 |
1917 History
|
 |
Go to History and Biography Index
|
1917 History
|
|
In the early settlement
of the West every state had its quota of land speculators, whose
principal object seems to have been the laying out of towns, without
the slightest regard to the geographical importance of the site or its
possible future commercial advantages. The great aim of these
speculators was to sell lots to new immigrants. An early Iowa writer
(Hawkins Taylor in the Annals of Iowa) says: "Every body we met had a
town plat, and every man that had a town had a map of the county marked
to suit his town as a county seat."
Many of these prospective towns were advertised throughout the East in
a manner that did not reflect much credit upon the veracity of the
advertisers. The proprietors of some of the towns along the Des Moines
River sent out circulars showing a picture of the town, with a row of
three and four-story buildings along the river front, large side wheel
steamboats lying at the landing, etc., when the truth of the matter was
that only an occasional steamboat of very light draft was able to
navigate the Des Moines, and the town consisted of perhaps half a dozen
small cabins. A few of these towns, by some fortunate circumstance,
such as the location of a county seat, the development of a water power
or the building of a railroad, have grown into considerable commercial
centers. Others have continued to exist, but never have grown beyond
the importance of a neighborhood trading point, a small railroad
station, or a post village for a moderate sized district. And some have
disappeared from the map altogether.
Fortunately for Emmet County the mania for founding towns had about
spent its force before the first settlements were made within its
limits. The pioneers who settled and organized the
county were more interested in the development of its natural resources
than they were
in speculation. A few towns were laid out purely for speculative
purposes, but those of the present day, with one or two exceptions,
are
located on the lines of railroad that traverse the county, and have at
least some excuse for being on the map. Most of them were founded
after the railroads were built. From a careful examination of the
platbooks, old newspaper files, documents, etc., the following list of
towns and villages that are now or have been projected in Emmet County
has been
compiled: Armstrong, Bubona, Dolliver, Emmet Grove, Estherville,
Forsyth, Gridley, Gruver, Halfa, High Lake, Hoprig, Maple Hill,
Raleigh,
Ringsted, Swan Lake and Wallingford.
Some of the smaller towns were never officially platted, and, like
Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin, they "jest growed." They have no special
history, but such facts as the writer could gather concerning them are
giveri in this chapter. In the case of the incorporated towns, the
population given is taken from the United States census for 1910, and
that of the smaller places is taken from Polk's Iowa Gazetteer for
1915-16.
ARMSTRONG
The incorporated town of Armstrong is situated in the eastern part of
Armstrong Grove Township, on the Albert Lea & Estherville division
of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad system, nineteen
miles due east of Estherville. When the railroad was built in
1892 it was known as the Chicago & Iowa Western. The town was laid
out by the Northern Iowa Land and Town Lot Company, of which F. E.
Allen was presi dent and S. L. Dows was secretary. On July 7,
1892, the plat was filed in the office of the county recorder. It shows
twenty-eight blocks, with a total of 518 lots north of the railroad
and five large outlots south of the tracks for factory sites, etc.
Prior to the platting of the town a postoffice had been established at
Armstrong Grove. E. B. Campbell was the.first
postmaster and kept the office at his residence on his
farm. Mail was carried from Fort Dodge and later from
Bancroft by H. J. Felke. When the town was laid out
the postoffice was moved to the new village and Mr. Campbell became
the first merchant in Armstrong. He was succeeded as postmaster by
George Stewart. The postoffice has grown with the town. Three people
are employed in
the office and there is one rural mail route which delivers mail to the
inhabitants of the adjacent rural districts. The present postmaster is
Kaspar Faltinson, whose commission was issued by President Wilson on
June 6, 1913. The receipts of the office for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, were a little over $3,700.
On January 17, 1893, a petition was presented to the District Court
asking for the incorporation of Armstrong, to include certain
territory in the west half of Section 14 and the east half of Section
15, Towmihip 99, Range 31. The petition was signed by E, J.
Breen, T. W. Doughty, E. J. Boots, W. A. Richmond, James A. Colvin,
Charles Ogilvie, T. L.
Thorson, A. W. Colvin, I. E. Davis, J. M. Gannon, J. F. Hutchins, J.
Jackson, Albert Davis, A. Halder, O. A. Canfield, A. Loomer, D. T.
Jenkins, C. B. Mathews, J. T. Benson, W. T. Gannon, William Musson, L.
L. Lawrence, B. F. Robinson, James Duffy, J. A. Finlayson, S. M.
Andrew, David Mitchell, George Stickney, Jr., D. K. Hawley, W. L.
Rairden, E. W. Darling and William Stuart, The large number of
signers gives some idea of the rapid growth of the town.
Judge George H. Carr, of the District Court, after considering the
petition, granted the prayer of the petitioners and appointed E. J.
Breen, Charles Ogilvie, B. F. Robinson, J. A. Finlayson and A. W.
