IAGenWeb - Marion County |
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Speculation in Townsites in Early Days - List of Towns and Villages in Marion County -
Historical Sketch and Interesting Incidents of Each - Post Offices and Rural Routes in 1914
In the early settlement of the Mississippi Valley states the land speculator was industrious in laying out towns, the object being merely the sale of lots to unsuspecting individuals. Some of the towns projected became business center of considerable importance, others remain as straggling country villages or small railroad stations, and a number have entirely disappeared. Marion County was no exception to the rule and several towns were laid out within her borders with a view to enriching the proprietors, without regard to the fitness of the location or the prospects for the future. Some fortunate circumstance, such as the location of the county seat or the building of a railroad, has kept some of these towns alive, while others never developed beyond the “paper stage,” the old plats found in the office of the county recorder or the recollections of some old settler being all that remains of their history. From a careful examination of the old plat-books, atlases and documents the following list of towns that are or have been in Marion County has been compiled: American City, Amsterdam, Attica, Bauer, Bennington, Bethel, Bussey, Caloma, Cloud, Coalport, Columbia, Cordova, Dallas, Delphi, Dixonville, Donley, Dunreath, Durham, Everist, Fifield, Flagler, Gosport, Hamilton, Harrisonville, Harvey, Howell, Indiana, Iola, Knoxville, Leerdam, Lucas, Grove, Marysville, Melcher, Morgan Valley, Newbern, New Chicago, Oak, Otley, Pella, Percy, Perryville, Pleasantville, Red Rock, Reedville, Rousseau, Star, Swan, Tracy, Weston, Wheeling and White Breast. Many of these towns have no well defined history, but such facts as could be gathered concerning them are given. The history of the incorporated cities of Knoxville and Pella is given in the two chapters immediately preceding.
In July, 1848, a company composed of James D. Putnam, Isaac N. Crum, John Welch, George F. Hendry and Spear S. Mangum employed Stanford Doud, then surveyor of Marion County, to lay out a town on the west half of section 15, township 77, range 19, to which was given the name of American City. The plat, which was filed in the office of the county recorder on November 4, 1848, shows a town of some pretensions, consisting of thirty-two blocks of eight lots each, with a public square in the center equal in size to four blocks and the vacated streets between. The streets running east and west, beginning at the north side, were Prairie, Elk, Pella, Main Avenue, Cedar and Putnam; those running north and south, beginning at the east side of the town, were Mangum, Monroe, Locust, Red Rock, Des Moines, Marion and Welch. The survey and filing of the plat seems to have been all the progress that was ever made toward building up the town. No sales of lots were ever recorded and all that remains of American City is the name. The town was located a short distance northwest of the present village of Otley, in Summit Township.
The town of Amsterdam was surveyed and platted in May, 1848, by Walter Clement, deputy county surveyor, for Hendrick P. Scholte. Mr. Scholte had come from Holland only two years before, and he named the town after the well known city in his native land. The site of this proposed metropolis of Marion County was in the southwest part of section 20, township 76, range 18, on the north side of the Des Moines River and about a mile southeast of the present village of Howell. The original plat shows sixty blocks, divided into 490 lots, with a public square and site for a city market. The streets running north and south were East, Kranz, Post, Scholte, Cherry, Walnut, Lind, Rokin, Pella, Vine and West. The east and west streets were Bluff, lake, Heeren, Utrecht, market, Huiden, Beeren and South. There was also a short thoroughfare called Court Street running south from the public square which was bounded by lake, Rokin, Heeren and Pella streets.
At the time Amsterdam was laid out occasional steamboats ascended the Des Moines River and the purpose was to develop the town into a great commercial center. It is said that circulars, with a picture showing a row of business buildings along the river front and steamers lying at the wharf, were circulated in the eastern cities calling attention to the advantage of Amsterdam and inviting the investment of capital. Although few lots were actually sold and improved, Mr. Scholte employed Moses A. Clark, deputy county surveyor, to lay out an addition of 204 lots in the latter part of May, 1856. The plat of this addition was filed on June 2, 1856, under the name of “North Amsterdam.” No post office was ever established in the town, and the only business enterprises of which anything definite can be learned were the burning of lime and the manufacture of brick.
In the northern part of Indiana Township, about nine miles southeast of Knoxville, is the little town of Attica, one of the old towns of the county. It was laid out by Stanford Doud, county surveyor, on May 16, 1847, for James Barker and Nathaniel and Rhonda Cockelreas. The plat was filed in the office of the county recorder on June 7, 1847, under the name of “Barkersville.” It shows eight blocks of four lots each. The streets running north and south are Orange, Main and Poplar, and those running east and west are North, High and South. James Barker, after whom the town was named, erected the first house - a one-story brick - and was the first merchant and the first postmaster.
On December 28, 1852, Governor Hempstead approved an act of the Iowa Legislature entitled “An act to change the name of Barkersville in Marion County to Attica.” It is said that this action was taken in response to a petition of some of the citizens of the town, who considered Mr. Barker’s conduct in his attachment for another man’s wife a public disgrace. About this time Barker sold his store to B. F. Williams, who also became postmaster. The first hotel in the town was opened by a German named Michael Himmelhaver, who charged ten cents per meal. Evidently the “high cost of living,” of which so much has been said in the public press in recent years, did not prevail in Himmelhaver’s time. Hessy May taught the first school and the first mail was carried from Knoxville by M. M. Marks wrapped up in his pocket handkerchief. Among the early industries was the manufacture of pottery, the clay for which was obtained from the farm of William Sharon near the town.
Polk’s Iowa Gazetteer for 1914 gives the principal business concerns of Attica as three general stores, a hotel and the post office, and the population as 125. No railroad ever came near the town, the nearest stations being Knoxville and Bussey, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
Bauer is a little hamlet in the western part of Dallas Township, about twenty miles southwest of Knoxville, and was named for one of the early settlers in that locality. No official plat of the place was ever filed in the recorder’s office. It is located in the northwest corner of section 20, township 74, range 21, where St. Joseph’s Catholic Church was established in 1874, and the village grew up about the church. Lacona, Warren County, is the nearest railroad station and the post office from which the people of Bauer receive mail by rural free delivery.
