"The History of Decatur County, Iowa: 1839 - 1970"

by Himena V. Hoffman
Published by Decatur County Historical Society, Leon IA, 1970
 
Part IV: - The Years of Peace and Prosperity 1900 - 1920 Pp. 141 - 194
Transcription by Sara LeFleur

“I want you young people to remember always that you live
in the best county on earth, in the best state in the union, that Decatur County is the best county in Iowa
and that Leon is the best town in the county. You live in the best spot on earth and don’t you forget it."

-Annual speech of Captain J. D. BROWN to the students of Leon High School
during the many years he was President of the School Board

The Years of Peace and Prosperity, Then World War I
 
During the years from 1900 to the close of World War I there were many reasons why those who lived in Decatur County viewed their situation with satisfaction and their future with confidence. Captain BROWN’S estimate of the county was accepted by May, and they only differed with him if their particular place [they lived] in was from another town, as to what particular place in the county was “the best spot on earth.”

Just how justified they were in feeling so secure as to the continued prosperity may be doubted. As to it being a time of peace there can be no question as to the fallacy of that term. War came before the period ended!

Of course some of the optimism of the periods was a reflection of national affairs. The successful conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1899 left the United States a world power, business was booming, and THEODORE ROOSEVELT was exactly the man was President to start the Twentieth century with new ideas and boundless enthusiasm.

As to conditions within the county that gave such assurance of a rosy future, there can be no doubt that the railroads ranked first. All the little towns were bound together by branch lines of the Burlington. So much had been given in land and money to secure this that much was expected.

In the early morning the train going south from Chariton reached Garden Grove before six and served as an alarm clock in many homes as it went to Leon and on to St. Joseph, Missouri.

In Leon the train from Des Moines and the one from Chariton arrived just before noon and their coming meant it was time for diner to be ready to serve.

The two afternoon trains were important as the time when the most passengers were at the station with relatives and friends there to see them leave. It was also the time when those who just liked to see the trains come in and leave were there in the greatest number. Representatives of the local newspapers were there, too, eager to secure items for next week’s edition.

While there were more passengers at the two railroad centers in the county, Leon and Van Wert, each town had its station and the daily excitement of the trains coming and going. At Van Wert where the ‘narrow gauge’ crossed the Humeston and Shenandoah there was the added interest of watching the passengers who “changed cars” there.

It was always of particular interest when an extra coach was added to a passenger train for special events, such as the Davis City reunion or at times during the State Fair in Des Moines.

Excursion rates were often offered and advertised in local papers. For instance, in 1903 those going to the State Convention of the I. O. O. F. could go for a fare and a third round trip. Round trip tickets to a convention of the Brethren Church held at Waterloo and round trip tickets to the reunion of the 33rd Infantry at Oskaloosa were at the same rate. Delegates to a state W.C.T.U Convention paid half fair plus two dollars. The best excursion rate was to the World Fair at St. Louis, a round trip ticket at the same price as a one way ticket.

The freight trains, while not as glamorous as passenger trains, were in an economic way most important. Counting the number of cars was of interest to adults as well as to children. There could, indeed, be much reason for satisfaction in the length of the trains which took the cattle, hogs, corn, and there products to market.

Some of the trains were known as “accommodation” trains and carried both passengers and freight. In the cabooses of the freight trains there were seats for passengers.

Because the railroads seemed to guarantee continued prosperity for each small town, business property in each was considered a good investment and substantial brick buildings housed the stores and shops. Each town had reasons for expecting to grow. Leon, the county seat, had many reasons for optimism. One of these was the location of a Swift Packing Plant at Leon in 1900, though it burned two years later. The company shows its faith in Leon by immediately rebuilding. A report in 1903 showed that during the egg season there had been twelve cars of eggs handled at the plant each week and that one hundred thousand pounds of poultry had been shipped from the plant during poultry season. The early morning whistle and the one at six that marked the end of the working day and gave to the people of Leon the feeling that they lived in a town that was a center of industry as well as a town with two banks, two railroads, and busy stores and shops.

The population had almost doubled since the coming of the railroads and while the claim of almost two thousand is not substantiated without a liberal interpretation of the “almost,” it had grown and did have reasons for expecting to exceed the number soon.

While the packing plant had not increased the population to any great extend, it did during its busy season employ as many as one hundred persons. As the work was so seasonal and for the most part many of the “chicken picker” and egg sorters were women and girls, its employees were from local families.

Another reason for the spirit of the early years of the Twentieth Century was the coming to Leon of new businessmen just at the close of the last century or at the beginning of the new. Among these men were ARTHUR FORBES and FRANK OWENS who opened a clothing store, F. N. HANSELL whose store in 1906 was known as Graham, Darrah and Hansell but soon became known as Hansell’s. ROBERT and JIM BOWSHER also had implement stores in Lamoni and Pleasanton but lived in Leon. W. C. STEMPEL was an enterprising druggist.

Besides these and other newcomers, sons and grandsons of the pioneer had now assumed the management of long established places of business. FRANK THOMPSON, son of Dr. SAMUEL and FELICIA THOMPSON, and WADE WARNER, son of Judge JOSEPH WARNER, were partner in a dry-goods store. There was still a Hurst’s store but Hurst’s now meant CHARLES and JAMES HURST, sons of S. W. HURST. SAM FARQUAHAR had retired but his sons, HORACE and GEORGE, managed the hardware store. AARON LONG retired early, and long before 1900 it was HORRY (who at the Christmas party in 1869 wore the gay red sash) and his brother GRANVILLE who were now in charge at Longs.

The advertisements in the papers during this period not only show what goods were sold but indicate the enthusiasm of the businessmen. Bowsher and Bowsher listed Velie Buggies, Deere corn planter, and other implements “the finest of their kind.” In a 1903 paper they offered for sale “Hundreds of the best buggy whips at one dollar each.” In 1906 Thompson and Warner advertised “good corsets” at from thirty-five cents to what must have been a deluxe model at one dollar and fifty cents. Not only did HARRY VOGT sell choice groceries but he also sold “fine” china. Nor was the fine china a misnomer, for what he sold included Haviland which when purchased was used only on special occasions but always kept on display in a chine closet. Many homes in the county had Haviland china from Vogt’s. just as HARRY VOGT’s china and other special items may be considered a forerunner of the many items in a present day supermarket. W. C. STEMPEL also followed modern trends in his drugstore. Besides drugs he offered various other items. One of his advertisements offered school supplies for sale including slate pencils for for a penny, and lead pencils at ten cents a dozen. He also sold clocks and stationary.

Leon had its first chain store when MIKE MYERS sold his clothing store to the Kraft Clothing Company. I. N. BEARD as manager took his place as an active and popular businessman in the community.

The spirit of the businessman found expression between 1900 and 1905 in an organization known as the 111th Alaskans, an informal association of business and professional men that did many of the things now the responsibility of the service clubs or the Chamber of Commerce.

In 1907 the Leon Commercial Club was organized. In 1915 its officers were JAMES HARVEY, President; A. L. ACKERLEY, Vice President; and C. W. ROBINSON, Treasurer.

There was also for a time a Civic Club whose emphasis was on social affairs and whose clubroom was used for many private parties as well as club affairs.

There were new doctors as well and new businessmen, all graduates of medical college. But Dr. HARRY LAYTON continued to be the leading surgeon until his death. It was Dr. LAYTON, not one of the young doctors, who in 1903 brought the first x-ray machine to the county. Dr. BOWMAN was still “young Dr. BOWMAN” in 1903. In 1905 there were seven doctors in Leon and soon after that Dr. EIKER moved to Leon from Decatur City and became one of the best-known doctors in this section. English born Dr. WAIGHT moved to Leon from Lenox in the mid-nineties. The coming of a new doctor was always a matter of interest but for several reasons Dr. WAIGHT’s arrival attracted attention. He was small in stature but a man of decided opinions that aroused discussion but what was of most interest to the young people in particular was that he had an unmarried son and ten attractive daughters, only one of whom was married when the family arrived.

Other doctors came and went during this period but I have mentioned those who came and remained in Leon for many years. Other dentists, too, came and went but Dr. ROWELL continued to practice in Leon. PETER BRADLEY, who married HANNAH GROGAN, moved to Leon, where he examined eyes and or, as many people still said, “sold spectacles.”

In 1905 fifteen lawyers were listed in Leon in GUS TINCH’s Pictorial History of Decatur County. Among these were “The Honorable V. R. MCGINNIS famed for his forensic eloquence” and C. W. HOFFMAN and GEORGE BAKER “conceded to be the best criminal lawyer in this section.” Also, on this list are MARION WOODARD, son of WILLIAM WOODARD, SAMUEL GATES, first graduate of Leon High School class of 1871, STEPHAN VARGA, son FRANCIS VARGA, who also had the abstract office. Others who would come after 1905 were AMOS OLSEN who would move from Lamoni, JOHN PARRISH who had been a court reporter, ED SHARP, secretary of Congressman HEPBURN, who came to Leon to study law and who was at one time county attorney, BILL SPRINGER, son of JAMES SPRINGER, whose father was an early settler, JAMES HARVEY, son of Judge HARVEY and FRANCIS VARGA, son of STEPHEN VARGA.

While the Farmers and Traders Bank continued in the control of the HARVEYS and TEALES, there were several changes at the Exchange Bank. ED MONROE followed E. W. DORN as President and during the last part of the period ALBERT ACKERLEY, whose wife was MARIETTA WALKER’S daughter, became president.

Leon was proud of its city waterworks, its electric light plant, and its telephone exchange with its helpful “centrals” of whom LOU CRAIGO would be so long remembered.

By 1915 the Leon Light Plant was owned by J. F. SMITH and S. C. JOHNSON. It supplied electricity for Garden Grove and Davis City as well as Leon.

While the post office had no building of its own, being postmaster was a coveted position and a reward for party service. Only once did this fail to be true. Much was the wrath and dismay of the Democrats when CAROLYN YOUNG SMITH, daughter of Major JOHN YOUNG, a Republican and, according to the local Democrats, not even a resident of Leon, was appointed postmistress though the recommendation of the Democratic State Committee. So great was the opposition that the witty Mrs. SMITH was said to have remarked that her appointment “which had been said to be a political plum was really a lemon.” In fact while no one denied Mrs. SMITH’s efficiency and charm, the situation was so unpleasant that she resigned. Her place was filled by ED BECK, a local resident with long years of service to his party. The pride of the Democrats demanded this recognition of party service and even the local Republicans, though not unamused at the plight of the Democrats, had felt affronted that a non-resident woman had been appointed.

Leon was proud of its schools, particularly of the new building which took place of the one built in 1876. It was completed in 1903 and was a combined high school and elementary school. During the year it was built the pupils who did not attend the South School attended classes in various buildings in the town.

In 1913 an annex was built that gave the High School a large study hall on the second floor and added three classrooms on the first as well as a place for manual arts and domestic science classes in the basement. FOSTER MULLINIX was the contractor.

The superintendents during this period included the stern disciplinarian, Mr. PIERCE, the much loved A. C. VOELKER, and OMAR GASS with his delight in group singing. Among the teachers long remembered were Miss HATTIE DRAKE and Miss FRANCES SEARS, both High School Principals, Miss HALLIE MOORE, Miss ELLA GROGAN, and Miss. MARY PARRISH.

Just as in past years there was no requirement that those employed have definite qualifications as far as college education was concerned. In fact some of the teachers employed were not high school graduate. They did, however, all have first grade certificates and were hired because of ability to teach, tempered at times by the fact that the members of the Board, who instead of the superintendent selected the teachers, favored certain applicants for personal reasons.

There was, however, by 1910 a changed in policy as far as high school teachers were concerned. While a successful teacher was not dismissed because of lack of a degree, any vacancy was filled by a college graduate. But by 1915 all of the high school teachers had teaching degrees, teachers in policy meant that in order to secure teachers with degrees, teachers without experience were given contracts and most of these were not residents of the county. Leon, however, was fortunate. These young teachers, while inexperienced, were enthusiastic and though Leon was not their home town, they made Leon their home during the school year, not in apartments but living in the homes where rooms were for rent. They attended Leon churches and entered into the life of the community.

One of the young teachers, WALTER COCKING, was in later years Commissioner of Education in Tennessee and at the time of his retirement was editor of the magazine The School Executive. Another teacher, Miss LISA KARR, became a faculty member at Lindenwood College. HATTIE WHITNEY was for years a teacher at Waterloo.

Captain BROWN, for many years President of the School Board, was, however, partial to the teachers who belonged to long established Decatur County families and who returned after college graduation to teach in Leon. When one of these resigned to go elsewhere he was amazed and disturbed. On one occasion at least, he himself offered to pay an extra ten dollars a month to prevent such a mistake being made “by one of our own girls.”

However important the teachers were it was, of course, the pupils that were the pride and joy of the town and the surround area.

As far as the High School was concerned it served not only the town but the rural districts nearest it. For instance, in 1912-1913 it was reported that 55 percent of its students lived outside of Leon and paid tuition.

Students furnished their own transportation and it was nothing unusual for a boy to help morning farm chores, walk five or six miles to school and walk back after school to help on the farm. Some fortunate ones had horses to ride. Girls, too, often walked long distances to school, but some did light housekeeping in rented room and worked for room and board in the home of a town family.

The curriculum in Leon included Latin (two or four years depending on demand), three years of mathematics and four years of English. In 1913 a semester of agriculture was offered and there was little laboratory work, more opportunity was given for that than in 1908 when all the experiments were done by the teacher. In 1914 additional work was given by adding Home Economics, and the Normal Training Course, first given in 1913, was expanded.

Not only were Home Economics and Normal Training Courses new in Leon but they were new enough in the state to make finding adequately prepared teachers difficult. Whether it is true that one of Leon’s first Home economics teacher’s really did buy new stocking and have the students in her class cut holes in them to learn to darn is a matter of conjecture but it is true the Normal Training Course, to prepare students to teach in the rural schools, was taught by a teacher who had never attended or taught in a rural school or studied methods of teaching for other than High School students. The amazing thing is that so many of those who took the course became successful teachers. In fact the record reveals no failures.

There were three courses offered in High School during most of this period – College Course, English Course and Normal Training. The only classes offered in what was to become the business course was one semester of bookkeeping and one of Commercial law.

As to outside activities there was much less emphasis on sports and band than new but membership in the school band which A. C. VOELKER organized in 1907 was prized.