Colvin commissioners to call an election for the purpose of submitting
to the legal voters living within the territory to be included in the
town limits the question of incorporation. The election was held on
March 13, 1893, commissioners Breen, Ogilvie and Robinson acting as
judges, and L. L. Lawrence and T. L. Thorson as clerks. The result was
forty-seven votes in favor of incorporation and only four
opposed. Returns were made to the District Court as required by
law, and on April 6, 1893, the order for the incorporation was formally
issued and recorded. Meantime the following officers had been elected:
E. J. Breen, mayor; R. Gabriel, clerk; B. F. Robinson, treasurer;
George V. Davis, marshal and street commissioner; J. A. Colvin, L. J.
Rohde, E. J. Boots, George Stickney, Jr., J. L. Guest and T. L.
Thorson, councilmen.
Following is a list of the mayors of Armstrong, with the year when each
was elected: E. J. Breen, 1893; Kaspar Faltinson; 1894; B. F. Robinson,
1895; A. A. Reynolds, 1896; Charles Ogilvie, 1899; James A. Colvin,
1900; Charles Ogilvie, 1902; B. J. Dunn, 1904; H. A. Kingston, 1906; S.
D. Bunt, 1908; Kaspar Faltinson, 1910; H. A. Kingston, 1914; W. W. Brooks, 1916.
The Armstrong Opera House was built by a company which was incorporated
on May 6, 1903, with a capital stock of $15,000, with William Stuart,
John Dows, J. L. Guest, George Stewart, N. Griffin, John Flemming and
H. A. Kingston as the first board of directors. By the erection of the
opera house Armstrong was provided with a place for holding public
meetings and entertainments.
On November 13, 1912, a petition was presented to the town council
by
the Armstrong Cement Works for a franchise to establish an electric
light plant. The proprietors of the cement works offered to pay the
expense of holding an election to submit the question to the people. An
election was accordingly held on December 9, 1912, and the franchise
was granted by a vote of nearly four to one. The plant was completed
and placed in operation in the spring of 1913. An excellent system of
waterworks had been installed some years before.
In 1910 the population was 586. Armstrong has three banks, all
established about the time the town was incorporated, churches of five
different denominations, a good volunteer fire department, a weekly
news paper (the Journal), two large grain elevators, a school building
that cost $50,000, a cement block and tile factory, a creamery, a
number of well stocked mercantile establishments, several minor
business concerns and a score or more fine residences. In 1915 the
property of the town was assessed for taxation at $311,135.
Some maps of Iowa show a place called Bubona in the northwestern part
of Jack Creek Township, where there is nothing but a rural school and a
few dwellings near. The writer has been unable to learn that a
postoffice by that name ever existed there.
Near the center of Lincoln Township, on the Jewell & Sanborn
division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad system is the
incorporated town of Dolliver. It was surveyed and laid out for the
Western Town Lot Company, of which Marvin Hughitt was president and J.
B. Redfield secretary, and the plat was filed in the office of the
county recorder on May 8, 1899, about the time the railroad was built.
On the original plat are shown seventeen lots east of the railroad
tracks marked "Depot Grounds," and on the west side of the railroad are
six blocks, divided into ninety-seven lots. The east and west streets
are Shafter, Main and Otis, and the north and south streets are Dewey,
Schley and Sampson. With the exception of Main Street all bear the
names of United States army and navy officers in the Spanish-American
war. On August 8, 1911, a new survey was made by A. M. Jefferis by
order of the town council.
At the November term of the District Court in 1901 a petition
asking for the incorporation of Dolliver was presented. The petition
was
signed by T. C. Pier, H. F. Keables, George A. Ports, W. S. Newton, C.
E. Jackson, F. D. Colgrove, B. B. Elliott, J. F. Lamb, H. P. Wilcox, B.
F. Wright, M. A. Holtzbauer, Roy Wertz, T. Cunningham, C. F. Wendt,
B. Lamb, J. A. Reagan, L. P. Stillman, M. Sweafet, W. H. Kephart, I.
L. Chandler, C. E. Sullivan, A. N. Eells, I. Coleman, W. A. Russell, W.
S. Mescrip, N. L. Erickson, N. Benson, F. S. Arnold, C. O. Harris and
S. B. Reed. At that time the town was only a little over two years old,
and as the thirty signers all represented that they were residents and
legal voters in the territory it was proposed to incorporate, it will
be seen that Dolliver had experienced a rather rapid growth.
When the petition was presented to the court, W. H. Bigelow came in
with an objection. He claimed ownership of the greater part of the
east half of Section 22, Township 100, Range 32, and set forth that
there was no necessity for incorporating so much territory. After
hearing both the petition and remonstrance, the court ordered that Mr.
Bigelow's land be omitted from the plat of the town and appointed T.
C. Pier, J. A. Reagan, L. P. Stillman, C. E. Sullivan and B. B. Elliott
commissioners to hold an election and submit the question of
incorporation to
the voters. The election was held on December 17, 1901, when the vote
was thirty in favor of incorporation and only one opposed. On Febru
ary 5, 1902, the court approved the report of the commissioners and
ordered an election to be held on Monday, March 31, 1902, for town
officers. At that election T. C. Pier was chosen mayor; George A.