On August 14, 1848, Walter Clement, deputy county surveyor, reported that he had just completed the survey of the Town of Bennington for William D. Gregory and Ezra H. Baker, in the east half of the northeast quarter of section 9, township 77, range 21. Two days later the plat of the new town was filed with the recorder. It shows 205 lots, with seven streets running east and west and four streets north and south. The former were Vine, Pearl, Arch, Broad, Chestnut, Commercial and Front, and the latter were Washington, Clay, Taylor and Fillmore. Bennington was located on the north side of the Des Moines River, about a mile and a half west of the present station of Percy on the Wabash Railroad. Soon after the survey of the town was made Ezra H. Baker erected a store building and put in a stock of goods. He also secured the establishment of a post office and the appointment of post master. Thirty years later all that remained of Bennington was the ferry, operated by Thompson Price, and two or three small dwellings.
Bethel, or Bethel City, was once a little trading center in the southern part of Clay Township, about two miles west of Bussey. At one time it had a general store that supplied the people of the surrounding country, but after the building of the railroads the greater portion of the trade was diverted tot he new towns that sprang up along the railroad. All that is left of Bethel City is the old church and cemetery. No plat of the town was ever filed with the county recorder.
This is one of the thriving towns of Marion County. It is situated in the eastern part of Liberty Township, on the Wabash and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads, and in 1910 reported a population of 669. The town was laid out in the latter part of July, 1875, for Jesse and Isabelle Bussey, the plat being filed on the last day of that month. In the original plat the streets running north and south are Marion, Merrill, Edwards and West, and those running east and west are numbered from First to Seventh, inclusive. Several additions have been made to the first survey, the most important of which are Bussey’s First, Richards & Sanders’ and James A. Bussey’s additions.
On February 28, 1895, a petition signed by forty residents was presented to the District Court of Marion County asking that the town be incorporated. On the 11th of March J. H. Henderson, then district judge, appointed Bowen Ross, Jesse Bussey, A. R. Miner, O. R. Brown and I. H. Council commissioners to conduct an election on April 9, 1895, at which the legal voters living within the district it was proposed to include in the corporate limits of the town should be given an opportunity to express themselves as for or against incorporation. A majority of the votes cast on that occasion were in favor of the proposition, and on May 29, 1895, the court ordered that Bussey be thereafter an incorporated town.
It appears, however, that there was some defect in the proceedings at that time, as on May 31, 1899, another election on the question of incorporation was held. Again a majority of the voters expressed themselves in favor of the movement to incorporate, and again the court ordered that the town be incorporated. The first election for town officers was held on the last day of June, 1899, when James A. Bussey was elected mayor; William Burton, clerk; E. A. Johnson, treasurer; John Olson, E. L. Bussey, E. E. Lyman, I. H. Council, U. G. Earp and J. F. Hughes, councilmen.
Bussey has two banks, a number of well stocked mercantile establishments, a weekly newspaper, a grain elevator, a public school, in which seven teachers are employed, churches of various denominations, a number of neat residences, well kept streets, good sidewalks, and being on two lines of railway, ships large quantities of live stock and an immense amount of coal from the mines in the vicinity. In 1913 the property of the corporation was assessed for taxation at $243,500.
Located in the northwest quarter of section 29, township 75, range 21, is the little village of Caloma. It is about fifteen miles southwest of Knoxville and only one mile from the Warren County line. A post office was established here in 1857, with Daniel F. Smith as the first postmaster. No official plat of Caloma can be found in the public records. Since the introduction of the free rural delivery system the post office at Caloma has been discontinued and mail is now carried form Lacona, Warren County. It has a general store and is a trading point for the neighborhood. White Breast, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, and Lacona, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, are the most convenient railroad stations.
This is a small place in the southern part of Dallas Township, only one mile from the Luca County line. It was never formally laid out, and like Topsy, in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” it “just growed.” Cloud is near the new line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad recently built through the southwestern part of the county, and the nearest station is Purdy, just across the line in Lucas County.
On May 11, 1857, William Kent, then county surveyor, laid out for William and Elizabeth Welch the town of Coalport, on the south side of the Des Moines River in section 14, township 76, range 19. The plat, which was filed in the recorder’s office on the last day of November, 1857, shows seven blocks of eight lots each and a “mill lot” of two acres. Coalport was so named from the large deposits of excellent coal in the immediate vicinity. Alfred B. McCown, in his little book of reminiscences published in 1909, and entitled “Down on the Ridge,” says: “Coalport was a famous village. It had one little store, a saw and grist mill, a potter shop and a blacksmith shop. It had no post office, because of the strange stories that had reached the department at Washington that wild Indians were still in the neighborhood and that an occasional white man was burned at the stake. So the rural delivery man, like the priest and the Levite, passed by on the other side.”
The village was a “coaling station” for the little steamboats that plied on the Des Moines River (when there was enough water), but in after years the river cut a new bed farther eastward and the site of Coalport is now some distance from the stream upon which it depended for its commercial importance.
The town of Columbia, located in the extreme southwest corner of section 27, township 74, range 20, in the southern part of Washington Township, was surveyed by William Kent on March 23, 1957, for Hugh S. Smith and his wife Rebecca. According to the original plat, which was filed on May 2, 1857, the town consisted of fifty-eight lots, to which was added on October 22, 1892, Murr’s addition of twenty-two lots. The first house in the town was built by James D. Steele and the first merchant was John McEldoring. About two miles west of the village was a post office called Columbia, which had been established on November 15, 1854, with Brumfield Long as postmaster. Shortly after the town was laid out the post office was removed there, and Andrew Reed was appointed postmaster. Two men named Clark and Williams opened a hotel and later became the proprietors of a large flour mill.
