CHAPTER VI.
CASS TOWNSHIP (CONT'D).
INCORPORATION OF TOWN.
The town of Lewis, although one of the oldest in the county,m was not incorporated until 1874. On the 15th of July, of that year, the following gentlemen, having been elected to the respective offices, were sworn in by K. W. Kennedy, justice of the peace: S. M. Stewart, mayor; C. C. Reynolds, recorder; W. A. Terry, George Kriger, T. J. Allyn, Samuel Disbrow and C. S. Welty, trustees; T. J. Allyn, marshal, and L. O. Reinig, treasurer. The first ordinance was passed by the Council on the 30th of July, 1874, and confirmed the measures already framed for the government of the city.
PIONEERS OF THE VICINITY.
Mention should now be made of several pioneers who settled in the vicinity of Lewis in the 'fifties and became more or less prominent. Amos W. Vaughn located on section 9, west of the town site in 1852. He endeavored to play a sharp game on the county when the commissioners had made the selection for the county seat, by going to Council Bluffs and entering that identical piece of land, hoping to make something out of it as a speculation. But he had only his labor for his pains, as he was compelled to relinquish all title to the property, and was glad to get his money back.
George McClintock, born in Ohio, came to Iowa with his parents when a young man, but his father died of cholera before the family were settled, and the burden of their support fell upon the son. They finally located in Mahaska county, but were induced to come to Cass county by Charles K. Baldwin, a relative, and clerk of the district court at Lewis. The family started for their new home in the winter of 1856, the season of the heavy snows, and the travelers suffered much from cold and fatigue. When they reached the Nodaway valley they became lost in a snow storm, but later in the evening reached a small log cabin which was occupied by John Dyer. For three days, or until the cessation of the storm, they were obliged to remain in this rude structure, when with six yoke of oxen they started for Lewis, where Mr. Baldwin was also operating a hotel. There the family remained for the winter, and in the spring removed to a dwelling which was constructed in Lewis. With his mother, Cornelius supported the family. Renting a few acres of land he began farming and the enterprise was so successful that mother and son purchased a tract of land in Cass township and one in Atlantic. They sold all but eighty acres north of Lewis, which they improved and, in later years, sold. Cornelius married a daughter of Samuel Upson, a pioneer settler in the vicinity of Indiantown, and became the owner of the 190 acres comprising the old family homestead of Jeremiah Bradshaw.
Twenty years ago James M. Baxter was the largest farmer in Cass county, as well as one of its most enterprising and public spirited citizens. He was a young man, the son of a Vermont agriculturist, when he arrived in Cass township, March 11, 1856, the country then being very sparsely settled. One small dry goods store at Lewis was the only one in the county. There was no blacksmith shop and the settlers were obliged to go to Council Bluffs for all their blacksmithing. There was occasionally a school, but not a school house in the county. Mr. Baxter worked for two years as a farm laborer, but the first summer bought eighty acres of land six miles southwest of Lewis, and began to improve this tract in 1858. Within the following twenty years he broke and improved 2,000 acres of prairie soil, built many houses and miles of fence, sunk wells and developed the agricultural resources of Cass and Bear Grove townships generally. At one time he was the owner of 1,600 acres, all under fence and in tame grass, pastures and crops. He also paid much attention to improved stock. On June 10, 1880, a cyclone passed over his place in Cass township, destroying three tenement houses and carrying away small barns and sheds, a hog house 125 feet long, and 125 hogs, 95 pigs and 4 horses. Mr. Baxter was also a leading member of the County Board of Supervisors, and long connected with the township government in various capacities.
LEWIS AS IT IS.
Lewis is now a thriving town of about 700 people, situated in the western part of the county, on the line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and on the eastern banks of the Nishnabotna river. It is about midway between Atlantic and Griswold, and has a rich and developing country tributary to it.
For years Lewis was an inland town, and the business was confined to the East Side, but in 1889, when the branch of the Rock Island was completed to Griswold, the business was moved to the West Side to be nearer the railroad, and since that time the former section of the town has been abandoned for everything but residence purposes. Since the building of the railroad Lewis has also taken on a new lease of life, and, besides a number of substantial business buildings, claims to have more handsome homes than any town of its size in the State. Both, its merchants and professional men, are up-to-date, and its churches and schools are well supported. The last annual report of its board of education shows an enrollment of 235 pupils and an average daily attendance of 184. Its schools, which include a high school, are under the care of a principal, an assistant, and four teachers, and stand so high that quite a number of scholars, who pay tuition, are annually received from adjacent townships. Not only has Lewis good schools and three growing churches, but is quite deficient in saloons, billiard halls, etc. In the "Lewis Standard" the town has also a good weekly newspaper, which firmly upholds the fair name of the place.
"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 106-108.Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018.