Ports, clerk; H. P. Wilcox, treasurer; S. B. Reed, B. B. Elliott, J. A.
Reagan, C. E. Sullivan, H. F. Keables and L. P. Stillman. Returns of
this
election were presented to the District Court at the April term, and on
April 16, 1902, the court declared the town of Dolliver "duly
incorporated according to the laws of the State of Iowa."
Dolliver has two banks, two general stores, a hardware store, a
lumber yard, two grain elevators, a telephone exchange, express and
telegraph offices, a money order postoffice, a hotel and a number of
small
shops. Lincoln Township was recently made a consolidated school
district and a modern school building has been erected at Dolliver at
a
cost of $48,000. The town was named for Hon. J. P. Dolliver, who
represented the Tenth District in Congress for ten years and was a
member
of the United States Senate at the time of his death on July 14, 1900.
In 1910 the population of Dolliver was 107. Since then its growth has
been of a substantial character and the population is now estimated at
150. In 1915 the property was valued for taxation at $30,177.
The first postoffice in Emmet County was established in what is now
Emmet Township, where the first settlement was made in 1856. George C.
Granger had opened a small store there and around the store and
postoffice grew up a little hamlet that became known as Emmet Grove. No
plat of the place was ever filed in the office of the county recorder
and after the postoffice was discontinued the village - if such it
could be called - gradually became extinct.
Estherville, the seat of justice and only city within the limits of
Emmet County, dates its beginning from 1858, when Robert E. Ridley
acquired 160 acres of ground where the city now stands and built the
first house upon the town site. A little later the town was
platted by R. E. Ridley, Jesse Coverdale and Adolphus Jenkins as proprietors, and
was named for Mrs. Esther A. Ridley, wife of Robert E. Ridley and
mother of the first white child born in the town, her daughter Anna
having been born in the spring of 1858, before the town was laid out.
For some time the proprietors gave lots to parties who would agree to
build, but this custom was discontinued after Emmet County was
organized in 1859 and Estherville was made the county seat.
A postoffice was established at Estherville in 1860, with Adolphus
Jenkins as postmaster. The first mail was received by way of a mail
route that ran from Blue Earth, Minnesota, to Sioux City.
Previous to this time Mr. Jenkins had formed a partnership with Robert
E. Ridley and· they built the first mill for grinding corn and wheat
in Emmet County. This mill was patronized by the settlers for miles
around.
In 1861 a new survey of the town was made and
a map prepared _____. The writing
on this map is so dim that it cannot be made out in the illustration
and is here reproduced:
"State of Iowa }
ss
County of Emmet }
"Be it known that on the 1st day of May, A. D. 1861, before me, Clerk
of the Court in and for said County, personally came Robert E. Ridley,
Jesse Coverdale, Gaylord Graves and Adolphus Jenkins; who acknowledge
this to be a correct map or plat of the Village of Estherville,
situated on the southeast quarter (S. E. ¼) of Section No. ten (10),
and the west half (W. ½) of Section No. eleven (11), of town ninety
nine (99), range thirty-four (34) west. And they furthermore
grant and hereby deed to the loving public all the streets of said
Village, also the Public Square, as designated on this plat.
"In testimony whereof the above named proprietors and their wives have
set their hands this day and year above written.
"ROBERT E. RIDLEY -
ESTHER A. RIDLEY
"ADOLPHUS JENKINS - GAYLORD GRAVES
"JESSE COVERDDALE - L. ELLEN JENKINS
"The above named are personally known to me to be the identical
persons who have here set their hands and acknowledged it to be their
free act and deed.
"C. M. KEIPH, Clerk of Court.
"I hereby certify that this is a correct Map or Plat of the Village of Estherville as surveyed by me April 22d, A. D. 1861.
"SAMUEL WADE, Surveyor.
"State of Iowa }
ss
"Emmet County }
"Filed for record the 1st day of May, A. D. 1861, at 2 o'clock p. m., and recorded in Book ---
"ROBERT E. RIDLEY, County Recorder.
"ocation of Buildings - Hotel, in Block No. 3; Barracks, in Block No.
59, Lots 1, 2, 3; McKay's Store, in Block No. 23, Lots 7, 8."
It will be noticed upon this map that the public square occupied four
blocks, bounded by Fifth, Seventh, Lincoln and Des Moines streets. Some
years later Sixth Street was opened through the square and the south
half was divided into lots. Some of the leading business houses of the
city now stand on what was originally part of the public square.
Owing to the Civil war and the Indian troubles on the frontier the
growth of Estherville was rather slow for the first few years of its
existence. A school house was built on the northeast corner of
the public square in 1860. McKay's general store, Ridley & Jenkins' mill and
Amos Ketchum's blacksmith shop were the principal business
establishments in early days. In 1866 Simeon E. Bemis opened a store
on the corner cf Sixth and Des Moines streets, where the postoffice
building now stands. The Northern Vindicator, the first newspaper in
this section of the state, was started in 1868, and in 1876 Howard
Graves opened the first bank in Emmet County.