When Columbia began to assume an air of importance the people of Gosport, two miles north, believing that there was not a sufficient field for the two town, and perhaps a little jealous of their lusty young rival, hit upon a scheme to check Columbia’s growth. A movement was organized to visit the new town on the day when lots were to be sold, bid in the choice locations and them permit them to lie vacant. But the Columbians got wind of the plan and ran the price of lots up to such high figures that the “committee” from Gosport abandoned the project.
Columbia is situated upon a large and beautiful prairie, in the midst of a rich farming district. According to Polk’s Iowa Gazetteer for 1914, it has a bank, three general stores, a hardware and implement house, a garage, a public school that employs two teachers, a Methodist Episcopal Church and a population of 150.
This is a small station on the Wabash Railroad in the southwestern part of Summit Township, about a mile east of the Town of Red Rock. It was surveyed by N. J. Watkins on December 16, 1887, for Ellison R. and Nancy T. Wright, and the plat was filed with the county recorder on the 25th of the following May. Four streets - Hickory, Black Oak, Walnut and West - run north and south, and Maple and Locust streets run east and west. The original plat shows twenty-eight lots. Cordova has never grown to any considerable proportions. It has a general store, a post office, a grain elevator and a few residences and does some shipping.
Donnel, in his “Pioneers of Marion County,” says: “Dallas Town is located on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 2. It was surveyed by F. M. Frush, in September, 1857, at the instigation of Richard Willis, on land purchased by him of a Mrs. Eckles. Mrs. Eckles was a grass widow, whose husband was at that time alive and not divorced from her, and upon this ground the opinion was held by some that the title of the land given by her was not secure. This report materially injured the prospects of the village for a short time, but the fact that Mrs. Eckles had purchased the property with her own money restored confidence, and a goodly number of lots were sold.”
The official plat books of Marion County show that a new survey of Dallas was made on March 13, 1873, by O. H. S. Kennedy, at that time the county surveyor. This was done at the request of Joseph Hout and included not only the original plat in the southeast quarter of section 2, township 74, range 21, but also a part of the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 11, in the same township and range. The plat made by Mr. Kennedy was placed on file on April 17, 1874. It shows five lots on the north side of the Knoxville and Newbern road and eleven on the south side. South of this survey J. S. Campbell added nineteen lots on May 11, 1896, and Highberger’s addition was laid out in July, 1900. It contains fifteen lots.
Quite a number of the early settlers in the vicinity of Dallas came from the Buckeye State, and when the town was first laid out it was called “Ohio.” Two years before that, however, a post office had been established in the neighborhood under the name of Dallas, with John Parrett as the first postmaster. After a short time the name of the town was changed to conform to that of the post office. Hiram L. George built the first house after the town was first laid out, and was also the first merchant. He was succeeded after a time by Parker Buckalew, who for a number of years enjoyed a monopoly of the trade of the rich farming country surrounding the town.
At the May term of the Marion County District Court in 1911 a petition signed by thirty-seven residents was presented asking for the incorporation of Dallas. Judge Lorin N. Hays appointed C. C. Bickford, Sampson Miller, Roy Hixenbaugh, W. B. Cox and Noah Hawkins commissioners to hold an election on June 10, 1911, to ascertain the sentiment of the voters on the question of incorporation. At the election thirty-two votes were cast, thirty of which were in the affirmative, and the court then declared the town incorporated. An order was also issued by the court for an election to be held on July 10, 1911, for the first municipal officers. R. A. Millen was elected mayor; R. E. Hixenbaugh, clerk; W. S. Wilson, treasurer; J. R. Abbott, Floyd Stotts, A. L. Burrell, John Scott and F. M. Tharp, councilmen.
About the time the town was incorporated the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company began the building of a line through the southwestern part of the county, and Dallas, being on the line of this road, experienced a boom. John Scott’s addition of ninety-four lots was laid out on the south side of the town in February, 1912; Fortune’s addition of forty lots followed the next month, and on August 5, 1914, the plat of the “B. & M. Addition to Dallas” was filed with the county recorder. It contains twenty-four lots.
Since the completion of the railroad the town of Melcher has been laid out immediately south of Dallas and there has been some rivalry between the two towns, but Dallas has held its own. It has a bank, a telephone exchange, a public school that employs three teachers, several good stores, churches of different denominations, and in 1913 the property of the town was assessed for taxation at $119,352.
Isaac B. Powers, who was elected the first county surveyor of Marion County, reported that on July 15, 1846, he surveyed the Town of Delphi “On the south side of the Des Moines River in the prairie adjacent to Joshua Lindsey and opposite the farm of William Markly.” At that time the government survey in the western part of the county had not been completed and the surveyor could not give the location by section and township lines. Joshua Lindsey and William Markly were among the early settlers of Perry and Swan townships, and from the location of their claims it is ascertained that Delphi was situated in the northern part of what is now Swan Township, almost directly south of the little village of Percy. The plat shows three streets - Water, Main and Third - running parallel to the river, and three cross streets, not named. It does not appear that Delphi ever got beyond the paper stage of its existence, as old settlers do not remember anything of such a town.
In 1856 D. B. Dixon opened a store about two miles north of the present town of Hamilton and there caused to be laid out a town, to which he gave the name of Dixonville. Not long after this some of Dixon’s creditors obtained a judgment against him and the sheriff was sent to levy upon the goods. The officer arrived late in the evening and concluded to postpone the removal of the goods until the next morning. But, on going to the store the next morning, he discovered that his action had been anticipated, the goods having been removed during the night. Mr. Dixon then abandoned his town, which never prospered.
Four miles west of Knoxville, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, is the little station of Donley - or, as it appears on the railroad timetables, Donnelley. No official plat of the village is on file in the recorder’s office. It grew after the building of the railroad and is a shipping point for the western part of Knoxville Township. The place was named for Oliver Donley (deceased), whose large landed estates were near by.