The school activity that received the most attention during much of this period was declamation. Even the smallest school could have a local contest and enter the county contest. In Leon the winners in the local contests were coached during the last few weeks by someone with special training. MARIAN STOOKEY (DOT STOOKEY) sometimes was coach but at other times the contestant went to Des Moines for lessons. One year IVAN BLOOM of Des Moines was coach. Among the Leon students who won distinction in declamation were RUTH FARQUHAR, VICTOR SCHULTZ, REECE GITTINGER, RALPH STEWART, EDGAR ROWELL, RALPH MCGINNIS, and NINA OLSEN.

The sports for boys included basketball, but since there was not gymnasium, it had a short season, some track competition, baseball after school in the spring and football. There was no staff of coaches but sometimes a teacher or some young man in the community coached, not for pay but just because of interest in the game.

When the Leon football team defeated West Des Moines in 1913, the Leon Reporter in its account of the game called attention to the fact that Leon would have won by a larger score but West High had a coach and Leon did not! The interest in football increased not only because the Leon High School team included sch players as REECE GITTINGER, FLOYD BROWN and LEON LEEPER but because in 1912 and 1913 RALPH HURST was captain of the football team at Iowa State and RALPH MCGINNIS captain-elect at the State University of Iowa. As far as it is known no other town has ever had such a record and surely no small town has attained it. Though again, as in the record of JOE WARNER, it must be recognized that football players did not receive the recognition given them fifty years later, still it did arouse interest.

The only sport open to girls was basketball, played out of doors, and teams were not organized until the last of this period.

Other activity merits attention. Literary Societies were a part of most well-organized schools. These groups elected officers and chose impressive names but whether called Olympians, Clionians, Websterians or whatever such name selected, they offered practice in debate, public speaking and parliamentary procedure more painlessly and perhaps more thoroughly than do formal classes in speech.

As to vocal music, after 1913 Miss MIDA BRADLEY had marked success as a vocal teacher. Each year a boys' quartet was very popular and the town audiences listened with pride not only to them but to the chorus and the girls glee club.

Both Mr. VOELKER and Mr. GASS delighted in having group singing by the entire school. While Mr. GASS was Superintendent he never forgot the school “sings,” particularly those that came during the days before Christmas.

Though it was not connected with the schools, the Lone Scout troop was by 1912 a very important organization of boys thirteen to fifteen years old. Members of the troop had many activities but the big event of the year was a hike to Keokuk. Though the boys had a chuck wagon with camping equipment, they walked the entire distance to Keokuk, then returned by train. Nothing else that happen that summer was given as much space in the local newspapers. Each boy wrote a part of the report [that was] published. Members of the troop who made the trip were JOHN GATES, NEAL BUCHANAN, FOREST GRIMES, CHARLES VAN WERDEN, HARLAN ANDREWS, FREDERICK RUSH, RALPH STEWART, FRANK BRADSHAW and EDGAR ROWELL. The Reverend BRADSHAW, whose son was in the troop, was scout leader.

The churches shared the optimism of this period and new buildings were erected whose size indicated expectation of growth and showed style of architecture was a departure from the simplicity of the early church.

In February 1903 a Christian Church building was dedicated in Leon. The beautiful memorial window given by the family of Dr. MCCLELLAND was impressive. In 1917 the Brethren Church was built in Leon though services continued in the rural church in Franklin township. GEORGE T. RONK was pastor of this church with its growing membership. In 1917 St. Brendan’s Church was built, taking the place of the Catholic Church in Woodland township. In 1917 the Presbyterians built a new church. Quite different from the quaint but dignified simplicity of the building it replaced, this new building had an entrance with a high portico and tall column and in the interior there was a high platform with a pipe organ given by ANDREW CARNEGIE to whom a committee, headed by V. R. MCGINNIS, had presented an appeal for such a gift.

All four of these churches were regarded with pride by the people of Leon, including those who did not attend any one of them! They represented generous giving and careful planning. As far as the building funds were concerned many who were members of some other church or of no church did contribute whenever a new church was built.

The only town in the county to have a library building was Leon whose Carnegie library was built in 1906.

The enthusiasm and optimism with which the appeal was made to ANDREW CARNEGIE was typical of the period. There can be no doubt that there was a feeling that at philanthropist such as Mr. CARNEGIE would welcome the opportunity to make a donation that would mean that a library building bearing his name would be erected in a town such as Leon, county seat of Decatur County.

In the request for the donation a statement was sent to the Carnegie office that the people of Leon levied a two mil tax for library support and that there were at least fifteen hundred books in the Leon Public Library. The amount raised by the tax in 1903 had been five hundred ninety-three. In 1905 word was received that a grant of six thousand dollars had been made by Carnegie.

The building site selected was one where the Methodist Church had been between 1860-1889. The one thousand dollars paid the owner of the lot was raised by subscription. The Library Board Members at this time were Mrs. MARION STOOKEY, Miss CHARLOTTE VOGT. Mrs. L. P. SIGLER, Mrs. H. R. LAYTON, V. R. MCGINNIS, Judge JOHN HARVEY, GEORGE BACKER, J. R. BOSWHER, and GEROGE HURST.

Both men and women voted in the city election on the question of establishing a library in Leon but a record of the voters was kept separate. The Leon Reporter gave the information that fifty-six women voted with sixteen oppose and six spoiled ballots. Of the two hundred ninety men who voted one hundred forty-eight were in favor, once hundred twenty-seven opposed and sixteen ballots were spoiled. Evidently the women did avail themselves of the opportunity to vote to any great extent but most of those who did vote favored having a library.

Of course the most important new building during this period did not belong to Leon but to the county. This was the courthouse, the corner stone of which was placed in May, 1907.

It was not built without opposition. Those living in and around Decatur had not forgotten that the county seat had first been located here. In other towns there were those who either because of the cost or some ill will toward Leon would not vote for the necessary bond issue. However, after several unsuccessful attempts the issue carried, partly it is said because a group of men had vowed to have an election every six months until it passed. Optimism, enthusiasm and determination had won.

An account in the Decatur County Journal tells of the day the corner stone was laid. The Leon Reporter stated that “five thousand people gathered for the ceremony. Visitors from other counties mingle with the sturdy and progressive farmer and hustling businessmen of Decatur County. Smiles of satisfaction were fixed on the faces of old and young who rejoice it the erection of a building that would be a credit to our great and prosperous county.”

The cornerstone was laid with the Mosaic Ceremony and prominent Masons from different parts of the state including W. F. CLEVELAND, the Grand Master, were present. Dr. J. B. HORNER of Lamoni, S. H. AMOS of Garden Grove, M. M. SHOWERS of Weldon, J. M. HOWELL of Davis City, and MORRIS GARDNER of Leon were listed as members of the Emergent Grand Lodge in charge of the dedication. The Grand Master was quoted as saying he had never seen an Emergent Lodge do so well. The Weldon band led by seven Knight Templars in uniform met the Grand Master at the station. The committee to meet other visiting Masons, J. W. SELLS, J. R. CONREY and W. C. STEMPEL, were also at the station and the speaker of the day, Judge HORACE TOWNER, whose address “was a masterpiece of oratory,” was met at the train by MARION STOOKEY, C. W. HOFFMAN, and B. L. EIKER.

Most of those who attended this ceremony did not, however, come by train, though a special car was sent off at Garden Grove the day before and arrived in Leon attached to the morning train and crowded with passengers. Before daybreak, wagons, carriages and buggies started toward Leon and all though the morning roads into Leon had heavy traffic. Some, too, came on horseback and some even walked.

The box placed in the cornerstone not only include lists of county officers and members of organizations but a Bible given by the Leon Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, county newspapers and the list of those who contributed to the building fund. County professional men headed the list of those who gave to the fund. Linking the past with the present was a sketch written by Mrs. FIDELIA THOMPSON, widow of Dr. SAMUEL THOMPSON. It was read at the dedication and a copy placed in the cornerstone. It was a simple dignified statement that told that Dr. THOMPSON gave the forty acres of land in 1853 to establish the county seat and the he was the first Worshipped Master of Grand River Lodge 78 of the Masonic Order. It did not tell of his part in the founding of Leon, that he had been a County Judge nor of his years of leadership in the county but many present remembered all this. In spite of the shadow of his later years, SAMUEL THOMPSON was not forgotten nor his widow ignored.

The choir that sang at the close of the ceremony includes descendants of the early settlers. Among these were GRANT JOHN, Dr. JAMES ROWELL, MABEL and JOSEPHINE CHASE and E. J. WARNER.

The courthouse was dedicated over a year after the cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1908, and again a large crowd assembled. There was a baseball game. Of course, too, there were speeches. Judge SMITH MCPHERSON was the orator of the day.

The courthouse is described in the History of Decatur County (1915) as having “floors constructed of cement and marble. The floors, however, being of oak inlaid in cement. The railings in the courtroom were of oak. Iron steel, stone, tile, brick, marble and granite, with a little hardwood, were the materials used in construction. The fixtures were steel, the counter covered with polished marble.”

On the walls of the stairway to the courtroom, murals were painted, one of a ship and the other of STEPHAN DECATUR. Little attention was paid to the ship after it was discovered that the eyes of DECATUR seemed to follow those who went up and down the stairs. Interest increasing when it was said the eyes in the painting followed those who were worthy of his notice. Some visitors walked up and down the stairs repeatedly to be sure that Captain DECATUR gave them this recognition. The estimated cost of the building was $70,000.

Leon was proud of its status as the county seat, it was proud of its school and its churches, of its many lawyers and its doctors and its businessmen.

It was proud, too of Captain BROWN’s leadership in the G. A. R., of JAMES ALLDREDE’s success as a wrestler and of the oratory of V. R. MCGINNIS. To many Captain BROWN seemed to have spoken truly of Leon as the “best spot on earth.”

But while Leon did have so much of which to boast, there were other towns in the county that disputed the claim that it was the best town in the county.

Davis City had as its slogan “The biggest little town on the map.” GUS TINCH stated in his Pictorial History of Decatur County (1905) that it had a population of seven hundred “and in one place can a better class of people be found. Hospitality, geniality and liberality reign supreme.”

In 1905 Davis City had two banks. The Farmers Bank with S. RADNICH, President; J. F. BOLON, Vic President; and O. L. FRAZIER, Cashier, and the Valley Bank of which JOHN GATES was President and J. V. ARENEY, Cashier.

For a town of its size Davis City had a large number of stores including SCOTTS and MCCLARAN that advertised in the History that they “sold winter underwear at the prices of summer underwear,: I. N. JEFFRIES, groceries and hardware, A. M. SEVERS Clothing Store, LANEY’s Drug Stores, SPARLING's racket store, J. H. ROBINSONS drug store, H. A. HARTSHORNS grocery, HALSTEADS jewelry store, E. W. TEALES Furniture store, and “undertaking parlor,” and G. M. HUGUES hardware store.

There was also GREENMAN’S barbershop and bathhouse. SHOEMAKER’s barber shop, two restaurants, two livery stables, three millinery shops and two blacksmith shops, a lumberyard. The Lariat printing shop and newspaper of GUS TINCH, LANNINGS patent medicine laboratory, and the GRAZIER flour mill.

DAVID CAMPBELL was manager of the local telephone office. In 1915 W. E. LEE managed the grain elevator, which in 1912 he, with C. R. RAUCH, OSCAR JUDD and J. N. GATES, would purchase.

Davis City had two doctors, Dr. WAILES and Dr. REED, and an attorney, F. J. HORTON.

There were four churches. The Union Church where the united Brethren, the Baptists, and the Christians held services, the Brethren meeting held regularly every other Sunday, the Latter Day Saints Church, a small Adventist church, and the new Methodist Church with its auditorium, lecture room, pastor’s study and choir loft described by Mr. TINCH as “beautiful” and “modern.”

Davis City was proud, too, of its schoolhouse which had not only a cupola but a front porch and a side porch. It had an enrollment of two hundred fifty pupils. In 1905 J. W. LONG was Superintendent and ERVIN SPENCER was his assistant. Teachers include MYRTA HOWELL, MABEL CUMMINGS, and GERTRUDE SYLVESTER. In 1912 J. M. HOWELL was Superintendent, a position he held for many years. EMMA AIKEN was his assistant. By 1912 MYRTA HOWELL was Mrs. FRAZIER. MABEL CUMMINGS had married WILLARD JEFFRIES and GERTRUDE SYLVESTER was Mrs. STEPHAN RADNICH. All three of these marriages linked local families.

In 1905 Davis City claimed with pride the county’s oldest county born resident, ASA BUREELL, born in Decatur County in 1843.

But while Davis City viewed its churches and its school with pride and though it considered that its families descended from early settlers gave it distinction, yet its river and its park that made it “the best spot on earth.” GUS TINCH wrote of Davis City that “it has no peer as a summer resort.” Fishing in Grand River, boating on Grand River and camping on the banks of Grand River were all recommended. Just at the edge of the business district was the Davis City park where the annual reunion was held and which large crowds attended. Some came down on the morning train and went home on the evening train, a thrilling trip, but carriages, buggies and wagons brought several hundred and each year after 1915 more came in cars. This little park on the bank of the Grand River was also a place for family picnics, and for church meetings somewhat like an old time camp meeting. Those who lived in Davis City considered the mill just as important, and more interesting to see, than the poultry plant at Leon and rated King of Iowa Flour from FRAZIER'S mill as the best in Iowa. There were many fine camping places along the river where beautiful tress shaded the tents and springs furnished drinking water.

Though there were amused comments when Captain JENKS, naval veteran of the Civil War, was named Steam Boat Inspector, he did have a least one boat to inspect. An item in the Leon Reporter in 1903, states that “the steamboat, Yolo, had upset in a flood and the top deck washed away.”

For years high school classes from nearby towns went to Davis City for picnics. For instance in 1916 the Senior Class at Leon and their faculty guests went to Davis City on the morning train, spend the day at “Slip” Bluff and returned on the evening train. Almost fifty years later member of that class recall that day with much more pleasure than present day classes regard the trips to Chicago or New Orleans which involve so much expense and make the senior years a struggle for funds.

Though Leon was the county seat and Davis City had its park and its river, Lamoni also claimed to be the best town in the county because it had the headquarters of the Reorganized Latter Day Saints Church and Graceland College. The Lamoni electric light plant not only supplied Lamoni with electricity but was also the source of electric power for two other towns. City water was installed in 1910 and a sewer system was laid beneath the principal streets. There was a telephone office “that gave excellent services.” The church-owned Coliseum was built in 1911. Lamoni, too, was far in advance of the present trend (1970) in providing a home for the aged. By 1905 there were forty-five residents of the church owned Home for the Aged. No indigent member of the R. L. D. S. Church needed be an inmate at the “Poor Farm” as the county farm was still called in this period. There was also an orphanage established by the church located in what had been the BANTA residence. An account of Lamoni written in 1915 proclaimed “Among the other things of which Lamoni was justly proud are two municipally owned parks, a modern pressed brick coliseum, an efficient fire company, two banks, charitable homes, two fine church buildings, a splendid telephone system, no saloons gambling rooms or pool halls, a second class post office and above all a spirit of progressive citizenship.”