INCORPORATING THE TOWN
In 1880 the population of the entire county was 1,650, nearly one
half
of which was in Estherville Township. Early in the summer of 1881
a movement was started for the incorporation of the town and on
September 1, 1881, a petition to that effect was presented to the
Circuit Court. The petition was signed by F. E. Allen, Frank Davey, C.
J. Wil son, E. S. Wells, Howard Graves, Lyman S. Williams, A. O.
Peterson, W. J. Pullen, W. C. Barber, G. I. Ridley, W. E. Riggs, Henry
Coon, J. L. L. Riggs, C. W. Dillman, Knuet Espeset, James Maher, S. E.
Bemis, A. H. Stone, R. E. Ridley, W. H. Davis, J. W. Plummer, D. M. L.
Bemis, Tolliff Espeset, E. H. Ballard and D. A. Painter.
Judge John N. Weaver granted the petition and appointed Knuet
Espeset,
F. E. Allen, Frank Davey, R. E. Ridley and L. S. Williams commissioners
to hold an election and submit the question to the voters
residing within the territory it was proposed to incorporate. The
election was held on October 4, 1881, when forty-four votes were
cast, twenty-eight in favor of incorporating and sixteen opposed. Both
sides complained of the light vote cast, the
advocates of incorporation claiming that if the people had turned out
the proposition would have been carried by a large majority, and the
opposition claiming that it would have been defeated. At the next term
of court Judge Weaver received the returns and issued
the order declaring Estherville to be an incorporated
town. Then followed an election for town
officers. Dr. E. H. Ballard was elected mayor; L. S.
Williams, recorder; Knuet Espeset, R. E. Ridley, John Ammon, F. E.
Allen, J. H. Barnhart and Frank Davey, trustees. These officials took
the oath of office on December 2, 1881, and the first meeting of the
board of trustees was held on the 6th, when A. K. Ridley was elected
town marshal.
Following is a list of the mayors of Estherville under the town
government: E. H. Ballard, 1881; F. E. Allen, 1882; S. E. Bemis,
1884; E. J. Woods, 1885; J. H. Barnhart, 1886; A. O. Peterson, 1888; M.
L.
Archer, 1892. Elections were held annually in March. Dr. Ballard served
from December, 1881, to March, 1882. Mayors Allen and Barnhart each
served two terms, and Mayor Peterson four terms.
CITIES OF THE SECOND CLASS
In October, 1892, W. S. Jones was employed to take a census of
Estherville and reported a population of 2,185. The
returns were presented to the state officials as required by law and
on December 22, 1892, Horace Boies, governor; W. M. McFarland,
secretary of state, and James A. Lyons, auditor of state, issued their
certificate to the effect that they had "made examination of the
returns of the special census taken by the authority of the
incorporated Town of Estherville and have
ascertained that the said incorporated Town of Estherville, Iowa, is
shown by said returns to have a population in excess of two thousand,
to wit: 2,185. Therefore we find that the said
incorporated Town of Estherville is entitled to become a city of the
second class."
The first election for city officers was held on Monday, March 6,
1893,
when the following officials were elected: A. W.
Dawson, mayor; W. A. Ladd, city solicitor; J. P. Kirby, treasurer; C.
M. Brown and A. L. Houltshouser, councilmen from the First Ward; M. K.
Whelan and
Charles Carpenter, councilmen from the Second Ward; F. E. Allen and A.
D. Root, councilmen from the Third Ward. N. B.
Egbert, who had been elected recorder under the town government, was
elected city clerk by the council and has held the office continuously
by re-election to 1916.
Following is a list of the mayors since the
incorporation of the city, with the year in which each was
elected: A. W. Dawson, 1893; E. E. Hartung, 1897; E.
J. Breen, 1898; Mack J. Groves, 1903; W. P. Galloway, 1907; H. C. Coon,
1909; J. E. Stockdale, 1911; B. B. Anderson, 1913; Mack J. Groves, 1915.
WATER AND LIGHT
On February 4, 1891, the city council passed an ordinance granting
a
franchise to the "Estherville Water Company," but that company did
nothing during the next three years toward establishing a system of
waterworks. On May 9, 1894, A. L. Houltshouser and E. J. Breen, members
of the council, were appointed a committee to secure options on
ground suitable for the erection of a stand pipe and pumping station.
They reported on May 21, 1894, that John Ammon had agreed to give a
lease for .a certain site, and that G. N. Coon had offered a tract of
ground 100 feet square on the west side of the river for twenty-five
dollars. At the meeting of the 21st the ordinance granting the
franchise to the Estherville Water Company was repealed, and A. D. Root
offered a resolution to submit to the people the question of
establishing municipal waterworks and an electric light plant.
The resolution was adopted and a special election was held on June 4,
1894. The proposition for a municipal waterworks was carried by a vote
of 282 to 12, and for an electric light plant by a vote of 264 to 18.