The Town of Dunreath, located in the northwest corner of section 27, township 77, range 20, in the southern part of Red Rock Township, was laid out on November 17, 1881, by the Union Land Company, of which J. S. Polk was president and John S. Runnells, secretary. Beginning at the north side, the three streets running east and west are Lincoln, Blaine and Garfield. The north and south streets, beginning on the east, are Beersheba, Harris, McCrary, Dillon, Mason, Reed and Dan. The original plat shows 228 lots and two large out-lots on the north side of the Wabash Railroad, and four out-lots on the south side. Polk’s Gazetteer for 1914 gives the population as200. Dunreath has a general store, telegraph and express offices, a public school, telephone connections, etc., but has no post office, mail being delivered by rural carrier from the office at Cordova.
On October 22, 1875, the Town of Durham was surveyed for William and Barbara Harvey and the plat was filed the next day under the name of “Merrill.” It is located in the southeast quarter of section 5, township 75, range 18, in the northern part of Clay Township, and is a station on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, eight mile east of Knoxville. The original survey included forty-five large lots for residences and twenty-eight smaller lots intended for business houses. On January 24, 1876, the same site was resurveyed, making a different arrangement of the lots, and a new plat was filed under the name of “English.” The eastern part of the plat was vacated on February 14, 1877, and the name was changed to Durham. Polk gives the population in 1914 as 100. Durham has a general store, a public school, a Methodist Episcopal Church, and express office, telephone connections, and ships considerable quantities of live stock and other farm products.
Everist is located a little west of the center of Liberty Township, in section 17, on a spur of the Wabash Railroad and not far from Cedar Creek. It is the center of a coal mining district and a number of the inhabitants are employed in the occupation. No official plat of the village has ever been filed in the recorder’s office, but Polk’s Gazetteer for 1914 gives the population as 300. The Everist Mercantile Company operates a large general store, which is the principal business enterprise. The Shiloh public school, located at Everist, employs five teachers, the town has telephone connections, a post office, and the visitor is impressed with the general air of prosperity.
This is a station on the Wabash Railroad in the northern part of Polk Township, eight miles north of Knoxville. Its history is not materially different from that of other small railroad stations, having grown up since the building of the road. Two general stores constitute the principal business enterprises. It has no post office, the people in the village and the vicinity receiving mail by rural carrier from the post office at Cordova.
In May, 1877, the Union Coal and Mining Company laid out, on lands owned by the company, the town of Flagler, in the southwest quarter of section 2, township 75, range 19. Since then Booth’s, Conwell’s and Stevens’ addition have been made to the original plat. Flagler is a station on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, five miles east of Knoxville, and according to Polk’s Iowa Gazetteer had a population of 200 in 1914. It has a well-stocked general store, a post office, and express office, telephone connection, a public school employing three teachers, a Methodist Episcopal Church, and ships considerable quantities of coal and farm products.
The Town of Gosport was surveyed by F. M. Frush, then county surveyor, on July 8, 1853, for John Stipp and John Hessenflow, owners of the southwest quarter of section 15 and the northwest quarter of section 22, township 74, range 20, upon which the town is situated. The plat was filed on August 2, 1853, under the name of New Town. The name was changed to Gosport by an act of the Legislature, approved by Governor Grimes on January 15, 1855, the name of the post office having been changed prior to that date in order to avoid a conflict with the post office at Newton, the names being so much alike. The original plat shows twenty-nine lots, but it has been in creased by Pershall’s addition.
Daniel Sampson was the first man to erect a house in Gosport, and soon after the building was completed he put in a stock of good. A large building was also erected for a hotel, but the name of the man who built it seems to have been forgotten. With the introduction of the rural delivery system the post office at Gosport was discontinued and mail is now supplied daily form Columbia, tow mile south. In 1914 nothing remained of the town except three houses at a crossroads and two churches - the Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Protestant.
In the spring of 1849 Henry Mitchell, John G. Hooker, John Stillwell, Isaac Wilsey, Andrew McGruder, Jacob Hendricks, Samuel Smith and Martin Neel conceived the idea of founding a town in Liberty Township, near the southeast corner of the county. Accordingly they employed Stanford Doud, county surveyor, to lay out a town in the west side of section 35, township 74, range 18. The survey was made on June 2, 1849, but the plat was not filed in the recorder’s office until the 28th of the following November. It shows seven blocks of eight lots each, but since then several additions have been made tot he town. The most important of these are Lyman’s, Odd Fellows’, Flanders’, Blee’s, Newcomb’s and Pasco’s. A majority of the proprietors were from Hamilton County, Ohio, and it was from this fact that the town derived its name.
The first house in the new town was built in the winter of 1849-50, by Nathaniel Linn. It was a double log cabin and Donnel says it was built on the compact snow, three feet above the ground, and remained there until there came a thaw that allowed it to settle to the ground. Isaac Wilsey was the first postmaster; the firm of Linn & Smith was the first to sell goods, and Henry Edwards was the proprietor of the first hotel - a hewed log house afterward destroyed by fire.
On February 24, 1900, the District Court of Marion County received a petition signed by thirty-eight residents asking for the incorporation of Hamilton. James D. Gamble, then judge, appointed J. E. Reddish, P. M. Francis, M. J. Faivre, W. R. Sullivan and George C. Davis commissioners to hold an election on March 26, 1900, when eighty-five voters expressed themselves in favor of the proposition and twenty-seven votes were cast in the negative. Upon receiving the returns of this election, Judge Gamble ordered an election for municipal officers to be held on the last day of April, when G. W. York was chosen mayor; G. N. Kitzmiller, clerk; J. E. Reddish, treasurer; Thomas Preston, G. S. Gibson, T. J. Williams, H. V. Long, Edward Thompson and M. J. Faivre, councilmen. Since that time Hamilton has been an incorporated town.
Hamilton is located on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and Wabash railroads, twenty-one miles southeast of Knoxville. In the immediate vicinity are large deposits of coal and a number of mines are operated near the town. Four teachers are employed in the public schools, there are two general stores, a post office, a hotel, a Methodist Episcopal Church, telegraph and express offices and a number of smaller business concerns. According to the United States census for 1910 the population was then 391, and in 1913 the property of the town was assessed for taxation at $77, 516. Besides the transportation facilities afforded by the two railroads, Hamilton has a daily stage line running to Buxton, Monroe County.