There was an active commercial club whose officers when it was organized in 1907 were W. A. HOPKINS, President; C. E. BLAIR, Secretary; and O. E. TEALE, Treasurer.

GEORGE BLAIR had a real estate office, FOREMAN, TEALE and Company dealt in both lumber and implements. HERBERT DERRY had an auto store and RAY HAMMILL sold autos as well as harness and saddles in 1915. There were two banks with J. C. SMITH as vice president of the Farmers State Bank and OSCAR ANDERSON in charge of State Savings Bank. There were grocery stores, furniture stores, clothing stores and all the other business establishments that made up a thriving community. Until his death in 1908, DELOS NICHOLSON was a leading business man and banker. W. V. HOPKINS, too, was a banker and businessman who organized the Lamoni Telephone Company in 1897 and was President of the State Savings Bank. WILLIAM A. FRANCE and his son owned a lumber and coal company. A. W. FLEET's store was an important business place. Though Lamoni was a thriving business community in this period, it was the affairs of the Reorganized Latter day Saints Church that received the most attention and were viewed with the most pride. Graceland College was still as small school but there were signs of growth and its alumni were loyal.

As to the public schools in the History of Decatur County (1915) it was stated “one of the finest school buildings in the state is located in Lamoni. It was built in 1913-14 and rebuilt after a fire in 1914.” Every care has been taken to comply with the laws of hygiene and efficiency relative to a perfect schoolhouse.”

Though Lamoni did not have as many professional men as Leon, one or two attorneys at least were always located there. S. M. RUSSELL had an office there for many years. While the number of doctors varied there were five doctors in 1905; Dr. J. B. HORNER, Dr. A. D. GREER, Dr. C. E. WRIGHT, Dr. BERTHA GEERE and Dr. JANE CINTOSH WRIGHT.

The Lamoni Chronicle was a flourishing newspaper and in 1915 claimed “thirteen hundred paid-up subscribers.”

The leading citizens continued to be those connected with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. SAMUEL BURGESS was the President of Graceland in 1915. Mrs. BURGESS, who was proud of being related to SOLOMON P. CHASE, was a leader in community affairs and an able writer. HEMAN SMITH was a leader in church as was CHARLES BLAIR who was in charge of the supply store of the church. J. A. GUNSOLLY was a member of the faculty of Graceland College.

Though Lamoni lost distinguished citizens when the church headquarters were moved to Independence, Missouri, those at the head of the church in Lamoni and particularly those connected with Graceland College continued to be the important people in the community.

Garden Grove in 1905 claimed a population of seven hundred but admitted to a little less in 1915.

In 1903 Garden Grove built a new school. The cornerstone was laid on July 23. There was an address by the Honorable M. L. TEMPLE of Osceola, and there was music by Hoadley's Silver Trumpet Band. The ceremony of laying the cornerstone was in charge of an Emergent Grand Lodge of the Masonic Order. In 1905 A L. LYON was the Superintendent of the Garden Grove school. MARY ARNOLD and ADALINE HOADLEY, two hometown girls, are among the six teachers. In 1914 P. A. LONG was superintendent. AURELIA ZICHY, daughter of COUNT ZICHY and MARY KNAPP ZICHY, was Principal. EVA JENNINGS taught music, MABLE ARNOLD was the third and fourth grade teacher, and HAZEL LIONBERGER, a recent high school graduate, taught primary. Home town girls were preferred as teacher. The three churches were the Methodist, whose church building was one built in 1896; the Presbyterian, who built a new church building in 1916; and Episcopalians. The only Episcopal Church in the county was at Garden Grove.

Garden Grove had its stores and its banks in 1905. C. S. STEARNS was President of The First National Bank. J. R. WHITE was the entire staff of the Farmers Bank.

In the same year W. F. SPENCER had a meat market, M. A. CURRY sold hardware and implements, W. H. POTTS sold drugs and jewelry, W. H. STILES also had a drugstore and J. L. STILL had a grocery store. W. A. WILLIAMS and A. E. NORTHRUP were prominent businessmen. SHAEFFERS furniture store did a good business and advertise that “good furniture was sold at reasonable price.”

Dr. DUFF, who had been for some years a leading doctor in the county, was killed in 1903 but Garden Grove still had two doctors in 1905, Dr. E. WARREN DOOLITTLE and W. E. LYONS.

S. H. AMOS was the attorney in Garden Grove in 1905 and in 1915 was still in practice there, one of the sixteen members of the Decatur County Bar Association that year.

In 1915 there was but one bank, Stearns Commercial Bank, C. S. STERNS was president; H. J. CULVER, Vice President.

The business of the town continued in the control of the families of the early settlers and those who came not long after the Civil War.

It is possible that in other towns in the county was there as much interest in local history as there was in Garden Grove. Descendants of HAWKINS JUDD, SYLVANUS ARNOLD, NATHANIEL SHAW, LYMAN and HIRAM CHASE, HUGH BROWN and others of the pioneer still loved there. Doubted it is true, too that the interest that HARRIET KELLOGG had around when she wrote her history many years earlier still had its effect in 1900 to 1920. GEORGE HOADLEY while editor to the Garden Grove Express wrote articles on county history which were published in his paper. It was, however, GUY ARNOLD, President of the Decatur County Historical Society, who was most active in keeping alive much of the interest in the history of Garden Grove. As he was ten years old when he came in 1853 with his parents, SYLVANUS and LUCRETIA ARNOLD, to Garden Grove, he was able to recall the early days of the county. GUY ARNOLD, with the same spirit that led his father, though not a young man to come with his family to Decatur County, left Garden Grove in 1898 to prospect for gold in Alaska. Those who listened to his stories of early days in Decatur County also heard him tell of his trip by boat from Ft. Selkirk to Nome and of his experiences as the first white man to reach the headwaters of the Pelly and Stewart rivers. Mr. ARNOLD was fifty-five when he went to Alaska. His wife, ELSIE HOWES ARNOLD, died before he returned which gave the story of his trip a tragic ending. No one except HARRIET KELLOGG did more than GUY ARNOLD to preserve the early history of Decatur County, particularly that related to Garden Grove.

Pleasanton in 1905, so GUS TINCH records, was about three hundred in population. It had several stores and a bank.

The bank which ROYAL RICHARDSON founded in 1898 was closed with a loss of twenty thousand dollars to Mr. RICHARDSON due, so it is stated in the History of Decatur (1915), to “an absconding cashier,” but another bank was opened by WILLIAM WOODARD. In 1915 J. W. CHEW was the cashier.

A new schoolhouse was built in 1898. In 1905 JAMES COZAD was Principal and VENIA EDWARDS and SILVIA VANDEL were teachers. Eight years later SILVIA VANDEL was Principal. Miss VENA EDWARDS and Mrs. SELMA SMITH were teachers. Pleasanton had the distinction of having had several names. Not only was its post office for a time called Nine Eagles but it had also been called Pleasant Plains and when the railroad reached there in 1883, it was named Harding. By 1920 the name of Pleasanton was established.

In 1903 GUS TINCH described Decatur City as “a pretty place, the business houses being built around a beautiful little park with the school building in the center.” He also states that it is in almost the exact center of the county surrounded by some of the best farming country so that is would always be a good trading point.

Decatur had three doctors that year, Dr. EIKER, Dr. KEMP and Dr. NYE, and one lawyer, JOHN SHIELDS.

There was one bank, The Citizens Bank, of which WILLIAM WOODARD was President, JAMES CRESWELL, Vice President, and E. W. TOWNSED, Cashier.

J. M. HOWELL was school principal with a Miss PRICE and NINA V. GRAVES as teacher.

The Pictorial History edited by Mr. TINCH gives the population of Decatur as about four hundred in 1903.

In 1915 there was no lawyer in Decatur and no doctor is listed there in the membership of the medical society. There were two banks, the Decatur Savings Bank, established in 1908, of which W. H. LLOYD was President, F. J. EURITT was Vice President, and JAMES COZAD was Cashier with L. D. SHOEMAKER as his assistant. JAMES CRESWELL was President of the Citizens Savings Bank, H. T. RAUCH, Vice President, and E. W. TOWNSEND and O. F. WALKER, Cashiers.

The Methodists, whose first church in the county had been in Decatur, still had the only church building but its services were well attended.

Though the town had not grown the store did a good business and it was a prosperous small town.

Of the new towns Van Wert was proud of being a railroad center. It had its proudest hour when President THEODORE ROOSEVELT made a brief stop and spoke from the platform of a train which passed through the town on the Humeston-Shenandoah line. It is doubtful if many of those who came to Van Wert that day, including the leading Republicans and Democrats of the county, knew all that he meant by what he said about tariff and sound money but none of the children, pushed to the front by their parents, would ever forget his look or voice when he glared down at them and shouted, “You children, don’t just be good, be good for something.” To one small girl his teeth and his spectacled eyes look exactly like those of the wolf in a Little Red Riding Hood book but she was a little Democrat! This brief stop of President ROSEVELT at Van Wert meant that it is the only town in Decatur County ever honored with the presence of a President of the United States.

Van Wert had its school of which it was proud and much of the life of the town centered around its activities. In 1905 E. P. REED was Principal of the school which employed three other teachers. Eight years later POITEAUX HALSTEAD was Principal and the school was large enough to have five other teachers. It is of interest to note that a hometown girl was Principal but that her pay did not equal that of men teachers in other town schools.

The church buildings in Van Wert would have done credit to a much larger town. Both the Christian Church and the Methodist Church were well built and well kept.

As to its stores and offices, it would seem that there were even more of these than a town that claimed a population of four hundred fifty would need, but for the most part they seemed to prosper.

In 1902 SKIDMORE and FIERCE advertised in Leon papers a sale at their general store but for the most part in Van Wert, as in the other towns, the customers were the residents of the community and those who lived on the farms nearby. If there was a local paper the advertising was done through its pages.

In 1905 W. F. BLAIR was President of the Van Wert bank, O. E. STEARNS was cashier and Mrs. ADA L. STEARNS was assistant cashier. Among those interested in the establishment of the Bank of Van Wert in 1905 were M. F. THOMPSON, LESTER GOULD, G. S. BARR, WILLIAM GOODMAN, as well as Mr. BLAIR and Mr. STEARNS. In 1915 the capital stock was ten thousand dollars, as it had been in 1900, and it had deposits of one hundred thousand dollars.

In 1905 there were two doctors in Van Wert, Dr. WALKER, who had practiced in that vicinity for over thirty-five years, and Dr. PHELPS.

Van Wert’s Palace Hotel advertised in 1905 it gave special attention to commercial travelers and had a livery stable for the convenience of its patrons. Each small town had a hotel.

Weldon was sometimes spoken of as the city of lodges but by 1920 only a few of those established there were still in existence.

As to schools it had what was described in 1915 as “an elegant two story modern structure.” In 1905 A. N. SMITH was Principal and three other teachers were employed. In 1913 H. O. O’NEAL was Principal and the four women teachers included two from families already mentioned, DIANA METIER of Weldon and MARINA JENNINGS of Garden Grove. In Weldon as in all the schools the declamatory contests were held. As each school could enter one contestant in each division the small schools had equal opportunity to win. Sometimes, too, a small school gained distinction when a student won a State Essay Contest as Weldon did in 1912 when BOYD METIER was first in a contest sponsored by the State Agriculture Department. The county was doubly proud in 1912 for it was in that same year that OREN LEETAN of Lamoni was first in a record keeping contest sponsored by the State Dairy Association and BOYD METIER’S award received special attention.

In Weldon as in other small towns basket ball was played outdoors in the fall. Baseball was played after school with students and teachers of the two schools concerned as spectators. A few parents also attended but the games were school affair and not for public entertainment.

Weldon, like Van Wert, had two church buildings. The Methodist Church had a steeple over the entrance and a large colored glass window. The Christian Church added an annex in 1903.

The Weldon Savings Bank was organized in 1901. In 1905 OSCAR JUDD was President, C. C. WOOD was the entire staff of the Citizens Bank in 1905. In 1915 the only bank was Weldon Savings Bank of which A. E. STEVENS was President.

In 1904 ENOS MITCHELL and J. F. SNYDER were doctors in Weldon. O. P. JAMISON graduated from the Keokuk Medical School that year and opened his office in Weldon.

Grand River continued though most of this period to have high hopes of continued growth though hampered somewhat by being considered a place where lawlessness flourished in spite of the good character of most of its citizens.

In 1905 L. N. COSNER was in charge of the school with BESS JUDD and MAGGIE EDWARDS as teachers. In 1915 CHARLES TEDFORD was Superintendent. ETHEL EDWARDS, ESTHER DAVIS and FRANCES GARDNER were the teachers that year.

In 1905 the Savings Bank was headed by S. C. JENNINGS, Sr., A. L. ACKERLEY was Cashier assisted by J. C. BROTHERS. PATRICK GRIFFIN was President of the Valley Bank with JOEL GILREATH as Cashier. In 1915 the two banks in Grand River were the First National Bank of Grand River with A. L. ACKERLEY as President, PATRICK GRIFFITH, Vic President, and C. BROTHERS, Cashier, assisted by CHARLES KELLEY.

The stores and shops in Grand River for the most part prospered during this period. CORRINGTON and ARMSTRONG operated the Day Light Store. WOOD BINNING advertised that he “mined and shipped” Centerville coal.

The Methodists and Christians had churches in Grand River and St. Patrick Church was attended by the Catholics who lived in or near Grand River.

Dr. BONE and Dr. LANDIS were physicians for those who lived in the town or its vicinity.

The fine land around Grand River was the basis for its prosperity.

As to LeRoy, GUS TINCH in his history said little more than that “LeRoy started with two stores and still has both of them.” The History of Decatur County published in 1915 says, “LeRoy is located in the center of a good agricultural district and has made good gains in the last few years.”

LeRoy did not have many stores but J. L. HEATON advertised in the Garden Grove Express and in one advertisement challenged any store in Decatur County to surpass his in the quality and price of goods. The cheese factory mentioned earlier was not a lasting venture.

