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In December, 1852, the Fourth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, ordered the organization of Cass County and appointed Robert McGRAW, of Potawattamie County, Thos. G. PALMER of Mills County, and Milton RICHARDS of Fremont County, as commissioners to locate the seat of justice. In pursuance of the order two of the commissioners met and located the county seat on the east half of the southeast quarter of section ten and the west half of the southwest quarter of section eleven, in township 75 north, range 37 west. The town was called Lewis, after Lewis CASS, from whom the county took its name.

The first house in the town was built in 1853 by S.M. TUCKER. In October, 1855, a public sale of town lots was held. The lots brought from ten to seventy-six dollars apiece. Prior to the sale the town had been surveyed and the plat of the same filed on February 6, 1854. An addition to the town was surveyed and filed for record on November 9, 1857. Subsequent additions were filed in 1858, and in 1865 a re-survey of the town was made by the county and the plat filed in February, 1866. The town now covers altogether about 320 acres. Before the railroad was built the business of the town was done in what is known as the "East End", about a half mile from the present center of business, and some of the old buildings are still standing, monuments to a bygone generation. On the first of January, 1880, the first train was run from Atlantic to Lewis over the new branch which the C.R.I. & P. had from Atlantic to Griswold. IN 1870 the county seat of Cass County was moved from Lewis to Atlantic but this fact did not deter the inhabitants of the town from forging ahead. The town has had a steady growth and is now a thriving little city of good homes, schools and churches. Its business and professional men stand high in their respective callings and are loyal to their town and to Cass County. The population of Lewis as shown by the last census is 613.

From: Exposition Souvenir Album, published by Democrat Publishing Company, Atlantic, Iowa, 1904. Transcribed by Brenda Magee, March, 2010.