Shortly after the town was laid out it came to be widely known by the unromantic name of “Jake’s Ruin,” and Donnel gives the following explanation of how the name originated:
During the surveying of the town the surveyors got drunk, and Jake Hendricks became so unsteady that, in the performance of his duty as chain carrier, he had to go partly on all fours, holding to the long grass to maintain his equilibrium. Being one of the proprietors of the town, and also the original owner of the land on which it was located, he became reckless in the expenditure of time and money in the indulgence of his propensity for dissipation. Mrs. Hendricks was greatly distressed at this downward career of her husband, and one day, having visitors, she took occasion to acquaint them of her great trouble, bitterly declaring that the town would be Jake’s ruin. The words seemed so suggestive that it was thereafter so called and so known at a distance. Even strangers coming from a distance were wont to inquire the way or the distance to Jake’s Ruin.”
The Town of Harrisonville was surveyed by F. M. Frush, county surveyor on May 30, 1854, for George W. Harrison. It was located in the southeast quarter of section 32, township 76, range 18, about one mile almost directly due north of the present village of Durham. The plat was filed with the county recorder on July 7, 1854, but the records do not show that any lots were sold or that any business enterprises of consequence were ever established. Harrisonville has long since disappeared from the map.
Harvey is situated near the eastern boundary of the county, just south of English Creek a short distance above its mouth, on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads. It was laid out by M. F. Marshall, deputy county surveyor, on December 12, 1876, for James Harvey and Mrs. J. H. Mitchell, between the two railroads above named. The original plat shows eighty-six lots of various sizes. Since it was filed some additions have been made to the town, the most important of which are Rietveld & Emmel’s and the Factory Site additions, both of which were laid out in 1901. The last named consists of twenty-two large lots, suitable for manufacturing purposes, east of the old town.
Forty-on residents of Harvey united in a petition to the District Court at the September term in 1903, asking that the town be incorporated according to law. Judge J. H. Applegate appointed W. R. Dickey, W. E. Lemmon, A. A. Sandy, Edward Mahoney and William McLaughlin commissioners to hold an election for the purpose of ascertaining the sentiment of the voters. At the election, November 17, 1903, thirty-eight votes were cast in favor of incorporation and twenty-three against it, five ballots being spoiled by the voters and not counted. The commissioners then reported to the court that the proposition had been carried, and an election for municipal officers was ordered for December 10, 1903. Wynant van der Kamp was elected the first mayor; G. J. de Haas, clerk; J. b. Roovaart, treasurer; W. R. Dickey, J. M. Olive, William McLaughlin, A. A. Sandy, W. D. Woods and Edward Mahoney, councilmen.
Harvey is the largest town in Clay Township. It has a national bank, a large brick and tile manufactory, tow churches, a public school that employs four teachers, telegraph and express offices, a telephone exchange, two large general stores, an agricultural implement house, a hotel and a number of smaller shops. The population in 1910 was 346, and in 1913 the property of the municipality was assessed at $156,492.
On April 4, 1882, T. E. House laid out the town of Howell for the Union Land Company in the northeast quarter of section 19, township 76, range 18, and the plat was filed on the 6th of the following July. Two streets numbered First and Second run east and west, and the north and south streets are Stone, Main and Pond. The original plat show eighty lots. Howell is a station on the Wabash Railroad in the southwestern part of Lake Prairie Township. It s principal business concern is a general store that supplies the surrounding country. Mail is delivered by rural carrier from Pella.
Strictly speaking, Iola was not a town. In 1854 the settlers in the northern part of Clay Township petitioned for a post office, and one was established at the house of Joseph Clark, in section 31, township 76, range 18, with Mr. Clark as postmaster. To this post office was given the name of Iola. Mr. Clark was succeeded in 1856 by David T. Durham, who held the position until the office was discontinued, the one at Durham taking its place in supplying mail to that part of the county.
The extinct town of Leerdam (also spelled Leersdam and Leardam) was surveyed by Henry W. Dyer, surveyor of Marion County, on New Year’s day, 1858, for A. and J. Klein, H. Verhoef and I. van der Meer. The plat, which was filed on February 1, 1858, shows fifty lots, a public square, Pella and Newton streets running north and south and Buchanan, Bluff and South streets running east and west. Leerdam was located in the northeast quarter of section 23, township 77, range 18, on the south side of the Skunk River, and about four miles north of Pella. The town never had any existence, except on paper, and many of the inhabitants of Marion County at the present time know nothing of such a town ever having been projected. It was named for a place in the Netherlands, the proprietors all being natives of the country.
This place was similar in character to Iola. Sometime in the ‘50’s a post office was established in the northwestern part of Knoxville Township in section 21, township 76, range 20 about two and a half miles north of the present railway station of Donley, but the name of the postmaster cannot be ascertained. After a few years the office was discontinued and the history of Lucas Grove has been forgotten.
The Town of Marysville, in the southwestern part of Liberty Township, was surveyed by James A. Rousseau, county surveyor, for Joseph Brobst, on February 11, 1851, and the plat was filed on March 4, 1851. It shows twenty-six lots with a public square in the center equal in size to four lots. In March, 1854, this public square was conveyed by the proprietor to Mathias Ulsh, who laid it out in lots under the name of Ulsh’s addition. Since that time Ulsh & Metz’s addition, H. J. Ulsh’s addition, and High & Gortner’s addition have been added to Marysville, so that the original town has been increased in area more than a hundred-fold.
Marysville is situated in section 29, township 74, range 18, on the north bank of Cedar Creek, fifteen miles southeast of Knoxville. The town was so named from the number of women in the Brobst family who bore the name of Mary, no less than five of them bearing that appellation.
The first house in the town was built by Jonathan Wilder. The second was erected by Jacob Stambach and was long known as the “old tavern stand.” Andrew Kerr was the first merchant, and Peter Klein was the first postmaster. The post office was at first called Ely, or Ely’s, after one of the prominent families living in that locality.