A modern school was built in 1904. In 1913 S. R. SUTTON received sixty dollars a month as principal. MILDRED STOKE and CECELIA COFFEY were the teachers.

E. H. BLAIR was President of the LeRoy Savings Bank in 1915, H. E. STEPHANS, Vice President, D. C. THURLOW, the Cashier, and EDNA THURLOW, Assistant Cashier. The capital stock was five thousand dollars and about fifty thousand dollars were deposited. This bank had been founded in 1896 by F. E. and C. S. STEARNS and in 1903 J. W. STEARNS was cashier.

In 1915 E. S. BUFFUM, who had owned the land on which the town site was located, still owned much of it. Mr. BUFFUM’s son HUGH, had completed his college work and became a member of the faculty at the State Teachers College at Cedar Falls. His daughter, MARY, had attended the University at Iowa City and was also a teacher but his son, HARRY, remained in LeRoy.

The leading families in and around LeRoy include the BUFFUMs, the CALHOUNs, and the THURLOWS.

LeRoy had no resident lawyer but a physician, Dr. BURBANK, located there during this period.

The History of Decatur County in 1915 listed as extinct several towns that had been listed in a description of the county written in 1868. New Buda, which had in 1868 two stores, a hotel, a blacksmith shop and a schoolhouse, had ceased to exist though it had once had a population of one hundred.

Terre Haute, described in 1868 as “a primitive looking village” five miles south of Decatur, also was gone though it too had once had two stores and a hotel as well as several shops, including a cooper shop.

High Point, Westerville, and Tuskeego too no longer were listed among the possible town sites, though the High Point store still did business for several decades and the High Point Methodist Church had an active membership.

Besides these mentioned there were other rural centers in the county where a store and a church, with a nearby schoolhouse which those who lived near them felt might have been towns.

As a matter of fact what is difficult to understand is not why small towns disappeared and no more centers became towns but why did so many small towns continue to exist, and how it was possible to maintain as many banks, hotels, and business houses as there were in the county between 1900 – 1920.

No attempt has been made in this account of this town in the county between 1900 and 1920 to give a complete list of businessmen. Those that are listed are typical of the period and for the most part belong to families that have been mentioned earlier. The two years selected as to teaching staffs are based on GUS TINCH’s Pictorial History and is on lists printed in the Leon papers in 1912 and 1913.

While there was pride in each small town, there was also pride on the farms and much optimism. May of the farm owners felt that their particular land was the best in the county and agreed with Captain BROWN that they were in the best county, in the best state, in the best nation on earth.

GUS TINCH said of the land that “it has no marked peculiarity except that it never fails to produce a crop. The soil is heavy, dark and marked for its wonderful productivity” and of its products he wrote that it produced practically everything in grains, grasses, vegetables and fruit. “Decatur County Jonathans (apples) are unsurpassable for size, flavoring and beautiful coloring.” As to the corn crop he stated “a total failure of the corn crop is unknown to our people.”

He was equally enthusiastic about our climate. In these days when more and more of those who live in Decatur County go to California, Arizona or Florida for the winter and to the northern lakes or western mountains for the summer, his description of our climate is most interesting.

“Go where you will, we do not believe you can find a county with a more glorious climate nor can anyone say that our climate savors of monotony. With four seasons there is no sameness. The rigors of our winters are not severe for the northern blizzard and the western drift storm are unknown. Our summers are favored by cool nights that invariably follow the slightly torrid days that are few in number. Spring and fall are much alike in temperature. Summing it up, our climate is all that can be desired, neither too dry nor too moist, winters are mild and of short duration. Summers are semi-torrid with an all pervading breeze.”

As to our scenery he was equally enthusiastic as is evidenced by this sentence, “Decatur County presents to view an undulating district, beautiful as the Garden of Eden, fertile beyond compare, with the noble Grand [River] wending its way, its banks presenting scenes to appeal to the eye to those artistic temperament.”

As to livestock he wrote, “Some of the finest herds of cattle and pens of hogs owe their foundation of our local breeder. With our luxuriant grass, never failing sweet timothy and always to be relied upon corn crop, this is a heaven on earth for the stock man.”

Surely fifty years after PAMELA PATTERSON wrote of Decatur County as “the fairest land this side of Paradise.” GUS TINCH reaffirmed her estimate of its productivity and beauty.

Not only GUS TINCH but the editors of other county papers frequently extolled the fertile soil, the fine crops and delightful climate of the county.

Farmers vied with each other in bringing tall stalks of corn, huge yellow pumpkins, big cabbage heads and other farm products to the newspaper office to be displayed in the window and written up in the next issue. A typical item in 1908 stated “GEORGE REDMAN brought to our office corn nine feet tall, bearded wheat five feet tall and clover 32 inches tall.”

Great pride was taken in the display of farm products at the County fair and announcement made of winners in the local papers. Exhibits from Decatur County won awards at the State Fair. CALVIN HOFFMAN was superintendent of the swine department for several years. He and his family were among those from Decatur County who had tents in the camping section during the fair.

Local farmers who traveled to other states returned with accounts such as that of ELBA REED who stated in an article in the local paper in 1901 that the “crops in Indiana were far below those of Iowa.”

At about the same time there was the newspaper account of the WATSON family who had returned to Decatur County from Kansas “because they found the climate so bad for their health.”

These two newspaper items were typical of numerous accounts that pointed out the advantages of this “spot on earth.”

It is impossible, of course to do more that list a few of the farmers in the county between 1900 – 1920, so just as was done in telling of the business and professional men, typical farmers of this period have been selected at random, a representative of the successful landowners in this period.

DENNIS SLAUTER had three hundred forty-four acres of rich productive soil. He was proud of his farm and proud, too, that he belonged to pioneer families. He came to the county as a child with his parents in 1856. His first wife was a daughter of MATHIAS and HARRIET SCHAFFNER who came to Decatur County in 1855.

WILLIAM YOUNG farmed three hundred eighty-five acres and was proud of his Percheron horses and Poland China hogs.

Captain BROWN owned several fine farms. He delighted in showing his livestock and orchards to his friends. Children were always welcomed guests.

THOMAS SUTHERLIN owned one thousand seven hundred fifteen acres of land in 1913 but the sketch of his life written for the County History that year shows he had greater pride in his daughter, NELLIE, who had secured her college degree after marriage, a rare accomplishment then. and his son, LUTHER, a Junior in the law school at the University of Iowa.

IRVIN BATHE owned seven hundred forty acres of Bloomington township, He was proud that though he had inherited his first eighty from his grandfather, the pioneer landowner MALAY MCDONALD, he had acquired the rest and his fine stock by his own efforts.

JOHN CREES, too, told with pride that though he had inherited only eight acres of land he now owned a thousand acres. Just as his father had been one of the county’s wealthiest landowners in 1885, JOHN CREES is described in 1915 as one of the county’s richest men. Only six of his fourteen children were living but they would each inherit land from him just as he had from his father.

JOHN FROST had married CECIL BRACEWELL and farmed two hundred acres.

CURTIS BOYD and his wife, SUSIE FEAR BOYD owned seven hundred and sixty acres of land and one of the best farm homes in the county.

SAM HINGSTON, who had been so proud of the fine springs and good soil on his farm and who in 1885 had boasted of the wolves he would kill, was dead. His farm was still called HINGSTON's but the owner was a Des Moines man. F. L. JENKINS was his tenant in 1915.

JAMES CAMPBELL had two hundred an forty acres in Eden. His wife was a granddaughter of JAMES PARRIS, whose name was given to the little settlement later known as High Point.

One of the finest farms in the county was the one owned in the early days by WILLIAM CRAIG. In 1905 it had been bought by OSCAR JUDD who paid twenty-six thousand one hundred seventy-five dollars for two hundred and fifty acres. The wide veranda of the well built house and its beautiful location made it a home of which to be proud. GUS TINCH described JUDD’s farm, which was near Davis City, as “the most beautiful country estate in Decatur County.”

There were, however, many other fine farms. Among these were the farms of the sons of GEORGE REDMAN and the farm of WILLIAM CAMPBELL who had married MINNIE FEAR, niece of Mrs. REDMAN.

There was the WILLIAM SHIELDS farm near Grand River, the beautifully located GROGAN farms on the Weldon River in Woodland township, the farm of JAMES MCGRAW in Richland township and the stock farms of CHARLIE AKES and ALIC HOUSH and “JERN” (ALGERNON) ELLIS.

I. N. JEFFRIES built a large three store house on the land he purchased near Davis City. It was a fine house but he was prouder of his son, WILLARD who became a doctor and is daughter, ALICE.

Among the farms pointed to with pride near Garden Grove were those owned by the ARNOLDs, the NORTHRUPs, the WARRINGTONs, the LOVETTs and by descendants of NATHANIEL SHAW.

Around High Point JAMES BEAVERS owned land that had been his father’s and descendants of that devoted Democrat, ISAAC MCCLEARY, still lived on some of the fine land he once owned. The MENDENHALL land was still owned by a MENDENHALL. Part of the CHAMBERS farm came into the possession of GUY CHAMBERS when his father moved into Leon.

In High Point as in many of the other sections of the county, the men who had been the leading farmers in 1885 were no longer living or had reached the age when they could no longer farm. An unusual number of those around High Point had sons or sons-in-law to take over the land that had already been family owned for two or even three generations.

West of Leon there were good farms. One of these was owned by JOHN RUMLEY who had married AVIS STRONG. Another was farmed by JOHN HOFFMAN, whose wife, KATE STONE, her father having owned the land before the Civil War.

North and east of Leon owned by the GARBERS, FRANK and LEWIS; by the GOODMANS, SIMON, ABE, JOHN and AARON; and by members of the SEARS family. In this vicinity, too, was the GITTINGER farm.

In the farm home of RALPH BAKER, son of J. S. BAKER, magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly were read with as much interest as the farm magazines. Good books, too, meant as much to RALPH and PATIENCE, as they did to his brother, Judge BAKER, in Chicago.

These are only a few of the good farms in the county between 1900 and 1920. In whatever part of the county you went, there were fine farms and men and women proud to own them.

The farms between 1900 and 1920 were much more self-sufficient than they are now. Each good farm had an orchard, a berry patch and often a row of grapes. In the orchard were the early June apples, summer apples including at least one sweet apple tree and a few crab apple trees. There were Snow apples, Grimes Golden, Jonathans, Spitzenbergs, Northern Spys, Pippins Roman Stem, Winesaps, and the big but rather tasteless Ben Davis apples, just to mention some of those most often found in Decatur County orchards. There were cherry trees, including often a few trees of the black cherry variety; pear trees, most often Bartletts or Sickles; plum trees and sometimes peach trees.

As to berries there were blackberries and red and black raspberries. Strawberry beds, gooseberries, and current bushes ware also often planted. Though many had gooseberry bushes, there were still those who picked the small wild gooseberries. Some still hunted for wild strawberries or located places to pick blackberries or wild plums, just as they went to the woods to get hickory nuts and walnut or to a hazel brush thicket for hazelnuts. It was almost unheard of for a farm family to buy milk or butter and some who lived in town kept a cow or two in a pasture near town though some were even kept within the city limits. The beef, pork and often the lamb and mutton came from animals raised and butchered on the farm. Lard was rendered after butchering. Jersey cows were prized for their rich milk. Shorthorn herds had increased. The poultry included chickens to eat and to lay eggs. There were often turkey, geese, and ducks, and a few farmers raised guineas. C. W. HOFFMAN even had a peacock and a peahen.

Among the farm buildings there was almost always a smokehouse where the ham, bacon, and pork shoulders were smoked and left hanging until ready for use. Another farm building that was found on some farms, though considered rather in the luxury class, was an ice house. Great chunks of ice were cut from a pond in winter, put in the ice house, covered with sawdust and kept for summer drinks. The huge freezer of homemade ice cream enjoyed in some county homes meant a trip to town for ice. The ice had come from the ice house. Some farmers came to town and bought ice from ROE CASTER in Leon or from someone near them who had ice for sale to make ice cream. Those who had no refrigerators hung cream and butter inside a well or had a cool cave. Another source of food supply was a cave. These artificial caves found on so many farms were places to store turnips, potatoes, apples and other fruits and vegetables that would be kept in a cool place but which must not be allowed to freeze. In some farm homes the cellar was used instead of a cave. It should be noted that the cave was usually near the kitchen door. It was not only a place to store things, it was also a place of safety if there was a tornado – just as in some homes refuge was found in the cellar or, as would be said today, in the basement. On many farms there was a cider press, a source not only of sweet, and if kept long enough, hard cider but also of vinegar. Some farmers raised sugar cane and there were sorghum mills in the county so that product, while not produced on every farm, was at least a county product. Only a few still preferred sorghum molasses on hot cakes but it was used in cooking. Nothing was more important than the stables for the horses and a place for keeping the harness. A farmer needed good work horses and was proud to have a strong team of mules. Carriage horses and saddle horses were a fine thing to own, but it was the work horses and mules that were a necessity.

While most farms I have mentioned were those of two hundred acres of more, farms of lesser size were owned with pride and their owners prospered. In fact the location of the land and fertile soil made some smaller farms more valuable then those of more acres. CALVIN HOFFMAN, for instance, considered his one hundred seventy acres of land just a valuable because of location as his father had in 1856. Good “bottom land” too was prized and owners of such land boasted of what they had raised in dry years. Men argued the merits of Angus or Hereford cattle and the merits of the rich milk of a Jersey cow and discussed the good points of Poland China and Duroc hogs. One most farms the women not only kept house but also raised the vegetables and took care of the poultry. They not only exchanged recipes and talked of their children but knew the variety of garden products and discussed their Wyandotte pr Plymouth Rock hens and the habits of Rhode Island Reds or Leghorns.

Farm women, too, were proud of their canned fruit and vegetables and of their jams and jellies. In this connection, however, it should be remembered that the women who lived in town also did canning and they too were often busy in summer and fall canning fruit and making jelly preserves and jam. Both the country and the town women also made pickles, ketchup, and relishes of various kinds. Bread, too, was made in most Decatur County homes during the first part of the new century.