On July 10, 1894, P. Canfield Barney was employed to make plans and
specifications for the installation of system of waterworks, and to
oversee its construction. Subsequently the electric light plant
was added to Mr. Barney's commission and bids were advertised for, to
be opened on August 23, 1894. On that date the contract for the
construction of the waterworks was awarded to C. W. Hubbard, of Sioux
Falls, South Dakota, for $10,594, and the contract for the electrical
portion of the lighting plant was awarded to the General Electric
Company, of Chicago, for $3,562. The Sioux City Engine and Iron
Works' bid of $1,574 for engine and boilers was accepted, but that
company failed to carry out its contract and the electric light plant
was built and equipped by Adams, Green & Company, subject to sixty
days' trial before final payment was made. The plant was found to be
unsatisfactory in some respects and at the expiration of the sixty
days, on February 25, 1895, Adams, Green & Company were given
thirty days longer in which to make the necessary changes to bring the
plant up to the proper standard.
The waterworks were completed according to contract and were
accepted
on January 29, 1895. L. R. Woods was the first water commissioner. The
cost of the waterworks and lighting plant to January
1, 1915, has been about sixty thousand dollars. The income from the two
plants has been sufficient to keep up the repairs and pay the debt
contracted in their construction. Estherville claims to be the first
city
in the world to use electricity for switch lights in railroad yards.
SEWER SYSTEM
In the summer of 1899 a petition, signed by numerous citizens, was
presented to the city council asking for the establishment of a sewer
system. On September 16, 1899, the engineering firm of Wardle &
Yeager submitted a proposition to make plans and specifications for a
complete sewer system. The proposition was accepted and on October 5,
1899, the city was divided into three sewerage districts. Eleven days
later the first sewer contract was made with William Harrabin. From
that modest beginning the system has gradually developed until
practically all the thickly settled portions of the city have sewer
connection. A large outlet opens into the Des Moines River and with
this trunk sewer are connected a number of lateral branches. About
the close of 1916 an agitation was started in favor of the
construction of a septic tank, and it is probable that this method of
disposing of sewage will be adopted in the near future.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The first movement toward the establishment of a fire department was
made in September, 1884, when the first volunteer fire company of which
any record has been preserved was organized with the following members:
Chauncey Ammon, M. L. Archer, C. L. Bartlett, W. A. Beecher, T. W.
Carter, H. C. Coon, C. W. Crim, C. W. Dillman, N. B. Egbert, James
Espeset, C. I. Hinman, J. D. Hoover, H. A. Jehu, C. B. Little, A. O.
Peterson, Warren Pullen, G. I. Ridley and William Stivers. A campaign
for funds for the purchase of a hook and ladder truck was immediately
commenced, but after the fund was raised and truck purchased the
company had no suitable place to keep it,
An appeal was therefore made to the board of town trustees to
provide quarters for the fire company, which adopted the name of
"Rescue Fire Company." At the March election in 1887, the question of
purchasing a hand engine and erecting a building for the company was
submitted to the voters and was defeated. The next year the
proposition met with better support and on December 4, 1888, the
council recognized the company in an ordinance providing that "The
fire department shall
consist of a chief, two assistant chiefs, and as many fire wardens,
fire enginemen, hosemen and hook and ladder men as now are, or may be
from time to time appointed by the town council."
The ordinance further provided that the fire apparatus should be
kept
in such places as the council might provide. Rented quarters were
occupied for some four years. On Monday, April 4, 1892, the Rescue Fire
Company elected John Dygert chief; L. E. White and Samuel Fritz,
assistant chiefs; A. O. Peterson, foreman of the engine; H.
O. Sillge, foreman of the hose cart; W. J. Pullen, foreman of the
hook and ladder
brigade. A. O. Peterson was elected president of the company and H. G.
Graaf, secretary. Those officers importuned the council at every
opportunity until on November 20, 1893, an appropriation of $800 was
made
for the erection• of an engine house.
On September 5, 1910, the fire company sent a committee, consisting of
George A. Case, P. Cain and Ford Connelly, to the council to submit the
resignation of every member of the company for the following reasons:
1. The quarters provided for and occupied by the company were unsanitary.
2. The fire alarm system was entirely inadequate to the needs of
the city.
3. The company had no suitable place in which to care for and
dry hose after a fire.
4. The water pressure was not sufficient to
extinguish fires.
The protestseems to have spurred the council to
action. Better quarters were secured for the company and steps were
taken to install a fire alarm system and improve the waterworks.
CITY HALL AND FIRE STATION
On July 14, 1913, a contract was awarded to Thompson & Sweet, of
Estherville, to erect a city hall and fire station on the lot at the
northeast corner of Sixth and Howard streets, which had been
purchased by the city some time before. The building was completed and
occupied in February, 1914 . Its cost was $12,000. The front portion of
the main floor is occupied as a fire station, in the rear of which and
the basement are kept electric light supplies, repairs, etc. On the
second floor the "fire laddies" have a club room in front, and the city
clerk's office and council chamber occupy the rear. Few cities the size
of Estherville have a better municipal building.
THE POSTOFFICE
In the early part of this chapter mention is made of the
establishment of the postoffice at Estherville in 1860. The postmasters
from that time to the present, in the order named, have been Adolphus
Jenkins, Howard Graves, Peter Johnston, Lyman S. Williams, John W.