In February, 1871, a weekly newspaper called the Marysville Miner was started by a company with J. W. Ragsdale as editor, and in 1872 Welch & Company erected a large building for a woolen factory. The opening of the coal mines about this time also added to the importance of Marysville, and in the latter ‘70’s the town was incorporated under the laws of the state. A Methodist Church was established in 1867 and a little later Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges were instituted.
The Marysville of the present day has three general stores, a post office, telephone connections with the surrounding towns, a public school that employs four teachers, and important coal mining interests. In 1910 the population was 319, and in 1913 the property of the town was assessed for taxation at $66,188.
In the spring of 1912 R. E. Cotton surveyed the Town of Melcher for Thomas J. Newkirk, a resident of Chicago, Illinois. Melcher is located in section 11, township 74, range 21, immediately south of and adjoining the Town of Dallas. The plat, which was filed in the recorder’s office on May 17, 1912, shows 600 lots and a public park.
At the February term of the District Court in 1913 a petition signed by thirty-three residents of the new town was presented, asking for the incorporation of Melcher. After hearing the petition Judge Lorin N. Hays appointed Frank McAllister, Arby Bucklew, W. T. Newkirk, John Oldham and J. D. Croy commissioners to hold an election and submit the question to the legal voters residing within the territory it was proposed to include in the corporation. The vote was unanimous in favor of incorporation, and on May 14, 1913, was held the first election for town officers. J. D. Croy was elected mayor; C. V. Brumley, clerk; William Nolte, treasurer; John Oldham, Leopold Galleazzi, C. A. Hollingsworth, W. E. Bledsoe and Walter Feight, councilmen.
Melcher is the outgrowth of the building of the branch line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railway system through that section of the county. Although one of the youngest towns in the county, it is a healthy infant and is one of the thriving towns in the White Breast Valley. It is situated on a high ridge, three miles from the creek, and bids fair to become one of the leading coal towns of the county. A public school building was erected in the summer of 1914, and in November of that year a telephone exchange was opened. Melcher has two banks, the usual number of mercantile establishments for a town of its size, important coal mining interests, and a number of minor business enterprises.
In the western part of Perry Township, on the north side of the Des Moines River and the Wabash Railroad, is the little village of Morgan Valley. A spur of the railroad runs north from the town to a coal mine about half a mile distant, in which a number of the people living in the vicinity are employed. A post office was once located here, but it was discontinued some years ago and mail is now received by rural delivery from Percy. Morgan Valley has some shipping interests and a local trade.
The Town of Newbern was surveyed by F. M. Frush on September 9, 1851, for Ransom Davis, who gave it the name of the town in Indiana from which he had emigrated. It is located in the northeast corner of section 31, township 74, range 21, in the extreme southwest corner of the county. The plat was filed in the office of the county recorder by Mr. Davis on April 9, 1852. It shows twenty-four blocks of four lots each. Beginning at the east side of the town, the north and south streets are numbered from First to Sixth, inclusive, and the streets running east and west are North , Water, Poplar, Main, Washington and South. In the center is a public square.
At the first public sale of lots nine were sold at prices ranging from $4 to $8 each. Mr. Davis built the first house - a hewed log dwelling - in the north part of the town; Jesse Moon was the first merchant, but was succeeded after a short time by Fletcher Kane, and Joseph Howard was the first postmaster. Rufus Murry built a large log house and opened the first hotel. Thirty years later the town boasted two general stores, a church, a blacksmith shop, a hotel, a steam mill, a drug store and an agricultural implement and hardware house. At that time Newbern was at its zenith. The post office has since been discontinued, and the village is now a neighborhood trading point for the surrounding farming community.
In 1867 Christopher Anderly opened a store in the northeast quarter of section 17, township 74, range 21, a little northeast of the present village of Bauer, and in a jocular spirit gave the place the name of Chicago. When the post office was established there a little later it was called New Chicago. No town was ever regularly laid out here, but several people bought lots and erected dwellings, and in time another store was established. After several years a decline set in, the post office was discontinued, and about all that remains of New Chicago is a pleasant memory.
An old map of Marion County shows a rural post office called Oak, located in the northeast corner of section 18, in the western part of Red Rock Township. No town was ever laid out, but a store was established by the postmaster for the accommodation of the people living in the vicinity.
On August 14-15, 1867, J. A. Carruthers, at that time county surveyor, laid out a town in sections 15 and 22, township 77, range 19, for Columbus Long, J. F. Baldwin and G. W. Johnston. Prior to that time a station had been located there by a Mr. Otley, engineer of the Des Moines Valley Railroad, and the town was named in his honor. The proprietors of the town filed their plat with the county recorder on November 2, 1867. It shows sixty-seven lots, all on the southwest side of the railroad. Next to the railroad is Chestnut Street, then come Ewing and Johnston streets. The cross streets are Washington, Jefferson, Keystone, Elm, Walnut, Baldwin and Summit. The space bounded by Chestnut, Keystone, Ewing and Baldwin streets was not subdivided into lots, but was left for a public square or park. Since the town was first laid out, Hammond’s addition of forty-two lots, on the northeast side of the railroad, was surveyed in June, 1869, and Johnston’s addition of sixteen blocks, only two of which were subdivided into lots, was made in January, 1871.
The first house in the town was built by Alexander Jolly. Soon afterward a Mr. Weaver erected a store building, which was leased to Isaac N. Crum, who was the first merchant. The post office was established in the spring of 1868, with J. W. Hannold as the first postmaster. At one time there were five general stores in Otley, but Polk’s Gazetteer for 1914 give the number as two. The town has two churches, a telephone exchange, a public school that employs three teachers, some minor business shops, and does considerable shipping. A bank was organized late in the year 1914.
In the eastern part of Perry Township, about a mile north of the Des Moines River, is a station on the Wabash Railroad called Percy. The town was surveyed by T. E. House, for the Union Land Company on April 4, 1882. Of the ninety-four lots in the original survey, eleven lay south of the railroad, and eighty-three were on the north side. On October 30, 1884, a portion of the plat was vacated upon petition of Christopher Wagner, owner of the land. Percy has never attained the prominence hoped for by its founders. The population does not exceed 100, and a general store is the principal business enterprise. A bank was opened in the town in 1891, but it has recently passed out of existence.