Two Decatur County farm women not only did the work of other farm women but were successful enough to be rated in Dunn and Bradstreet as owners of a poultry company. MINNIE and EVA SPARLING, who lived near Garden Grove, raised and sold Rhode Island Red chickens as well as blue and white Orpingtons. They also specialized in Muscovy ducks and Embden geese. Exhibits of ducks entered by the SPARLING sisters won first place in the Iowa Poultry Show in 1914 and in the Kansas Poultry Show in 1915. The SPARLING Company also sold grains, prepared poultry feed and remedies for diseases that affected poultry and seem to have orders from throughout the United States and Canada. They were pioneers in Iowa in the industry of prepared feeds now so profitable. There is little in existing records to indicate that they were given much recognition in their own county but when their father furnished a sketch of his life to be published in the 1915 History of Decatur County, he gave more space to his daughters’ accomplishments that he did to himself or his farm.

The rural schools of this period were centers of interest in their districts.

In 1905, of the one hundred fifty-eight teachers, about one hundred were employed in rural schools. There were one hundred five rural school buildings.

These one room rural schools were for the most part frame buildings, painted white, but a few were of brick. They were heated by a stove, water came from the school well and there were outdoor toilets. Some districts took great pride in their school buildings and their equipment, the well was kept clean and the toilets in good condition. In other districts economy was the chief concern.

While on official records the schools were listed by township and number they were still best known by their names given in early days. In a 1913 list ANNA SLAUTER taught at Battle Hill, FANNIE HAZLET at Pleasant View, LYDA STEPHENS at Welcome, LOUISA BUTCHER at Mushroom, NADINE MCCLUNG at Spunky Ridge, MARY ELLA LILLIE at Scratch Eye, MYRTLE YOUNG at Tick Ridge, EDITH CHAMBERS at Buzzard Roost, HAZEL MOORE at Bush College. These and most of the other rural schools were best known by such names.

Most of the teachers were young girls. There were also a few widows and a few unmarried women known as “old maid school teachers.” In 1905 there were only nine men teaching in the rural schools. Of these three taught in Center township, JOHN DUFFIELD, IRA OFFICER, and IRA OVERHOLTZER. All of the men were residents of the county except one former resident.

Many of these who taught these years probably agreed with Captain BROWN in his estimate of Decatur County. They were the children or grandchildren of early settlers who came to Decatur and choose to remain here, in spite of inducements to go west or hardships to incline them to give up and go “back east.”

Among these in 1905 were FRED CASH whose grandfather came in 1945; HELEN GARDNER, granddaughter of JOHN GARDNER; MARIAN WOODARD, granddaughter of WILLIAM WOODARD; BESS and KATE DILSAVER of the pioneer DILSAVER family; AURELIE ZICHY, daughter Count ZICHY and his wife MARY KNAPP. Other teachers from well established families included LORNE LONG, son of AARON LONG; STELLA GARDNER, who later became a teacher in Chicago; KATE HULL, who during her last years taught in Chicago also; MYRTA HOWELL, daughter of J. M. HOWELL, who taught for so many years in the county; BESS JUDD of the HAWKINS JUDD family; and MAUD METIER, whose father was of French descent.

In 1913 there were one hundred ten rural teachers but so many of the girls teaching eight years earlier had married that not more than a half dozen of those on the 1905 list taught in the rural schools of the county in 1913. A few, of course, were teaching in town schools of the county, as were ELLA GROGAN, LYDA EPPERLY, and AURELIE ZICHY. Most of the men teachers were in other occupations. It was most unusual to employ a married woman as a teacher or for a man to continue to teach after he had an opportunity to do something else. Women taught until they secured a husband, men taught until they had enough money saved to buy land or prepare for a profession.

One thing had not changed between 1905 and 1913 and that was that the teachers were all “home grown.” Almost all of them, too, were under twenty-five and unmarried. Only twelve men, including again JOHN DUFFIELD and FRED CASH, were listed.

Whether it illustrated the saying that “teaching ran in families” or whether it was because directors were inclined to think that if one member of a family was a successful teacher the others must be too, many of the one hundred ten were related. ZETA and ZELTA and CAPITOLA ROBINSON all taught that year as did LENNA CUMMINGS, her brother ROY and her Aunt ZORA CUMMINNGS. SYLVIA and ELIZABETH FOLLMER, MARY and FANNIE HAZLETT, HARIETT and JOSEPHINE BEAVERS, NEVA and EVA CURRY and twin sisters IVAH and IDA BRIGGEMEN were among the pairs of sisters employed. NORA JOHNSON and her father GEORGE taught in neighboring schools.

Some of those teaching in the rural schools had long careers in teaching ahead of them: CECILE FLORA, afterwards a teacher in Oklahoma; EVA CURRY retired after many years of teaching in Leon, including serving as principal; DALLAS SPENCER too had a long and successful career for years to come.

Just as in 1905 many of those who belong to pioneer families. Some of these have already been mentioned. Others were LYDA WASSON WEBB, granddaughter of MILES WASSON, HERBERT COZAD, LAURA HACKER, WYNNE CASH, daughter of WINFIELD CASH, HETTY EURITT, MERLE CREES, GUY MCMORRIS, ELMER DUNN, and REECE GITTINGER.

Besides the school, rural families also had a church around which to center interest. At Crown Chapel the Presbyterians and the Brethren group that had withdrawn from the Franklin Church held services on alternate Sundays. The Reverend GURLEY resigned as minister of the Leon Presbyterian Church because he felt he should not be expected to preach at Crown but his successor seems to have accepted the additional services without protest. Elk Chapel had services regularly and New Salem had a good membership. Few services were held at Palestine but the church was kept in repair. The Methodists had services at the Fair View Church, not many miles from Crown Chapel. These were but a few of the rural church buildings, and in addition in some neighborhoods services were held at the schoolhouse. St. Mary’s Church in Woodland was closed when St. Brendan’s was built in Leon but Protestant services were held in the rural Woodland Community Church near the Woodland store, one of the few rural general stores that survived changing times. The church at High Point was also near a general store.

Rural free delivery, which was established in this period, meant the end of small post offices most often located in a rural general store.

Probably the chief causes for many of the changes in this period were improved means of travel, both the better roads and increased use of automobiles, which was a great factor in improvement of roads.

One of the status symbols of this period was of course the ownership of an automobile. Just as some fifty years later, the appearance of a TV antenna gave prestige so the building of a garage (often pronounced to rhyme with carriage) meant that some family belonged to the privileged few who owned a car.

The first car owner in Leon was Dr. LAYTON. According to the newspaper account it was “a handsome vehicle of the runabout type made by Friedman Company.” It had a six horsepower engine. Dr. LAYTON first experience driving his automobile was anything but a dull time. He ran over JOHN HAMILTON’s pug dog and then “to avoid frightening a horse driven by a lady ran his car into a pile of limbs and shattered the dashboard and fenders.” JIM BOWSHER who was riding with him was “pinned to the seat by a limb but neither he or Dr. LAYTON was injured.” In the same issue of the same paper that told of Dr. LAYTON’s car there appeared an item about the car that cautioned owners of horses about “driving a horse suddenly up to it.” Just what was to be done to accustom horses to cars gradually was not explained.

Between 1902 when Dr. LAYTON bought his car, and World War I, when planes became the new wonder, automobiles became so common that, just as prophesied in the county paper in 1902, horses paid “no more attention to them than to a bicycle.”

Between 1910 and 1920 the number of new car owners increased daily or at least weekly and the purchase of a new car often rated newspaper notice. On July 14, 1910, the Decatur County Journal announced that JAMES HARVEY, son of Judge HARVEY, had a new car. “It is of the latest model and one of the best cars on the market. The body of the car is blue black and the wheels cream colored.” No mention is made of the make of the car but in 1915 FRANCIS VARGA, grandson of FRANCIS VARGA, the early settler, and ROBERT TEALE, grandson of THOMAS TEALE, bought Cadillacs. Other items told of those who purchased a Saxon or an Overland or other cars not made today, but by 1920 the car most frequently purchased was a Ford.

Items in the newspaper not only told of car purchases but of car accidents. For instance in 1912 BLANCHE WOODARD, daughter of MARIAN WOODARD, was involved in an accident with her father’s Buick. In 1914 WES OILER lost control of his car and crashed through the plate glass window of the garage operated by CHARLIE AKES and MATT PULLEN. In 1913 H. K. WRIGHT and JAMES AUSMAN had narrow escapes when their car overturned on a county road due to a wheel being caught in a rut “while going at a good speed which caused the overturn.” A description which causes the reader of the item today to wonder what “a good speed” was in 1913.

By 1915 it would seem that reports of car accidents were more common that accounts of runaway teams.

However all through the period from 1900 to 1920 horses were in use for transportation and essential for farm work. Young men still went courting with a horse and buggy though by 1914 the man with the car had the advantage. Farmers still came to town in a wagon or buggy or brought their families in to town in a carriage. On Sunday morning in Leon HOFFMAN’s old white horse going south was as much a reminder it was Sunday School time as the sound of the church bell, and Mrs. FRANK LONG en route in her buggy to the Christian Church where she was organist was a signal of church time.

Items in 1907 newspaper tell of the excitement when NATHAN BIGLEY’s team ran up Main Street, and of a wagon demolished when a train backed into it. Fortunately Mr. BIGLEY escaped uninjured and the young men in the wagon, “FLICK” CAMPBELL and WILLARD CHERRINGTON, and their team were not seriously hurt.

A favorite story of this period was of the day the driver of the bus that took passengers to and from the station was delayed in the station. After the passengers were seated the horses left without the driver and took their usual route to the hotel.

In 1907 JOHN WALLACE was killed and his wife seriously injured when his team became frightened and ran away.

MIKE SPRINGER was injured in a “run away” in 1913.

Just as in telling of the car accidents, these are just typical of many items that show that this was a period when both horses and cars furnished transportation with the cars increasing in use each year.

As was mentioned earlier, improvement of the highways was closely related to the increased use of the automobiles. This can be stated either way.as the highways improved more cars were purchased or as more cars were purchased the improvement of the roads were made necessary.

J. E. LEEPER was a bridge foreman for many years. in 1903 he reported two new bridges built, one at Crees Ford and one at the Wright Ford, each costing about five thousand dollars. At that time there were eight similar steel bridges in the county. Mr. LEEPER retired in 1908.

In 1917, FRANK MALLETT, holding the rather new position of County Engineer, reported twenty-four thousand seven hundred fifty-six dollars and sixty-four cents spend on bridge work and thirty-four thousand sixty seven dollars spend on road work. The dragging of the county road had cost four thousand seven hundred six dollars and forty-four cents of 29.42 per mile for the one hundred sixty miles.

There were still clouds of dust in dry weather and mud holes when the snow melted and after heavy rains but there were good steel bridges that replaced the quaint but too often unsafe bridges (there is no record of covered bridges though some may have been built) and the roads were dragged and graded. Decatur County was pleased with its improved roads.

There were no paved roads in the county but in 1913 three miles of brick pavement was laid in Leon.

Decatur County residents were much pleased in 1911 when the Waubonsie Trail was routed through the county east to west and even more gratified that the Jefferson Highway with its slogan “from pine to palm” went through the county, connecting Minneapolis with New Orleans. Highways were named not numbered in this period and depended much more on the interest of the people in the sections through which they passed. Leon was as proud of being a town where two trails met as it was of being a railroad center.

An indication of the effect of automobiles on the spending for roads is found in the fact that in 1913 the revenue from automobiles for the road fund was five thousand seven hundred six dollars and in 1914 the road fund was seven thousand five hundred dollars. From that time one the increase was rapid.

As the roads were improved for those who rode, the sidewalks were improved for those who walked.

It would seem that there were still board sidewalks in Leon in 1912 for in the year a newspaper time tells that Postmaster MILLARD STOOKEY fell and was injured when his cane caught in a crack in such a walk, but many cement and brick walks had already been built and a little later an ordinance was passed that require walks of such material for public use. This ordinance did not affect one of the longest board walks in the county. This walk was built by C. W. HOFFMAN from his home to the town limits. It was an eighth of a mile long and a favorite walk for young people, as well as making it possible for the seven HOFFMAN children to go by sidewalk to school.

While an automobile was a status symbol and brought with it other improvements, another status symbol just as important for women was membership in a women’s club.

Before 1900 almost all organization (except church and P.E.O.) open to women limited their membership to women related to men in a connected organization to which the women’s organization was subordinate. Members of the Eastern Star were related to Masons, the Rebekahs were connected with the Odd Fellows, women in the Relief Corp were connected with G.A.R. Now clubs for women were organized starting just before the close of the century. After 1900 study clubs were organized in each town and in the country.

The New Century Club was noted for its formal dinners and the elegance of its evening receptions, as was a club of the same name in Davis City.

Clubs whose members were young unmarried women entertained men friends with a little less formality but with chaperons and guests speakers.

Not only did the clubs vie with each other in the excellence of their programs and the elegance of their social affairs but they also took pride in their good works. The Amicita Club donated to a fund to build a sidewalk to the cemetery. Thirteen Club gave books to the library. New Century Club gave attention to the need of a City Park and it is perhaps due in part to this that Harvey Park, honoring Judge JOHN HARVEY whose wife belonged to the New Century Club, was given to Leon.

Among the prominent club women in Leon were ALICE DILSAVER FARQUHAR (Mrs. HORACE FARQUHAR) of the Amicita Club; Mrs. A. J. ALLEN, an early President of Sorosis Club; Mrs. MARTHA POST LAYTON, wife of Dr. LAYTON of Thirteen Club; BELLE BURNS HARVEY (Mrs. JEROME HARVEY) of the New Century Club; MOLLY HARRIS (Mrs. JULIAN HARRIS) of the Priscilla Club.

Man of the Literary or Study Clubs joined the State and National Federation of clubs and soon not only had local meetings but could send delegated to State Conventions and become involved in causes fostered by the National Federation. In 1908 Mrs. A. P. OLSEN, Mrs. W. P. CLARK, Mrs. J. R. BOWSHER, Mrs. R. L. PARRISH, Mrs. J. W. HARVEY, and Mrs. C. W. HOFFMAN were the delegates to the State Convention.

Without a doubt it can be recognized that the interest in women’s clubs was an important influence in Decatur County during this period. Women were selected for membership on their own merits and the clubs were independent of each other and of any men’s organization. Some of them may have been snobbish, some pedantic, and most of them attempted too much in their programs but, just as the automobile was to take the county off of mud roads, the women’s club in the country, connection is often made with the suffrage movement and the importance of the new leisure women had because of inventions that decreased the drudgery of housework. Whatever the causes and whatever the results, in Decatur County belonging to a study club was a symbol status, treasured by the women and not ignored by the men. Even when they jeered openly many of them mentioned with pride their wives' activities as club women.

Another status symbol of this period was the attendance at college of a son or daughter.