Randolph, M. K. Whelan, George C. Allen and Frank Carpenter. Mr.
Carpenter, the present incumbent, was appointed by President Wilson
in July, 1913.
Through the efforts of James P. Conner, while serving as a member of
Congress from the Tenth Iowa District, an appropriation was obtained
for the erection of a postoffice building at Estherville. The building,
on the northeast corner of Sixth and Des Moines streets, was completed
in 1911 and, including the site, cost $65,000. The office now employs
the postmaster, assistant postmaster, four clerks, four city carriers,
six rural carriers, a janitor and a charwoman. The receipts for
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, were a little over $18,000. F. A. Robinson, the
assistant postmaster, has been connected with the office for seventeen
years.
ESTHERVILLE TODAY
Estherville is a division point for both the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific and the Minneapolis & St. Louis railroads, and is the
western terminus of the Estherville & Albert Lea division of the
former system. It has two railway roundhouses, five banks, three weekly
newspapers, two good hotels, a fine public library, a flour mill, brick
and tile works, a large cement works, grain elevators, a showcase
factory, a telephone exchange, churches of the leading denominations,
five public school buildings, good streets, cement sidewalks, a
number of well stocked mercantile establishments handling all lines of
goods, and many handsome residences. The population in 1910 was 3,404,
a ,gain of 167 during the preceding decade, and in 1915 tlte property
was valued for tax purposes at $882,468.
In Denmark Township, near the southeast corner of the county, was once
a postoffice called Forsyth, which was the center of some industrial
activity. A butter and cheese factory was established here in 1893.
When rural free delivery of mail was introduced the postoffice at
Forsyth was discontinued and the people living in that vicinity now
receive mail through the office at Ringsted.
This is a small station on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, in
the eastern part of Swan Lake Township. It was laid out by the Western
Town Lot Company and the plat was filed in the office of the county
recorder on April 22, 1899. The plat shows six blocks, with a total of
seventy-three lots west of the railroad. The north and south streets,
beginning at the railroad, are Railroad, First, Second and Third. These
are intersected by Oak, Maple and Ash, which run east and west. A grain
elevator and a general store are the only business enterprises. Mail is
received by rural delivery from Maple Hill.
The village of Gruver is a station on the Estherville & Albert
Lea
division of the Rock Island Railroad, seven miles east of Estherville.
When first laid out by John and Anna R. Dows, in the summer of 1899, it
was named "Luzon," a plat of which was filed with the county recorder
on September 20, 1899. On April 2, 1900, a petition signed by
two-thirds of the voters in the village was presented to the board of
supervisors, asking that the name be changed to "Gruver." After hearing
the argu ments of the petitioners in favor of the change the board
adopted a resolution that the "said village shall be known and
designated as the village of Gruver from and after the third day of
May, A. D. 1900."
Gruver is the principal shipping point and trading center for a rich
agricultural district in the eastern part of Center Township, in which
it is suited. It has a bank, several stores, grain elevators, Methodist
Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, a good public school, telegraph
and express office, telephone connection with the surrounding towns, a
money order postoffice, and in 1910 reported a population of 114. In
1915 the property of the village was assessed for taxation at $20,132.
About the close of the last century several towns were projected in
Northwestern Iowa by the Western Town Lot Company, of which Marvin
Hughitt was president and J. B. Redfield was secretary. One of these
towns is Halfa, a station on the Jewell & Sanborn division of the
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, in the southwest corner of
Armstrong Grove Township. The original plat, which was filed with the
recorder of Emmet County on June 27, 1899, shows twenty-six lots west
of the tracks "for railway use," and six blocks having an aggregate
of sixty-four lots east of the railroad. The east and west
streets are Pine, Oak and Grant, and the north and south streets are
Lincoln, Main and Railroad.
Halfa was founded chiefly for speculative purposes. After the
Western
Town Lot Compa y had disposed of the lots, the founders took no further
interest in the town's welfare. A creamery was established here
in 1900, but it is no longer in operation. According to Polk's Iowa
Gazetteer for 1915-16, the population was then estimated at fifty
people. A general store and the postoffice are the only business
institutions. Recently Halfa has been made the center of a consolidated
school district and a new school building erected at a cost of
$25,000.
There are probably many people in Emmet County who do not know that a
town of some pretensions bearing this name was once laid out in the
western part of High Lake Township. It was surveyed in November,
1881, by E. O. Reeder for John and Catherine Lawler, of Crawford
County, Wisconsin, and was located on the northwest quarter of Section
20, Township 98, Range 33. The plat filed with the county recorder
shows thirty-eight blocks, five of which are not subdivided. The
other thirty-three are divided into 293 lots. Beginning at the east, the north
and south streets were Emmet, Lake, Main, High and Iowa. The north and
south streets, beginning at the north side of the town, were numbered
from First to Seventh inclusive.
At the time the town was laid out, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad Company was building its line from Emmetsburg to Estherville
and the Town of High Lake was oh the line of railroad. When the
railroad company removed its tracks a little later High Lake lost its
opportunity to become a city, and where it was platted is now a farm.