On June 24, 1848, Stanford Doud, county surveyor, laid out the town of Perryville for Hezekiah Jay and the plat was filed two days later. It shows ninety-two lots and a large block, probably intended for a public square. The town was located in the northern part of section 9, township 77, range 21, on the north side of the Des Moines River, a short distance east of where Morgan Valley is now situated. Donnel says that the proprietor endeavored to forestall Baker and Gregory, who laid out the Town of Bennington in the same section the following August. Perryville never prospered and in time the plat was vacated.
Pleasantville is the third largest town in Marion County, being exceeded in population only by Knoxville and Pella. It was laid out on August 1, 1849, by Stanford Doud for Wesley Jordan, and the plat was duly filed on the 7th of September following. That original plat shows nine blocks, eight of which are divided into eight lots each, one block being left in the center of the town for a public square. Since the original survey was made the town has been increased in size by Ramsay’s addition and six additions made at different times by Mr. Jordan. The streets running east and west in the original plat were North, Jackson, Monroe and South, and those running north and south were East, Washington, Jefferson and West. On June 7, 1852, North , South, East and West streets were vacated, pursuant to an election previously held.
In the spring of 1872 a petition was filed in the District Court asking for the incorporation of the town. An election was ordered to ascertain the sentiment of the citizens on the question, when forty-six votes were cast in favor of incorporating and sixteen against it. The court then ordered an election for town officers, to be held on July 16, 1872, at which time William H. Miner was elected mayor; T. J. West, clerk; Miles Jordan, David Hockert, Elias Williams, Christian Pentz and Solomon L. Hart, councilmen.
Wesley Jordan built the first house in Pleasantville. He was also the first merchant and the first postmaster, the post office being kept in his store. Milton T. Glenn was the first child born in the town, the date of his birth having been December 19, 1851. The first hotel was kept by William H. H. Alley.
For several years the growth of Pleasantville was “slow but sure,” but with the completion of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad in 1879 the town took on new life. Although the place has never experienced a pronounced boom, the growth has been of a healthy character and the town is one of the active business centers of the county. It has two banks, a number of mercantile concerns handling dry goods, groceries, clothing, hardware, furniture, drugs, etc., grain elevators, a flour mill, lumber and coal yards, a weekly newspaper, a cornet band, Methodist and Christian churches, a public school that employs eight teachers, and number of cozy homes. It is the principal shipping point between Knoxville and Des Moines.
Pleasantville is so named on account of the pleasant surroundings, being located upon a beautiful prairie, and the highest point of land in Marion County is within the limits of the town. The population in 1910 was 691, and the property was assessed for taxation in 1913 at $524, 272.
The town of Red Rock, in the southeastern part of the township of the same name, was surveyed for John D. Bedell in August, 1845. It takes it name from the deposits of red sandstone near by. At the time it was first laid out the government survey had not been completed in that part of the county, and on April 3, 1847, it was resurveyed by Claiborne Hall, then county surveyor, for the firm of Bedell, Drouillard & Harp. John Jordan and a man named Shaw had established trading houses in the vicinity before the town was laid out, but the first house built in the town proper was a log cabin erected by James Harp, in 1845. It stood a short distance form the river bank and consisted of two rooms, one of which was sued as bachelor quarters by the owner and the other was occupied by Ezra H. Baker as a store room. Subsequently Mr. Baker removed his stock of goods to Bennington, about twelve miles farther up the Des Moines River.
During the years 1847 and 1848 quite a number of people settled in Red Rock, but the town received a blow with the great flood of 1851 from which it never recovered. This flood occurred in June and the sudden rise in the river came in the night while the people were asleep. They awoke to find their beds surrounded by water, and those who were fortunate enough to live in two-story houses hurried upstairs. every canoe and skiff within reach were pressed into service to rescue the people from their deluged homes, and even rafts were constructed for the purpose. Several houses were completely destroyed by the flood and those that were left had to be thoroughly renovated before they were fit for occupation as dwelling places. Scarcely had this been done and the people reestablished in their homes, when the river again rose and compelled them to undergo another two weeks’ exile. To add to their discomfort the supply of breadstuffs became exhausted, the nearest mills were on the opposite side of the river, and to cross that raging torrent was out of the question. there was plenty of corn, but how was it to be ground into meal. David B. Worth, living about two miles north of the town, was the possessor of a small hand mill, which ws kept going day and night to supply the demand. Some of the people crushed the corn with an ax or an iron wedge and then ground the broken grains in a coffee mill. The corn that had been planted on the bottom lands before the flood was either washed out or covered with mud and some of it was replanted as late as the 4th of July. Fortunately a favorable season enabled the farmers to secure a fair crop to tide them over the winter.
Prior to this flood, the people of Red Rock had entertained hopes of securing the county seat. These hopes were now abandoned and several families left the town. Those who remained still had one hope left. If slack-water navigation could be established in the Des Moines River, or a railroad company could be induced to build a road to the town, Red rock might yet come into its own. But the slack-water project, about which there had been so much talk, was soon abandoned and the Des Moines Valley Railroad missed the town by several miles, passing over the prairie on the east and north. For years after this the growth of Red Rock was hardly noticeable, the population remaining about stationary. Then the Des Moines & St. Louis (now the Wabash) Railroad was built nearer the river and the company ran a spur to the sandstone quarries on the west side of the town. This was followed by a revival of business and a moderate increase in the population.
Concerning the early history of Red Rock, Donnel says: “From first to last Red Rock possessed a notoriety not enjoyed by any other village in the county. Situated on a much-frequented Indian trail, and at the border of the United States territory, it early became a place of resort for the savages for the purpose of trading and obtaining whisky a the trading houses. It is said that even the squaws would sometime come, obtain a supply of the baneful beverage, and then lie about in a state of beastly intoxication, their infants (those that had them) crying with starvation. In pity for these suffering innocents, the sober squaws would feed them with the soft pulp scraped fro the inside of elm or Linwood bark, which they would devour with evident relish. Some of these squaws appeared to be desperate under the influence of liquor, and were tied tot he fences to prevent them from running over the river bank.