Scholarships were almost unheard of and there were no grants by the government nor did any one during his period go on any G. I. allowance earned in services in the armed forces. The students who attended college from Decatur County were either sent by their parents or earned their own way. It is probably that most of them had some help from home and that many of them earned money while in school and during the summer.

While it is true that the cost of a year in college by 1960 exceeded what four years cost in the years of World War I, few students in that period went without a financial struggle. Parents sacrificed to be able to speak with pride of a son or daughter in college.

It is no possible to list all who attended college and universities during this time so this list is of some of these of pioneer families who were enrolled.

EDNA YOUNG, granddaughter of NATHANIEL SHAW, attended State Teachers College; JOHN LATTA returned to college after he was married and received a degree of Bachelor of Didactics in 1903 (married students were rare in those days). FRANCIS VARGA, grandson of FRANCIS VARGA who first settled in New Buda, attended the University of Iowa as did DELOS LELAND, and LOIS ACKERLEY grandchildren of Mrs. MARIETTA WALKER. HOWARD and DAVID DANCER, sons of DAVID and ANNA ANDERSON DANCER, JOHN DENT ARNOLD, grandson of SYLVANUS ARNOLD, and DOROTHY HULL, daughter of OLLIE HULL. RAYMOND HURST, grandson of S. W. HURST, enrolled at Ames. CLIVE ALEXANDER, grandson of ELI ALEXANDER, attended Columbia University and was perhaps the first one from Decatur County to be granted a Ph. D. degree. His sister, ENID, enrolled at Randolph-Macon. ETTA CLARK, granddaughter of I. N. CLARK and Dr. MCCLELLAND, graduated at Colorado College; Dr. DEKALB’s granddaughter, MARGARET MCELVEEN, went east to school. EVA CURRY, granddaughter of JOHN GARDNER, attended Drake, and GEORGIA STEWART, granddaughter of PETER CARTWRIGHT STEWART, enrolled at Highland Park. EDGAR ROWELL, grandson of ADDIE LUNBECK CURRY, attended Lake Forest.

Among those enrolled at Simpson College during this period were ELLA CONREY, daughter of JONATHAN CONREY and MELLIA DYE CONREY; RUTH and MABEL CHASE, granddaughters of LYMAN CHASE; MARIE MCCLAREN, granddaughter of JOHN CLARK; LULU and RUTH SHIELDS, granddaughters of SCHUYLER JENNINGS; GEORGIA HURST, granddaughter of S. W. HURST.

Mr. and Mrs. C. W. HOFFMAN established some sort of a record as each of their seven children attended a college or university during this period.

Of course, many factors contributed to there being smaller families. Among them the later marriages, the increasing cost of education as more years of schooling became the accepted thing, and increasing use of machines and labor saving devices which meant that fewer were needed to work on the farm or in the home. From the economic standpoint, children were a responsibility not a labor asset.

As far as the building of houses as an indication of success and a status symbol, this is not a period when houses as large as those built after the Civil War increasing in number to any great extent. Instead there was much more emphasis on modern conveniences, including indoor plumbing. There was, however, one new feature in the better homes built, which was added whenever possible to older homes. There was the sleeping porch, an unheated room, almost always glassed in, but in some instances with canvas curtain on one side. The cure for most ailments was considered to be fresh air, particularly at night.

But though the size of the house was no longer a matter of as much pride as having a bathtub and a sleeping porch, there were a few large houses built.

In Leon, Judge JOHN HARVEY’s three story house was much admired. Its special features were Judge HARVEY’s study with its fireplace and the third floor suite of rooms for his son, JAMES.

J. R. BOWSHER, who after the death of his second wife, ELLA CARMEAN, married HENRY VOGT’s daughter, CHARLOTTE, built a large brick home with a ballroom on the third floor. It was the one house in Leon that was given a name. Prominent people in the state were guests at Linger Longer. Besides its name, its guests, its ballroom, also Linger Longer had one other distinctive feature, a fountain near the entrance on the front lawn. It is also probable that the first champagne served in Leon was served at a dinner given by the BOWSHERs with a former governor of the state as the honored guest. Whiskey had been the alcoholic drink since the days when the early settlers went to ALLAN SCOTTs and beer had become common, but wine and particularly champagne had never been much favored.

FRED TEALE, son of TOM TEALE, and MARION WOODARD, son of WILLIAM WOODARD, built rather similar houses in Leon as did ALBERT ACKERLEY who later sold his house to WILLIAM SHIELDS.

Many of the houses built at his time reflect the fine workmanship of WILEY SELLS. FOSTER MULLINIX was also an excellent contractor and builder as was GEORGE PENNIWELL. FRED FISHER worked with both Mr. SELLS and Mr. PENNIWELL.

The political and economic affairs of the county reflected the pride and prosperity of the county.

As far as political affairs were concerned, from 1900 to 1912, the Republican party was in power though E. J. SANKEY, Democrat, was twice elected state representative during that period. The senators from Decatur County during that period include two staunch Republicans, MARIAN STOOKEY, 1904-09, and Captain J. D. BROWN, 1909 – 1913.

The split in the national Republican party in 1912 was reflected in the county and until the end of World War I the voters favored the Democrats. However, the voters of Decatur County throughout the period voted for county officer with much more regard for the personal popularity of the candidates than for party affiliations.

The Leon Reporter, owned and edited by OLLIE HULL, continued to be strongly Democratic. CAL HOFFMAN, who only once was a candidate for office, campaigned for his fellow Democrats year after year. V. R. MCGINNIS and GEORGE BAKER were famed for their political speeches, and V. R. MCGINNIS was once a candidate for Governor.

The Decatur County Journal was still a Republican Paper with WILL LINDSEY as editor and a major stockholder. In 1904, the stockholders were MILLARD and MARION STOOKEY, STEPHEN VARGA, Captain J. D. BROWN, THOMAS TEALE, and JAMES HARVEY, but by 1915 JAMES HARVEY and WILL LINDSEY had acquired all of the stock.

Between 1913 and 1917 the woman’s suffrage issue was much discussed. In issues of the Decatur County Journal in 1916 space was given for a column written by women interested in a suffrage amendment of the State Convention. Rallies were held in different towns and prominent men as well as women leaders took part in the program. At a Decatur City meting JAMES HURST, son of S. W. HURST, was chairman and those from Leon who attended include STEPHEN VARGA son of FRANCIS VARGA; State Senator MARION STOOKEY and his wife; Mr. and Mrs. HARRY VOGT; JESS PRYOR, granddaughter of ALLAN PRYOR; TOM ARNOLD, son of STEPHEN ARNOLD, and his wife, KATE FINLEY ARNOLD. The address of the evening was given by MABEL HORNER. There were sons and daughters of the pioneer who were not only still the leaders in the county but they were progressive in spirit and ready to accept new ideas. It is of particular interest to notice the participation of the men. The suffrage amendment lost by five thousand votes in the state, but the women of Decatur County were to become voters through the amendment to the Constitution in 1920.

One of the women interested in the participation of women in public affairs, ALICE DILSAVER FARQUHAR, became a member of the Leon School Board in 1914 and took far more interest in school affairs than pleased either the Superintendent or the other members of the Board.

Among the county officers between 1898 and 1920 were W. A. POUSH, county recorder, 1905-09; WILL GARDNER, son of JOHN GARDNER. The county clerks include members of pioneer families such as A. S. THARP and JOHN MENDENHALL. R. D. MARTIN was sheriff between 1902 and 1904 and successors include J. E. MARTIN and F. L. (DUFFY) LOREY.

Auditors include JAMES GILL, R. E. MCLAUGHLIN and WALTER OSBORNE. W. H. YOUNG was treasurer in 1902-1906 and was followed by W. C. COZAD, J. V. ARNEY, and ELBA SHEWMAKER.

Almost always the men in county office came from families long-time residents in the county but after 1900 there were no Civil War veterans

It is of interest as far as the county officer are concerned that in 1913, MABEL HORNER, daughter of Dr. HORNER, became County Superintendent of Schools, the first woman to hold the office since 1890. As there were over a hundred rural teachers, she supervised more teachers than all Superintendents of town schools.

As to the economic conditions, as has been stated repeatedly, this was a period of prosperity based upon expectations of growth and increasing land values.

In 1901 the Decatur County Journal stated that property values had doubled since 1876 and by 1916 the value of many farms had more than doubled since 1900. In 1905 GUS TINCH wrote of farm land selling from thirty-five to one hundred dollars an acre. In 1915 that land might sell from one hundred to two hundred dollar an acre. Since land in the county varies very much in productiveness, statements as to the price of land at any period must be qualified by calling attention to this variation. Not even in the time of high prices does all Decatur County land greatly increase the value.

During World War I the prices the farmer received for their products was far beyond anything they had ever received and as they prospered the businessman in each little town prospered too.

As to social customs, there were some changes that were due to factors already mentioned.

Though most churches did not view card playing with approval, many members of the church did play cards. Afternoon card clubs were organized by women and there were evening clubs for both men and women, which was later replaced by auction bridge. Pitch was a favorite game. Not only were there card clubs but the granddaughters of the pioneer women who went to quilting parties now gave and attended card parties, sometimes in the homes but more often such places as the Civic Club in Leon. Prizes were given for high scores but some women who played did not keep their scores, as they “did not wish to gamble.”

Dancing, too, was condemned by most churches but there were private dances and dances given by organizations. At one time the third floor of the only three story business building was used for dances and dances were also held in the Civic Club room. Square dances, spoken of as country dances, were held as in the earlier periods. No school in the county permitted dancing at a school function but the party games were really square dancing under another name.

Throughout this period the temperance feeling was strong, and while liquor was drank, there were few homes in the county where it had any social status. Those who drank did so for the effect of the liquor. Few women drank even in those families where the men were known as “hard drinkers.”

Except for a few very old ladies who smoked pipes, for the most part secretly, women did not use tobacco in any form.

It was almost unheard of for a high school boy to smoke but it was considered necessary to warn those of that age of the evils of the use of tobacco so both in class and in assembly programs attention was called to its harmful effects.

One such talk was given by Captain BROWN in 1916. During his speech, Captain BROWN particularly denounced cigarettes and forgot the real purpose of his speech so far as to conclude, “If you must smoke, don’t smoke a sissy cigarette. Come down to my house and I’ll give you a good cigar.” While cigarette smoking was becoming an accepted use of tobacco, it was condemned in this section of the country and the sale of cigarettes was prohibited by the laws of Iowa from 1896 to 1921. As far as men in Decatur County were concerned most of them agreed with Captain BROWN that only a “dude” or a “sissy” would smoke a cigarette though many changed their opinion while in service and by the close of the period cigarette smoking had, to a certain extent, came to Decatur County.

As far as public entertainment was concerned there were two new forms that came to Decatur County during this period, one of which was a rival to the reunions and the other to the Opera Houses.

The first of these was the annual Chautauqua Program which for one week each summer was the center of interest from the time the big tent was pitched in the yard of the north School at Leon until the seats were taken apart, the tent rolled up and Chautauqua was over for another year.

Before the week of Chautauqua came the selling of tickets, the announcement of speakers and after the first year or two the signing up of sponsors, local business and professional men who must pay the deficit if the Chautauqua Company failed to show a profit.

Three programs were given each day though the one in the morning was for children only and was a combination of games, craft work and music usually in charge of an attractive young teacher who was glad to have summer employment, just as the tent crew were college boys who had found a summer job with the Chautauqua Company.

The talent went from town to town on the circuit and varied from speakers of national importance of ministers with a message and lesser politicians.

The programs, however, include much beside oratory. There were soloists, quartettes, and orchestras. There were one-act and sometimes even three-act plays that had been adapted to the Chautauqua platform. There were magicians and bell ringers. The quality was not always superior but there was nothing cheap or vulgar. Chautauqua was an educational experience and taken seriously by the audiences.

The seats were hard and often the weather during Chautauqua week was very warm but crowds came each day.

Among the speakers who particularly pleased the Democratic County audiences was the widow of General PICKETT who gave a dramatic description of the Charge of Pickett’s Brigade at the battle of Gettysburg. In the audience were a few Union veterans who had fought at Gettysburg who joined in the applause when she completed her speech.

Another speaker long remembered was a handsome young Congressman, WARREN HARDING, who, after he gave his address, went to the newspaper office of the local Republican paper to talk politics and exchange stories with a group of men of the county, none of whom expected the friendly Chautauqua speaker to become a President.

The hero of the Spanish-American war, RICHARD HOBSON, talked about the yellow peril and predicted a disaster like Pearl Harbor years before World War II and warned of the threat of China years before the Cold War. While not the romantic figure he was in 1900 he was still a handsome man. Most of the audience were more interested in seeing him than heeding his warning either as to the danger form the Orient or by his condemnation of alcoholic drink.

While many of those who spoke were not well known, each year there was at least one speaker of such importance that Chautauqua was a big event of the year.

Mention, too, should be made of some of the musical programs on the Chautauqua Circuit. Perhaps the finest concert ever given in Leon was that given by ANNA CASE but other musicians not as well known gave pleasure each year to those who appreciated fine music.

The other new form of entertainment during this period was the moving picture show which offered entertainment not for a week but for every night in the week, or at least every night but Sunday.

Shortly before World War I, places for the showing of pictures were opened in the small towns and given names that seemed appropriate to their purpose.

The one in Leon was called “The Idle Hour Moving Picture Theatre,” quickly shortened to just “Idle hour.” The pictures shown did not, of course, have color or sound and when rerun today seem almost absurd. The humor was almost always of the slapstick variety and the love stories melodramatic. Series such as the Perils of Pauline were very popular. For instance, Lass of the Lumberlands drew large crows in Leon. an episode was shown each Thursday for months. As to melodrama, The Old Homestead, the old stage favorite, was filmed and shown to appreciative audiences.

In 1917 the film Ramona was advertised as “a photo spectacle” and one of the biggest attractions ever to appear in Leon. There was a matinee at 3 p.m. and two shows in the evening. It is evident that it was something special as matinee prices were ten and fifteen cents and admission at night was fifteen and twenty-five cents. The usual price for admission to a show was five and ten cents unless the film had special interest. For instance, MARGUERITE CLARK in the romantic comedy Mice and Men could be seen at the usual price at the matinee but at night the price was ten and fifteen cents.

The picture that was most discussed was Birth of the Nation which the Idle Hour had billed at the same time as Ramona.

During the war, here as elsewhere, war stories such as Broken Blossoms did much to around not only patriotic feeling but created hate of the enemy. The sinking of the Lusitania, which showed the terrified face of a child and then a little hand that disappeared in the water, did more to fix the horror of that disaster than anything said or written.