What little business had been established there was diverted to
Wallingford, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific.
In the southern part of Jack Creek Township is the little hamlet of
Hoprig. No official plat of the place was ever filed with the county
recorder, though at one time Hoprig was a business center of some
importance. A postoffice was established there and in December, 1897,
a creamery company was organized. After the Chicago & Northwestern
Railroad was built through the eastern part of the county, the
postoffice at Hoprig was discontinued and the people there now receive
mail by rural carrier from Graettinger, in Palo Alto County.
About the time the Minneapolis
& St. Louis Railroad was under construction in Emmet County,
Harry L. and Anna L. Jenkins employed J. E. Egan to lay out the town of
Huntington in Section 7, Township
100, Range 33, in the northwest corner of Ellsworth Township on the
line of the railroad. The plat was filed in the recorder's office on
October 28, 1899. It shows twelve blocks, subdivided into 190 lots.
The east and west streets are First, Main, Third and Fourth, and the
north and south streets are Railroad Avenue, First Avenue and Broadway.
Huntington has a grain elevator, a bank, general stores, a public
school, telephone connections with the surrounding country, telegraph
and express offices, and is the trading and shipping point for a
considerable territory in the northern part of the county and for the
southern part of Martin County, Minnesota.
The plat of Maple Hill was filed in the office of the county recorder
on August 23, 1899. It is located in the eastern part of Swan Lake
Township, on the Estherville & Albert Lea division of the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific Railway system, thirteen miles east of
Estherville. The principal business enterprises are a general store, a
grain elevator and an agricultural implement house. In 1915 a fine
school building was erected at a cost of $30,000 as the center of a
consolidated school district. A postoffice was established soon after
the town was laid out.
This is the only
village in Twelve Mile Lake Township. It is a station on the
Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad, in the northwest
quarter of Section 4, and was surveyed by J. E. Egan for Harry L. and
Anna L. Jenkins. On October 28, 1899, the plat was filed in the office
of the county recorder, showing eleven blocks, subdivided into 166
lots. The east and west streets are First Avenue, Second Avenue,
Broadway and Third Avenue. The north and south streets are First,
Main, Third, Fourth and Fifth. Raleigh has never come up to the
expectations of its founders, a general store, the postoffice and a
public school being the only institutions worthy of mention. Polk's
Gazetteer gives the population in 1915 as being 26.
The incorporated Town of Ringsted is situated on the Jewell &
Sanborn division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, near the
center of Denmark Township. On April 6, 1899, the plat of the town was
filed in the recorder's office at Estherville, showing seven blocks of
twelve lots each, one block not subdivided, and east of the railroad
twenty-one lots "for railway purposes." West of the tracks and parallel
to the railroad runs Railroad Street. Then come First, Second and Third
streets. The cross streets are Elm, Maple, Oak and Ash. The plat was
filed by Marvin Hughitt and J. B. Redfield, president and secretary
of the Western Town Lot Company.
In 1885 a postoffice was established at the residence of John
Larsen
(who was appointed the first postmaster) about two miles east of
Ringsted. Mr. Larsen was given the privilege of naming the postoffice.
and
called it Ringsted, after the town in Denmark from which his wife
caine. When the railroad was built the postoffice was moved up to the
station and the name was conferred upon the new town. E. T. Sorum was
the first postmaster after the removal of the office, and was also the
pioneer merchant of Ringsted, the postoffice being kept in his store.
He had previously been engaged in conducting a store at Forsyth. The
postoffice now employs the postmaster, his assistant and two rural
carriers, and the receipts for the fiscal year ending on June 30,
1916, amounted to about $2,600. A. L. Anderson is the present
postmaster. Mr. Anderson is also the editor and publisher of the Ringsted Dispatch, which was established in 1901.
At the February term of the District Court in 1900 a petition
asking
for the incorporation of Ringsted was presented. It was signed by O. N.
Bossingham, S. J. C. Ormston , J. J. Richmond, Samuel M. Moses, E. T.
Sorum, James Hogan, Robert Hanson, A. L. Rasmussen, L. F.
Greiner, D. D. Dixon, J. P. Hansen, Christian Ersted, Jens N. Peterson,
L. A. Adams, William Nelson, Mads Skow, M. P. Hanson, Hans Johnson,
J. W. Lambert, A. Yale, A. E. Erikson, James Healy, T. Healy, James
Quinn, R. T. Scott, J. A. Mathieson, C. Christensen, Fred Johnson, Nels
Kallsted and W. A. Witte.
Judge W. B. Quarton granted the petition and appointed Dr. O. N.
Bossingham, Robert Hanson, A. Yale, E. T. Sorum and William Nelson
commissioners to submit the question to the voters living within the
limits of the proposed incorporation. The election was held on March 2,
1900, and resulted in thirty-four votes being cast in favor of the
incorporation and only one opposed. The report of the commissioners was
approved by Judge Quarton, who continued the commissioners and directed
them to hold an election for town officers on March 26, 1900. At
that time A. Yale was elected mayor; Joseph P. Shoup, clerk; E.T.