“The place also became the frequent rendezvous of the rougher portion of the settlers, and others whose character classed them with adventurers and desperadoes; and as a natural result of such a fusion of spirits, inspired more or less by the ardent, fights were of frequent occurrence. It is a fact worthy of note that Red rock, though a comparatively small place, has been the scene of several assassinations, shooting and stabbing affrays and lawless carousals, the details of which are not pertinent to this history.”
But all this has changed. The Indian, the unscrupulous trader, the adventurer and the desperado have all disappeared. Not longer is whisky one of the chief articles to be found in the trading house, the general stores of the village dialing in the commodities intended to supply the wants of a civilized community. The public school, employing three teachers, is to be seen instead of drunken squaws tied to the fence, and Red Rock is a typical modern town.
On November 1, 1855, William Kent, surveyor of Marion County, laid out the Town of Reedville, which was named for the proprietor, J. C. Reed, with whom was associated Christian Houseman. The plat, which was filed in the recorder's office on February 11, 1856, shows Center Street running east and west, and Jefferson, Marion and Des Moines streets running north and south. Reedville was situated north of the Des Moines River, in section 8, township 77, range 20, and not far from Prairie Creek. Of the seventy-two lots surveyed a few were sold, but the town never grew to any considerable proportions, and where it was projected is now a farm.
When the scheme of improving the navigation of the Des Moines River by a series of locks and dams was proposed, one of the dams was to be located a short distance above the mouth of the White Breast Creek. On April 25, 1850, James A. Rousseau laid out a town of ninety-nine lots immediately south of the river, in the west side of section 9, township 76, range 19, for William Kent. ON June 20, 1850, Mr. Kent filed his plat in the office of the county recorder, giving the proposed town the name of Rousseau, in honor of the surveyor. A post office was established at an early date and Rousseau promised to become a town of some consequence. But the dam and locks were not built, the post office was discontinued, business removed to other towns on the railroad lines, and Rousseau exists only in name. Fifield is the nearest railroad station, and the few inhabitants of Rousseau and its environs receive mail by rural delivery from the post office at Knoxville.
This was a rural post office located in section 14, township 75, range 21, a little northeast of the center of Franklin Township. E. L. Wines was one of the early postmasters. No town ever grew up about the post office, which was discontinued in time, and the name does not appear on modern maps of the county.
Swan is an incorporated town on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, sixteen miles northwest of Knoxville and in the northwest corner of Swan Township. Soon after the railroad was completed the company bought forty acres of land in the southwest quarter of section 17, township 77, rnage 21, form John Shook, with the view of founding a town and establishing a station. In September, 1879, Anselmo B. Smith, a civil engineer, laid out a town of seventy-two small lots and two large outlots for C. E. Perkins, trustee, and the plat was filed on the 13th of the following November. Since then the town has been increased by the Coal Addition, Shook’s Addition, and Hunt’s First and Second Additions.
Within two years after Swan was laid out it had two general stores, a drug store, hotel and restaurant, a grain elevator, a post office, a saw mill, a blacksmith shop and a public school. In 1909 the Swan Telephone Company was incorporated, and a bank was established in 1910. The population in that year, according to the United States census, was 292, and in 1913 the property of the town was assessed for taxation at $95,636. Three teachers are employed in the public schools and the town has two churches - Christian and Methodist Episcopal.
Tracy is situated in the eastern part of Clay Township, fourteen miles southeast of Knoxville and not far from the Mahaska County line. It was surveyed in the fall of 1875 by Alexander F. Tracy, the proprietor of the town, and the plat was filed with the county recorder on November 11, 1875. It shows 149 lots, with Parker, Bradley and Franklin streets running north and south, and Munsell, Woltz, Needham, Sumner and Lawson streets running east and west.
The town is well provided with shipping and transportation facilities, being located on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Wabash railroads. It has a bank, three general stores, a hardware and implement house, a furniture store, a telephone exchange, a public school that employs four teachers, a Methodist Episcopal Church, telegraph and express offices, a post office and ships large quantities of coal and agricultural products. Polk’s Gazetteer for 1914 give the population as 275.
On October 11, 1856, Jesse H. Kent, deputy county surveyor, laid out for P. W. and George F. Pitman a town in the north half of section 35, township 76, range 21, to which was given the name of Weston. The plat was filed on November 2, 1856, showing nine blocks, eight of which were divided into eight lots each, the block in the center of the town being left for a public square. The place was never improved and after some time the plat was vacated.
The Town of Wheeling was surveyed by J. A. Rousseau on July 5, 1851, in the northern part of section 5, township 76, range 21, for Thomas Polson and John Rankin. The plat was filed on the 12th of the same month. It shows six blocks of eight lots each, but the streets are not named. The first house was built by James Wilson, who was also the first blacksmith and the first postmaster. Dr. C. C. Wilkie was the first physician, and the first goods were sold by the firm of Walters & Butcher. The name was suggested by Henderson Polson, after Wheeling, West Virginia.
Early histories of Marion County locate this village in Swan Township, but it is in the northern part of Pleasant Grove, 2 1/2 miles northwest of Pleasantville. It has never grown beyond the proportion of a small country village.
Last on the list is probably the newest town in the county, if White Breast can properly be called a town. It is a station on the new line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad it is located in section 23, near the White Breast Creek, in the southeastern part of Franklin Township.
According to the United States Postal Guide for July, 1914, Marion County then had nineteen post offices, viz: Attica, Bussey (2), Columbia (1), Cordova (1), Dallas, Durham, Everist, Flagler, Hamilton (1), Harvey (1), Knoxville (9), Marysville, Melcher (1), Otley (1), Pella (5), Percy (1), Pleasantville (4), Swan (1), Tracy (2). The figures in parentheses after some of these offices show the number of rural routes.
Transcribed by Mary E. Boyer, February 2007, reformatted by Al Hibbard 10 Oct 2013