But though the Chautauqua was so important for one week of the year and though the last part of this period the moving picture shows drew such crowds there were still crowds for a circus, crowds for the Davis City Reunion, Garden Grove corn picnic and for similar events including the celebration of the 4th of July at Pleasanton.

As to the Opera Houses, the one at Leon was in use all through this period.

For several years after 1900 one event of the summer at the Opera House was the recital by the music pupils of Mrs. CHARLES GARDNER. Mrs. GARDNER, who had studied music in Chicago, was a trained and talented musician who gave lessons to the children of her friends and to a few gifted boys and girls whom she selected, often for free lessons, because of her interest in their ability. The recitals were formal affairs, the ushers brought flowers to the performers and some of those who took part played well enough to give pleasure even to those not related to them. Of those who took part in these recitals only one is known to have become a professional musician. ENID ALEXANDER, as ENID HUDSON, gave concerts not only in this country but in France and Austria. Mrs. GARDNER’s mental illness brought an end to the music classes but those taught gained an appreciation of music such as few small town teachers could give.

Besides these recitals, the declamatory contests, graduation exercises, political meetings and amateur plays and musical productions were given at the Opera House.

The opera Olivetti was the outstanding amateur musical production by many who attended to be superior to anything done by any professional company that came to Leon.

Until shortly before World War I, it was not difficult to book professional companies to come to appear at the Opera House but after 1914 these were harder to secure and of increasingly poor quality.

In 1915, there was an “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” show put on by one of the last of the Uncle Tom touring companies. Uncle Tom was still a leading character and Eliza crossed on ice with “real blood hounds in pursuit” but Topsy, as a comedy part, was more important than Little Eva, Aunt Ophelia furnished humor quite unlike that of the original story and even the cruelty of Simon Legree was overshadowed by the antics of assorted characters unknown in the original story.

In 1917 ANCIL BERRY, as manager of the Opera House, booked Girl of the U. S. A. which seems to have been one of the last such shows to appear on the Leon Opera House stage.

Because so much emphasis has been given to the prosperity and optimism of this period, it may seem that it was a Utopian age and that there were no shadows to dim the bright picture of these years.

For instance, while this was a time of thriving business, the wages of the unskilled laborers remained low. Until the war began, men worked for a dollar to two dollars a day and farmhands were paid twenty dollars a month with room and board. A day’s work was ten to twelve hours and a farmhand worked from sunrise to sunset and perhaps did chores after dark. Those who worked in the stores and the offices were paid on somewhat the same scale. Women who worked at housework were considered well paid if given three dollars a week with room and board. Until the United States entered the war the pay of teachers increased very little. In 1903 the school board at Leon increased wages to thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents a month but expressed regret that the cost of building the new schoolhouse made it impossible to do more. In 1913 the highest paid teacher, ELMER BROWN, received fifty-six dollars. ROSE LAMOREE was second with a salary of fifty-five dollars a month. The highest salary paid a Superintendent was that of Mr. GASS, one hundred forty-four dollars a month. Decatur City paid their Superintendent one hundred dollars a month which was more that was paid in any other towns except Leon, Lamoni and Garden Grove. In the high schools women who were college graduates were paid fifty to sixty dollars a month, while elementary teachers, most of whom had little or no college training, were paid from thirty-five to fifty dollars as were the great majority of the rural teachers.

The schools of which the county was so proud had changed little in equipment nor much in methods of teaching since the days after the Civil War.

The one room schools had outdoor toilets, were stove heated and the water bucket and dipper were still in use in many schools. Even the so-called modern town schools were not well equipped particularly as far as libraries and laboratories were concerned. There were, of course, no school lunch programs and no gymnasiums.

As has been mentioned earlier there were new church buildings build during this period but before the end of the period there were indications that some of the buildings would seldom, if ever, be filled to capacity.

It also seemed evident that many of the rural churches had years of uncertainty ahead of them and by the end of the period regular services had been discontinued in those most affected by the changing times.

It was also unfortunate that during this period there were disastrous fires in most of the towns of the county. In 1905 a fire in Grand River destroyed the first store that had been built there. In September of 1903 the buildings on the west side of the street in Van Wert were burned and in 1915 an entire block was burned. In Decatur the buildings on the north side of the square were destroyed by fire in 1907. In Lamoni the Herald office building was a total loss in 1907 due to fire. Pleasanton had disastrous fires. In fact in the towns and in the country fire was always a peril. Modern means of fighting a fire were unknown. Even in town it was difficult to save a building after a fire started and in the country bucket brigades were seldom successful. While in Lamoni money was immediately raised to replace the Herald office and the Swift Plant at Leon was rebuilt, not all the buildings burned were replaced and each town suffered loss when there was a fire which was not reassuring to those whose hopes were centered on the growth of the towns concerned.

Another shadow on the brightness of this period, though one that was inevitable, was the passing away of so many of the early settlers who had played such a large part in the affairs of the county. In the first years of the century S. W. HURST, FRANCIS VARGA, THOMAS TEALE, Judge JOHN HARVEY and J. R. BRADSHAW were claimed by death. In the year 1912 A. J. ALLEN, STEPHEN RADNICH, Dr. ROBERT GARDNER, and W. M. BLADES all died within the space of a few months. Among the women who died between 1910 and 1914 were ELIZABETH CLARK, I. N. CLARK; SUSAN WARNER BAKER, whose first husband had been CARL HOFFMAN; MARY HARKNESS PARRISH, wife of JOHN PARRISH of Garden Grove; and English-born MARY DAY FEAR.

Another death that occurred that marked the end of an era was that of ANDY THOMPSON, once a slave in Kentucky but for many years a highly respected farmer living near Decatur. During the hour of his funeral business houses closed in Decatur and his pallbearers included such men as C. R. RILEY, J. M. EIKER, SLYVESTER MILSAP, and I. M. CORRINTON. ANDY THOMPSON had been well accepted in the community and his sons who had attended school in [in the] county were, by the time of his death, well established. JOHN THOMPSON was an editor and attorney in Des Moines, and EDWARD THOMPSON was a druggist in St. Joseph, Missouri.

As far as Negroes were concerned, when the older men and women died, no one took their place. Though they had been welcomed at the churches and enrolled in the public schools by the end of this period the only Negroes in the county were those who came briefly and left. Something was missing in the county when TILLER JOHNSON no longer greeted friends at the Christian Church, when BEN and his hounds did not come to town and when BOB GOOD did not leave his barbershop to march with the G. A. R. on special days.

However, by the end of this period there were no veterans of the Civil War able to march to the cemetery on Memorial Day and too few to come together to some church the Sunday before.

Of course, there were other veterans of other wars but the men of World War I or even the Spanish-American War did not take the place of the now aged “boys in blue” nor was anyone member of the American Legion as admired by the younger generation as Captain BROWN, of the Civil War, was for so many years.

As to the many other leading men and women of the county who died, their places were in a way taken by someone else. Businessmen came and some remained for many years. In a few instances, sons and grandsons of the early settlers carried on the family business. There were farms occupied by descendants of those who first broke the prairie land.

But in spite of those whose descendants remained in the county, things were changing. There were no farmers as highly regarded as those in earlier days. There were no bankers who had the dignity and commanded the respect of those in the years after the Civil War. Businessmen did not have the prestige as in the years just past. Adventure had gone from farming, glamour had gone from banking, and prestige from business.

There was another quite different shadow over the county in these supposedly bright days, one that Captain BROWN quite ignored when he talked of Decatur County as the best spot on earth.

Never before or since have so many serious crimes been committed in the county in so short a period, crimes of robbery, arson and murder.

As to the murders there seems to be no explanation as to why there were so many. There were no gangs of hoodlums involved nor any sinister mastermind directing the taking of life. While in several cases too much whiskey played a part, this was not true in others. Each crime was a story in itself, not connect with any other.

Between 1903 and 1906 six men were accused of murder.

In 1903, when F. BRACEWELL was killed, at least two newspapers in the county suggested that mob violence might be justified. Both the press and the pulpit viewed with alarm the number of crimes committed in the county.

As has been said each crime was a separate story and they were alike only in that there was no mystery as to who had done the killing and little doubt as to why it was done. In 1903 Dr. DUFF was killed by a Mr. CLARK, a respected farmer, whose defense was the unwritten law. He had brooded over his domestic troubles until he felt his act was justified. He went alone to the doctor’s office and killed the man he blamed for his unhappiness. JIM WHARTON was killed one evening in a Leon restaurant. PHIL DIETRICK admitted that he aimed the gun and pulled the trigger but he had though, he contented, that the gun was unloaded. Both men concerned belonged to families well-established in the county. A man named THOMPSON was hot on the streets of Davis City. The claim was self-defense. Dr. CROFFORD was tried for causing the death of a young girl though an illegal operation.

The murder that aroused the most feeling was the result of disagreement between one of the best known farmers in the county, F. BRACEWELL, and a tenant farmer named JOHN HAYDEN. The trial was a dramatic one. Mrs. BRACEWELL sat in court with her orphaned children, including five year old twins. Mrs. BRACEWELL’s appearance aroused much sympathy. Mrs. HAYDEN and her children, poorly dressed and showing evidence of poverty and grief, were also in evidence.

In the years that followed 1903, there were other trials that attracted wide attention in the “best spot on earth.”

EARL RILEY, son of C. R. RILEY, a leading businessman in Decatur, killed WILLIAM (BILL) WOODWARD, son of WILLIAM WOODARD, Decatur farmer and banker, following a quarrel the night before.

Again there was no mystery. They met in a drugstore on Sunday morning, the quarrel was renewed and RILEY fired the fatal shot. RILEY claimed self-defense and after two trials was free but the trial cost his father much what he had saved, shortened the life of his mother and cast a shadow upon his own life that never lifted.

The trial of HUGH TEALE, accused of the murder of Mrs. ZORNES, ended in the confession of another man who said he killed Mrs. ZORNES when she attacked him with a poker in the darkness that followed when the lamp was overturned in the quarrel between the men in the ZORNES family and the men with whom they were playing cards. If to accept the confession meant that the chief witnesses for the prosecution had committed perjury. The county attorney refused to admit the confession as true. HUGE TEALE was sent to prison but was soon released by the Governor. He was a young man of a good family with no record of crime, guilty it would seem only of being in the wrong place. Long before his death the tragedy of his youth was forgotten by those who knew him as a good neighbor and a good citizen.

One tragic crime that involved no long trial occurred in Grand River when a young man returned home drunk and killed his wife, jealous because she was not home when he arrived. He appeared before the judge, blinded by a self-inflicted wound, pleaded guilty and asked no mercy. Too late he knew his wife had been with his mother while he was gone.

While murders occurred in every section of the county, it was in Grand River and its vicinity that had the reputation of being the most lawless.

The History of Decatur County published in 1915 says this in connection with arson and fraud trials in 1904.

“Before Grand River had been in a state of lawless disorder, saloons ran without license, shooting scrapes and destruction of property passed without trial because there could be found no one that had the temerity to speak.”

Such a description of conditions in Grand River does not sound like something that could be written of any place “in the best county in the best state” but it seems to have been unchallenged in 1915.

The arson cases came about because of what is said to have been an attempt to defraud insurance companies. Those involved were accused of getting insurance for good livestock particularly horses and replacing them with worthless ones that died when the barn burned. It was reported, too, that insurance was collected for horses supposedly killed by lightning but which were really killed by a member of the gang, singed, and dragged to the nearest wire fence.

According to the History of Decatur County, 1915, there were at least a dozen men involved, only two of whom are named by the authors.

An insurance adjuster named I. N. CORBETT was credited with securing the evidence that led to the trial and conviction of one man at least.

According to the county history already quoted, there was a time before CORBETT secured the evidence when anyone who ventured to protest what was happening might expect to have his barn or other buildings set on fire. The whole section, it is said, was terrorized.

While there was no gang to disturb the peace and safety of Pleasanton, the failure of the Bank of Pleasanton meant a twenty thousand dollar loss to ROYAL RICHARDSON as he assumed the full responsibility for a failure done, he said, to a to-trusted cashier.

An examination of the court records and the newspaper files shows not only serious crimes, of which a partial list has been given in this account, but many other lawless acts. There were horse thieves and cattle rustlers in the county. Housed were burglarized and robberies took place. The newspapers told of “shooting scraps” and street fights, and there were too many accounts of the arrests of drunkard disorderly reports to justify the claim that there was no better place in the world.

However, though all was not bright in the economic picture, though the expected growth of population had no come, though death had taken leaders who were not replaced, and even though there was a great a record of crime in the county, there was one basic reason for the feeling of security and well being in the county, a feeling that was shared by the entire county. It was a time of peace. There would never be another war.

It may seem that such a belief could not have existed and it is true that now and then there where those who talked of the yellow peril or viewed with alarm the military spirit of Germany but few took them seriously. Young men and women planned their lives with no thought of war. If Captain BROWN mentioned it in his annual speech to the students at school, it was of past wars he spoke. He expected no future wars.

Even, when war started in August in 1914, few if any expected it would affect Decatur County. If Captain BROWN mentioned it in his speech that spring, it was as just another of the good fortunes of those who lived in Decatur County, Iowa, in a country untroubled by an threat of war.

As a matter of fact the first effects of the war were good. Prices of farm products went up and the value of land increasing. The war, when it was discussed, was just a topic of interest. Since Decatur County had almost no foreign born residents, there were very few that were anxious about near relatives still living in one of the countries at war.

There were, of course, many of German descent living in the county but most of them were of English, Scotch, Irish, or Scandinavian descent, there were some of German descent who in the early days of the war took pride in the German victories and there were those of other ancestry who deplored them. The interest, however, was more like that taken in a World Series baseball game or a Big Ten championship and many were just indifferent.

By 1916 feelings had changed. The attack on Belgium, the sinking of the Lusitania and the effectiveness of allied propaganda all made a difference. Most of those of German descent now stressed by [why] their forebears had left Germany or recalled that they also had grandparents who were English, Scotch, or Dutch or that the grandparents with a German name came from Alsace-Lorraine.

By 1916 the peace loving middle west had become pro-allies, “I Don’t Raise My Bob To Be A Soldier" was no longer a song to be sung though almost everyone in the county believed in the sentiment and surely had no expectation of seeing Decatur County boys being drafted and sent overseas to fight. “Don’t Bite the Hand That’s Feeding You” was popular as a song to direct against those who condemned to pro-allies policies of our government. It was no longer considered, as it had been in 1914, commendable to contribute to funds to be sent to Germany even if the money was to be used for German children.

