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Audubon County |
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Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon CountiesCHAPTER VIII.
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This is a station four miles north of Audubon, on the Carroll branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. It was platted by the Western Town Lot Company, July 28, 1882; a station house was not built until in 1885. A postoffice was established at this point in 1883. The following have been postmasters: L. D. Thomas and John Wagner. The first to engage in trade was Fox & Johnson. At present -- 1889 -- a general store is operated by J. L. Luse. There are no other commercial interests, aside from the grain and coal trade, conducted by George Gray, W. H. Negley, Charles Stuart & Son. |
KIMBALLTON.
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This is the last village platted in Audubon County; it was recorded June 2, 1888. However, it had been platted by its proprietor, Hans J. Jorgensen, in 1883. It is located on the northeast quarter of section 30, township 79, range 36, west. A postoffice was established in the fall of 1883, with Hans J. Jorgenson as first postmaster. He was succeeded in July, 1888, by Hans Marquesen. The first goods sold at this point were in the fall of 1883, by Louis Hansen. In January, 1889, the following constituted the business interests of Kimballton: Marquesen & Mehard, general store and postoffice; A. Bergreen, selling on commission for Russell & Son; Eveck & Gray, hardware and farming implements; Carl Johnson, blacksmith; L. C. Thompson, carpenter. Goods are now usually hauled by teams from Audubon fifteen miles to the northeast. |
DEFUNCT VILLAGES.
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Among the defunct villages which appear on the county plat book is DAYTON, which was first platted village of the county. Its plat was recorded January 9, 1855. It was the location set apart as the county seat by the locating committee. Geographically,it was situated on the east half of the northwest quarter of section 22, township 78, range 35, west. There were never any business houses erected there, and only had a name in the plat book and as the place of holding county court, etc., when the county judge happened to reside there. About ninety lots were sold at prices from 50 cents to $9.00. No county buildings were ever erected, and when the county seat was removed by a vote of the people to Exira, in 1861, Dayton ended its history, and its ambition to become a place of note fell into forgetfulness! AUDUBON CITY was the next village platted in the county. It was situated on the southwest quarter of section 35, township 78, range 35, west. Its plat was filed for record September 3, 1856, by Nathaniel Hamlin and Thomas Lewis. A few store buildings and shops were there erected and its proprietor hoped to have the county seat finally located at that point, but the county north and west settled rapidly, and when the question was canvassed the people did not kindly take tot he seat of justice being established there, hence another would-be county-seat village lost its identity and soon was numbered among the dead. A corn-field was pointed out to the writer when he asked, "Where is Audubon City?" However, its real location may be briefly described as being about the center of Exira Township. OAKFIELD was the name of a beautifully located plat, which was surveyed and recorded January 4, 1858, by Erasmus Bradley and Alva B. Brown, on sections 19 and 20, of what is now the civil township of Exira. Like the other early villages, it failed to become a place of any considerable note, and upon the platting and final building of the village of Brayton, a short distance to the west, and a station on the Audubon & Atlantic Railroad, Oakfield soon fell into the list of defunct villages. Another one of Uncle "Natty" Hamlin's town plats was recorded June 4, 1866, and was known as LOUISVILLE. It was located on the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 16, township 78, range 35, west, and and in what is now known as Exira Township. Here the first mill in the county was built, and at one time quite a pioneer village existed at this point. It also had county-seat aspirations, but, like so many other prospective county capitals, it soon went down with the upbuilding of more central locations. HAMLIN was another county-seat venture projected by "Natty" Hamlin, Messrs. Bryan, Seevers, Donnell, Maxwell and Thompson, known as the "Hamlin Town Company," who offered great inducements to gain the county seat, in the way of erecting a court-house and other improvements, then so much needed by the county. This attempt at "locating" a county seat for a time met with public favor, as the town proprietors offered liberally and their location was nearly in the center of the county, it being platted on sections 1 and 2, township 79, range 35, in what is known now as Hamlin Township, the same being a short distance southeast of Audubon, the present seat of justice. But the Exira people also made an equally liberal offer to the county and it was accepted. |
| Prev. <=== Continue Reading ===> Next Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass September, 2014 from "Biographical History of Shelby and Audubon Counties", Chicago: W. S. Dunbar & Co., 1889, pp. 683-684. |