Sorum, treasurer; William Nelson, Robert Hanson, J. W. Lambert, O. N.
Bossingham,
J. A. Mathieson and C. L. Rasmussen, councilmen. Three days after this
election the order of incorporation was issued by the District Court
and made a matter of record.
Ringsted has two banks, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches, a
public
school that employs four teachers, a good air pressure system of
waterworks, electric light, a volunteer fire company of twelve members,
with hose cart and hook and ladder outfit, a creamery, a cement
block and tile works, a hotel, several mercantile establishments, good
streets and sidewalks, grain elevators, a lumber yard, express and
telegraph offices, telephone service, a number of minor business
enterprises and claims to be "the liveliest and best town on the Jewell
& Sanborn branch of the Northwestern Railway system."
On May 13, 1912, the Ringsted Opera House Company was incorporated
"to own, operate, manage and maintain a public hall and opera house in
Ringsted, Iowa, and to conduct therein entertainments, etc." The
capital stock authorized was $5,000, which was all paid up, and the
first board of directors was composed of Andrew Larsen, A. T. Fox, J.M.
Jensen, H. J. Fink and Ole Justesen. Before the close of the year an
opera house was completed. In 1910 the population of Ringsted was 313,
and in 1915 the property was valued for taxation at $315,765.
The extinct Town of
Swan Lake was the outgrowth of an agitation for
the location of the county seat somewhere near the geographical center
of the county. As stated in the chapter on Settlement and
Organization, the question was voted on at the election on October 9,
1879,
when the majority of the votes cast were in favor of locating the
county seat on the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 99, Range
33. That quarter section was at that time unsettled and the land
belonged to Alexander Gordon and his wife, Mary J. Gordon, who lived in
Elkhart County, Indiana. Prominent among the county seat
promoters were C. C. Cowell and Asa C. Call, who enlisted the
cooperation of Mr. and
Mrs. Gordon. Prior to the election of October 9, 1879, when the county
seat question was decided by the voters, a town had been surveyed, and
the day after the election the plat of Swan Lake was filed in the
office of the county recorder showing Alexander Gordon, Mary J. Gordon,
C. C. Cowell and Asa C. Call as proprietors. The plat shows a
total of 510 lots, with a public square in the center. Through
the
center of this square ran Main Street north and south, and Broadway
intersected the square running east and west.
Swan Lake was located on the north shore of the body of water
bearing
that name, just west of the line dividing Center and Swan Lake
townships. Estherville newspapers were wont to refer to it as
"the piece of wet ground known as Swan Lake City." Soon after the
decision of the voters was announced, Adolphus Jenkins went to Swan
Lake
and opened a hotel. L. R. Bingham was one of the pioneer
merchants. In 1880 the first Presbyterian Church in Emmet County was
organized at Swan Lake, which by that time had grown into a straggling
village with hopes for the future. These hopes were blasted by the
litigation over the county seat-matter, and when, in November, 1882,
the voters of the county expressed themselves in favor of taking the
seat of justice back to Estherville, which then had a railroad, Swan
Lake began its decline. It is now nothing more than a memory.
Six miles south of Estherville on the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific Railroad, in the western part of High Lake Township, is the
incorporated town of Wallingford, one of the active business centers
of the county. It was surveyed by E. P. Stubbs for the Cedar Rapids,
Iowa Falls & Northwestern Land and Town Lot Company, of which C. J.
Ives was president and E. S. Ellsworth, secretary, and the plat was
filed in the office of the county recorder on July 28, 1882. The
original plat of 122 lots was all on the east side of the railroad, but additions have
since been made extending the town west to the township line.
Soon after the town was founded a postoffice was established with Carl
W. Seim, a native of Prussia, as postmaster. Mr. Seim was also the
first merchant in the place.
On August 28, 1913, Judge D. F. Coyle of the District Court, in
response to a petition signed by a number of Wallingford citizens, ap
pointed J. H. Morrice, Frank Irwin, J. O. Kasa, M. G. Husby and J. A.
Nelson commissioners to hold an election and submit to the voters the
question of incorporation. The election was held on September 27, 1913,
at the school house in Wallingford and resulted in thirty-six votes
being cast for incorporation, with none in the negative. The returns
were presented to Judge N. J. Lee on October 3, 1913. Judge Lee then
reappointed the commissioners and instructed them to hold an election
on
the 18th of October for town officers. O. O. Anderson was elected
mayor; Frank Irwin, clerk; Frank P. Sheldon,
treasurer; J. O. Kasa, J. A. Nelson, Oscar Myhre, M. G.
Husby and J. A. Haring councilmen.
Wallingford has a bank, a creamery, two general stores, hardware and
implement houses, a public school, a hotel, several smaller business
concerns, and is a shipping point of considerable importance. It was
incorporated too late to have the population reported in the census
of 1910, but Polk's Gazaeteer for 1916 gives the population as
300. In the same year the property was valued for tax purposes at
$55,743.
