder, Emiel Bilharz, T. V. Donovan, Louis Meyer, Benjamin F. Howald, Conrad Reinhart, D. F. Shocklin, William Cloughly, Frank Ewens, James Chandler, James McCanna, Evan Davis, Thomas C. Lundy, ---- Johnson, Daniel Lynch, C. G. Moore, Hiram M. Talbot, John Both, J. M. I. Bryan, Alex. H. Roberts, John D. Holmes, G. W. Newcomer, George Keene, James B. Elrod, Lewis Watson, Robert Cobean, Noah Keller, Del Graves, T. J. Reigrart, David Newport, James Warke, Hugh Bell, J. A. Miller, Ethelbert J. Freeman, John F. Cloughly, E. Krollman, I. A. McKinney, S. W. McManegal, George W. Myers, Frank Gleason, William H. Scott, A. C. Lewis, Bruce Moore, Elias W. Beghtol, John Burnes, M. Dubois, James T. Bell, S. B. Johnson, L. Smith.
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Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, November, 2018, from History of Audubon Co., Iowa (1915), by H. F. Andrews, page 267-271. |
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