But with all this it was still a time of peace in Decatur County and some at least were quite complacent that war in Europe had brought so much added prosperity.

In 1916 the pro-WILSON slogan “He kept us out of the War” was effective in Decatur County as it was in the rest of the middle west. The people were pro-allies but with reservations. They wanted the allies to win. They would sell them supplies and even give them gifts. There was no desire to send out fleet or regular army to help them and no though to sending men recruited or drafted in this county.

During the last year before the war, life went on much as usual in Decatur except that the war in Europe had made the farmers more prosperous which meant that the business and professional men, too, had better income.

In the winter months the young people had bobsled rides, skating parties and now and then a dance while the dinner parties, big bridge parties and the club and lodge affairs were enjoyed by their parents.

In the summer, camping on the banks of Grand River and picnics at the Davis City Park, at favorite places along Grand River or at Caster Lake were favorite forms of recreation. In summer, too, came the Reunions, the one at Garden Grove and those at Davis City and Decatur. These were still often called Old Settlers Reunions, but there were few of the really early settlers to attend Garden Grove had what they called a Corn Picnic. Perhaps even more than usual took summer trips. The HARVEYs and the TEALEs went to their cottages at Lake Okoboji and others went there as guests or rented cottages. Some preferred to go to the mountains and went to Colorado.

The Bachelor Club had events throughout the year. These youthful “bachelors,” most of whom were in High School in 1916, provided many social events for those in their age group.

But while the year before the war was a particularly gay one in the county, underneath there was concern and a fear, not often expressed, that war might cast its shadow here too.

The Red Cross became an important organization. Patriotic songs were sung and almost everyone was, as has been said, strongly “pro-allies.”

In the last year before the war, too, the Harper Revival services led many in the county, particularly those in Leon and vicinity, to church membership and led those already members to increased devotion. These services were held in a large tent on the small lot south and east of the high school ground. There was a large choir and several weeks of evangelistic preaching. By the close of the meeting almost all students in the Leon High School, who were not already church members, were listed as converts and most of those in the weeks, following became church members. A Bible study class was held once a week in the high school study hall and in the evening almost all of those enrolled in high school returned to school with a Bible instead of textbooks.

There was much interest, too, in organized Sunday School classes. In the Methodist Church in Leon Baraca Class taught by MABEL HORNER include the older high school boys and the younger businessman, a group that with few expectations were in service when the war came. The young women were also in an organized class called Philathea.

Not only did many from all parts of the county attend the Harper meetings but revival meetings held in churches in other towns and in the country churches were all well attended and resulted in converts.

With all the increased prosperity and interest in social affairs there was underneath a concern not only about the immediate future but in the life to come.

The shadows of a World War grew nearer and nearer.

Though there were no radios to give immediate notice that war was declared, or television to show us Congress voting, the news came quickly by telephone, telegraph, and through the newspapers.

Just as quickly came the events that prepared those who lived in Decatur County for participation in the war though even in the early days of draft many still clung to the idea that no one would be sent out of the country.

First of all came the registration of the men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one. Even before the plans of the draft were announced young men, not waiting to be drafted, enlisted or entered officer training. Among those who entered officer training at once were BROWN CASTER, grandson of SAMEUEL CASTER; FREDERIC HOFFMAN, grandson of CARL JACOB HOFFMAN; RALPH MCGINNIS, son of V. R. MCGINNIS.

When the time for registration came there were one hundred twenty-six registered at Leon, one hundred forty-three in Fayette township including Lamoni, thirty-three at LeRoy. Registration throughout the county was in proportion.

Dr. EIKER, Dr. WAILES, and Dr. CONTZ were on the Examining Board. J. S. PARRISH, FRANK MALLETT, and WALTER OSBORN were appointed on the Exemption Board. Like men in similar positions throughout the United States, the men on these Boards worked long hours, under continual pressure, subject to to constant criticisms and unceasing demands for special consideration. Not all the heroes of World War I wore uniforms.

When the results of the drawing of draft numbers came, JOHN TULLIS of Decatur held in this county number two hundred sixty-eight, the first number drawn. ANCIL BERRY, grandson of JOHN SOWERS, Civil War Veteran, and RALPH RUMLEY, grandson of LEWIS RUMLEY also a Civil War Veteran, were among those whose numbers were drawn very soon after two hundred sixty-eight.

However, it was soon evident that while some of those whose numbers were first drawn would be first to go, others would be exempt, and it was evident, too that unless exempt, the young men registered would all, sooner or later be called into service.

Exemptions included first of all those no able to pass the physical examination and for these there were some sympathy through some parents who had been proud of strong healthy sons looked with envy at those who could keep tier sons safely at home, even if admittedly unfit because of physical or mental disability.

For those who claimed exemption because of being essential to industry there was often condition and suspicion that cowardice or even disloyalty was what really prevented them being in uniform.

There were marriages that were followed by requests to be exempt. There were babies who were said to be welcomed because the father could claim a dependent. (In one instance it was suggested that the little newcomer be named Screen as he was keeping his father out of the draft.) But, though in the county there were young men who classified themselves a farmers though all they did was sleep and eat at a farmhouse, parents who suddenly became dependent on sons they had been supporting and those who hastened to acquire dependent wives and children – these were the exceptions. Just as in the Civil War the young men of Decatur County responded to the call for service. Though there was now the registration and the draft calls, many volunteered. Others when drafted waived exemption claims. Again, too, there were wives proud of husbands in the service even though they were left with children to care for alone. There were fathers who took up heavy burdens so that sons might serve their country.

Even before there was a draft call there were, as had been said, Decatur County men in uniform. Mention has already been made of some of those who entered officers training. Others enlisted in the Navy. Among the first of these were OKAL BROWN and FOREST GRIMES.

Among those first called in the draft were ANCIL BARRY, RALPH RUMELY, DAN GITTINGER, and FRED FOLLMER. ERNEST SEARS, grandson of an early settler in Center township, was among those who left on September 1. ROSCOE HAGEN and SCOTT ANDERSON reported at the same time as did RALPH RUMLEY, with CLYDE BUTLER, RAYMOND EPPERLEY and HARRY LEMLY of whom were substitutes at the station ready to take the place of anyone who failed to report.

On Wednesday, September 19, 1917, sixty-five reported, two of whom were substitutes as one man called was already in service and a transient who had registered here was reported as “departed to parts unknown.” The stores were closed and hundreds went to the station where the K. P. Band Played and V. R. MCGINNIS “gave a patriotic address.” Among the Civil War Veterans to join in giving recognition to those entering service were E. J. SANKEY, Captain BROWN, JAMES HONNALD, ABE BLAKESLEY, and GEORGE BOWMAN.

From the time on the draft calls came regularly and fewer and fewer young men were seen on the streets of the towns of Decatur County.

Thirty were called for examination on November 8, 1917; two hundred twenty-nine were called for examination according to an announcement in the county paper of January 24, 1918.

About ten to fifteen per cent of these examined failed to pass the physical tests.

Until the close of the war there continued to be registration, calls for examinations and men leaving to fill a draft quota. Many, too, did not wait until drafted but enlisted long before they would have been called. Some who could have been exempt were among those who volunteered.

While most of the men were in the Infantry, the Artillery or the Navy, there were Decatur County men in almost every line of service. JOHN GATES, son of SAM GATES, was in a Hospital Corp; JOHN COWL, brother of Mrs. FRANK STEWART, was in the Marines; ARTHUR HALE, whose widowed mother had both sons in service, was in a machine gun company; HAROLD RUSH, great grandson of SOLOMAN PENNIWELL, was trained as a Balloonist; CLAIRE MITCHELL, son of ENOS MITCHELL, was in the front line as a doctor; FRANK BOIES, in the Medical Corp, also was on the front line giving first aid to the wounded.

Men that never expected to leave their county were in distant lands or on the oceans. JAMES (JIMMIE) HOFFMAN, grandson of CARL HOFFMAN, made seven roundtrips from this country to a European port, then back to New York, on the Leviathan. ROBERT (BOB) SCOTT, grandson of a Civil War veteran, went to France and remained in the Army of occupation almost two years.

LILLIAN CRAIG, a nurse with many years experience, enlisted as a Red Cross nurse and was sent to Russia where one of her assignments was to assist in brining refugee children from Siberia.

The first Decatur County man to die while in service was JOHN HOLLIDAY who died from pneumonia at Camp Custer in April, 1918. Hundreds stood outside the crowded Methodist Church in Leon where his funeral services were held. The Knights of Pythias attended and carried their service flag with its first gold star.

News of the death of JOHN COWL came in July. He was wounded at Chateau-Thierry and died in France, the first Decatur County man in World War I to die from wounds suffered in action.

These deaths marked the beginning of messages that came to homes in the county, where a service flag soon had a gold star to replace the blue star that indicated that a man from that home was in service. Mothers of service men as well as wives, daughters, and sisters wore service pins. Those who wore a pin with a gold star had lost a loved one in the Armed Forces.

There were changes in the life in the county.

Labor became scarce and wages higher. Standards for the certification of teachers, already not high, were lowered to secure enough teachers. Married women, some even with children, found employment outside their home.

As for housekeeping, particularly cooking, there were new problems. Sugar was rationed and recipes that used honey or sorghum were popular. Purchases of white flour required that wheat substitutes be bought also and ways had to be found to use rye or even buckwheat in quantities not thought of before the war. As always in wartime, things plentiful in times of peace became difficult to secure.

While prices were high every patriotic citizen felt an obligation to buy war bonds and not only luxuries but even what before the war had been regarded as necessities were not purchased by those who felt that call to sacrifice in that way to give financial support to the county’s war needs.

As always, too, those at home wished to provide for the needs of the men in service. Rationed sugar was often used to make candy to send the member of the family or some other relative or friend in service. Gifts practical and impractical were bought or made and a knitting bag was almost a must for every girl and women.

Red Cross classes gave training in First Aid and Home Nursing, there were Red Cross centers for the making of bandages, and women knitted not only for those they knew but for the Red Cross to send where needed. Older women taught the younger women and knitting needles replace the crochet hook and embroidery needles.

Through the Red Cross, too, affairs were held to raise funds. A typical event of this sort was a sale held in 1916 with Mrs. C. M. KELLER as chairman assisted by Mrs. C. M. AKES, Mrs. ED BIGGS and Mrs. F. N. HANSELL. All sorts of articles donated were sold at auction, often re-donated by the buyers and sold again and again. One dozen eggs netted one hundred dollars, a possum brought seventy dollars to the fund. Most valuable article for sale did not bring a proportionate price. A. M. AKES and a local bank joined in giving a bull which sold for four hundred twenty-five dollars.

For the first time in our history the fighting was overseas. Letters came from France, from England and from Belgium. Those who lived in Decatur County struggled with names of places unheard of before, often mispronounced but now part of their lives because someone dear to them was there. Chateau-Thierry, Ypress, Saint Mihiel, the Argonne, and many more such places became as a familiar as Davis City, LeRoy and Decatur.

Just as the men in service learned to use new weapons and to understand new terms, those at home spoke of tanks, planes and submarines and knew what was meant by such terms as “no man’s land,” “trenches” and “over the top.”

It was a singing war, probably the last such war. Troop trains left with those abroad singing “Over There” and “Beautiful Katty” and learning new songs in service, some of them with unprintable verses. Those at home gathered around a piano or organ or where led in community singing at public gatherings.

Among the songs that everyone knew were “There’s a Long, Long Trail,” “Rose of No Man’s Land,” “Somewhere a Voice Is Calling,” “Joan of Arc We’re Calling You,” and “You Help the Red Cross Now.” As well as songs written for the men in service, “Pack Up Your Troubles,” “We’ll Get the Bacon Off the Rhine,” and of course “Tipperary” and “Over There.” No one had a television set of even a radio but everyone could sing whether in tune or not.

In Decatur County as elsewhere, the influenza epidemic that started in the fall of 1918 took its toll.

The arrival of a flag-drapped casket at any station in the county meant that the body of a Decatur County man was brought back for burial after death in a training camp. Among those who died in the epidemic was WILFORD GARBER who died not long after he entered service. Death messages coming from the Army camps in the country brought sorrow to many homes.

The epidemic in the county added to the gloom. There was no hospital, many doctors were in service and it was almost impossible to secure a nurse. The aged and pregnant women were those who most often did not survive, but some of those who died were young and had been so free of illness that they were fatally ill with “flu pneumonia” before the seriousness of their condition was realized. Here, as elsewhere, whole families became ill. Here, too, there were those who cared for the sick, without thought of danger to themselves, going wherever they were needed most. There were others, few it is true, who were so terrified that they failed to care for even members of their own family.

At last came the spring, the epidemic was over. Flu masks were burned, and the calcidin tablets and aspirin put away in the medicine shelves. Soon green grass would cover the graves of those who had died that winter.

During the summer that followed, news came of the advance of the Allies and by fall victory was near.

On November 11, 1918, there were bonfires in the towns of Decatur County, there were songs and even speeches, just as a few days previously there had been celebrating when it was falsely reported that the Armistice had come. Men and women threw their hats into the fire and those who had never danced before danced that night.

Soon the men started to return home and were welcomed in various ways.

For some it was a tragic homecoming, for some had been injured by shrapnel, some had been gassed and some suffered from shell shock. HERRY LEMLEY would never recover from his injuries. Others died young, as did CLYDE BUTLER from a service-connected illness. Saddest of all were those whose minds had been affected and who would end their days in a mental hospital. Even for those who came home uninjured there were problems. Unlike the Civil War veterans, they were given transportation home and sixty dollars for being discharged so they did have that much advantage, but unlike the soldiers of World War II, they had none of the benefits of the G. I. bill passed during that war. There was no help from the government if they went to college, no loans to help buy a home or go into business and no occupational training. However, they had expected no such benefits. They were home again in a land of peace and prosperity. Most of them in Decatur County found jobs of one sort or another or started in again to complete their education.

The end of the period from 1900 to 1920 was again a time of optimism. The United States had become the great world leader.

Iowa had prospered during the war, never before had its products been so important.

Captain BROWN was an old man now but he believed in 1920, as he did in 1900, that Decatur County was the best spot on earth. The young men had gone to war, most of them had returned. The epidemic of 1918 would not come again. Not only to Captain BROWN but to all those who lived in Decatur County the years looked bright. Even better days would come.
 
 
"The History of Decatur County, Iowa: 1839 - 1970" Index   ***   History Index   ***   Decatur County IAGenWeb