CHAPTER XV.
PLEASANT TOWNSHIP (CONT'D).

THE TOWN OF GRISWOLD.

In November, 1879, the prolific corn field of John Rezner was purchased by a company, of which the moving spirits were F. H. Whitney, of Atlantic, and C. E. Perkins, of Burlington, who acted as a trustee for others. The name of the new town was given in honor of J. N. A. Griswold, one of the directors of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road, and a prominent merchant of New York.

As usual, Mr. Whitney was the active force on the ground, and at once directed Henry Miller to clear away the stalks and erect a house. The structure was commenced on the 20th of November, and when completed was occupied by E. G. Peck, of Atlantic, who ran a boarding house, and also sold town lots, as sub-agent for Mr. Whitney. This pioneer building was on the present site of the First National Bank, of Griswold. The sale of lots began at once and continued uninterruptedly until almost every location on either side of Main Street, for nearly half a mile, had been taken. For several years, in fact, Griswold had what might be called a "railroad boom."

GRAIN TRADE ESTABLISHED.

The second building to be erected in Griswold was for Peck & Whitney's hardware store, which was begun shortly after operations on the boarding house. By December, Kears' grocery, the first in the place, stood beside the hardware store, and later in the winter Messrs. Whitney and Miller erected platform scales and commenced to buy grain. In six weeks they bought 60,000 bushels of corn. For three days in succession they took in 5,000 bushels, Mr. Miller's son doing the weighing. Thus was the grain trade of Griswold established, and as the facilities of the Whitney & Miller house were not fashioned for such a metropolitan business their office was a very busy place in these first days.

On December 20, 1879, Stafford & Hawks opened the first general store. In 1880 Messrs. Frank H. Whitney and J. A. McWaid erected the first elevator, at a cost of $14,000 and with a capacity of 25,000 bushels of grain. At the time it was one of the largest and best constructed elevators in this section of the State, and did much to advertise the brilliant prospects of Griswold to the surrounding country.

BANK OF GRISWOLD.

In 1880 F. H. Whitney and Theodore H. Brown established the Bank of Griswold, the business being continued by them as a firm until September, 1883, when they dissolved partnership and it was merged into the First National Bank, of Griswold, with the following officers: Theodore H. Brown, president; J. A. Brown, vice-president, and Frank L. Brown, assistant cashier. The president was a Wisconsin man, educated in Iowa, and for seven years prior to his venture with Mr. Whitney served as teller of the First National Bank of McGregor, this State.

The first boot and shoestore was established by A. W. Pearson in May, 1881. T. E. Luccock, who came from Atlantic in 1880, founded the pioneer jewelry store, and the first drug store was founded the previous year by Dr. John Pipher, who came here from Marne. It was quite a coincidence that Dr. Pipher should have been postmaster at that place, and that in the spring following his settlement at Griswold he should also have been appointed the first incumbent of that government position.

Griswold was made a money order office in August, 1881, and the first order was issued on the 15th to S. S. Perry, in favor of Davidson & Co., of New York, for the sum of $2.

Dr. J. L. Moore, an eclectic physician from Pottawattamie county, came to Griswold soon after the town was laid out, and met with fair success as its first, and for some time, its only doctor.

FIRST FLOUR MILL.

John Kerr, a Scotchman, who had learned his trade and had considerable experience as a miller at various points in Iowa before coming to Griswold, located in April, 1883, and, in partnership with Mr. Torbert built and operated the first flour mill in the place. It was a frame structure, thirty by forty feet on the ground, three and a half stories, had a capacity of fifty barrels of flour per day, and was erected at a cost of $10,000.

EARLY CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES OF GRISWOLD.

The Methodists effected the earliest religious organization in Griswold, and they still have the strongest church. In the summer following the laying out of the town (1880) a few members of the faith got together and erected a frame building, twenty-two by forty feet, at a cost of $1,500, the edifice being completed before the society, or class, was organized. It was supposed that Griswold was in the circuit west of town, and subscriptions were raised accordingly; but it was afterward discovered that it was in the territory traveled by Rev. J. B. Gibson, who traveled a circuit south of town. Under his supervision, therefore, the church was finally built, it being dedicated in July, 1880, by Rev. W. T. Smith, then presiding elder of Atlantic, now of Boone district.

The charter members of the class, organized soon afterward, were as follows: C. E. Marshall and wife, R. M. Dean and wife, Alice Wince, Mrs. Wince, Mrs. Jameson, C. E. Lombard, T. E. Luccock and wife, Mrs. Mary Chambers, Lillian I. Luccock, L. C. Hatton and wife, L. A. Burnham and wife, Mr. Rancipher and wife, William C. Hall and wife, and Mrs. Dr. John Pipher. Total, twenty-one members.

In 1880 a Sabbath school was also organized with a good attendance, of which T. E. Luccock was superintendent; R. M. Dean, assistant superintendent; C. E. Lombard, secretary; Alice Wince, treasurer, and T. E. Luccock, chorister.

The Christian Church of Griswold was organized on December 29, 1889, with thirty-four charter members. During the first year services were held in a rented hall, but the society dedicated its own house of worship December 28, 1890. The first pastor was Z. M. Wright. In the summer of 1903 a parsonage was erected costing about $1,200.

The fraternity of the I. O. O. F. was the first to organize in Griswold, Nishnabotna Lodge No. 409 being formed May 17, 1880, by H. T. Jones, D. D., G. M., with A. J. Bell, P. M. Corbett, Fred McIntosh, W. S. Forley, O. S. Yount, R. Groetschel and P. W. H. Mundorff, as charter members.

Cass Lodge No. 412, A. F. & A. M., was organized by dispensation on the 25th of April, 1881, with the following charter members: John Pipher, Theodore H. Brown, William Worford, H. M. Kriger, Hamilton Wilcox, Samuel Peterson, J. H. Lowman, M. Rezner, S. W. Allen, D. Robinson and William Ponder.

Worthing Post No. 9, G. A. R., was organized June 22, 1883, with the following charter members: W. W. Albee, J. M. Kiehl, Benton Reed, T. M. Walby, W. H. Van, S. W. Garvin, W. J. Martin, J. F. Smiley, Thomas W. Coe, W. C. Hall, W. A. Hill, E. O. Powell, Ezra Littler, William Nelson, L. C. Hatton, William Bush, L. C. Hastings, E. A. Stanley, William Smith and G. S. Dickey.

GRISWOLD AS IT NOW APPEARS.

The Griswold of the present has a population of not far from 1,200. For many miles around, the land is the most productive and the crops the most reliable, of any section of the State; it is a superb grain and live-stock country; and Griswold is the natural shipping point for such rich natural products. Not only southwestern Cass county, but large portions of Pottawattamie and Montgomery counties are tributary to it. Through the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific to the north, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road, to the south, Griswold has splendid facilities for handling this large trade, which is yearly becoming more important.

Its prosperity in commerce and trade is seen in the solid character of its business structures. Within the past five years fully a dozen brick buildings have taken the place of smaller frame ones, and many wooden sidewalks have been replaced by cement. Among some of the best buildings recently constructed are the Kewin block, the Arlington hotel and the Meredith building. The Odd Fellows' block and the buildings of the Citizens' and Wilcox banks are also a decided credit to the town. The Griswold public school is of the best, both in the way it is housed and its course of instruction. It has twelve grades, seven instructors, and is classed among the very best public schools in the State. As to the churches, the Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Christian, Central and Catholic are all represented and well attended, while most of the fraternal orders have a substantial membership. The "Griswold American" fully represents the spirit and progress of the town.

"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 177-181.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, August, 2018.