History > Turrill Table of Contents

Source: Historical reminiscences of the city of Des Moines, together with a full description of the city and county. H. B. Turrill, 1857. Transcribed by Ralph Leonard.

Polk County—General Summary.

Polk county is divided into twelve townships, as follows: Allen, Beaver, Camp, Delaware, Des Moines, Elkhart, Fourmile, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Saylor, and Washington.

Polk City is a fine and flourishing town, situated near the Des Moines river, fifteen miles north of Des Moines. It bids fair to rise to some importance.

Dudley, on the west side of the river, below Des Moines, was laid out in 1846. It is yet but a small town. In 1851, when the great flood was at its hight (sic), it was totally over-flowed. Jeremiah Church, one of the original proprietors of the town, is said to have escaped the raging waters by climbing a cotton-wood tree, where he amused himself, and delighted the finny tribes sporting beneath him, by the dulcet strains which he drew from his favorite old fiddle.

Rising Sun is a small village, five miles east of Des Moines, in the midst of a fertile prairie country.

Lafayette, Corydon, Mitchell, Saylorville, Apple Grove, West Liberty, Centerville, Hopkin’s Grove, and Union, are small places, some of them only names.

At the presidential election, held November 4th, 1856, the number of votes cast in the different townships of Polk county were as follows:

Townships.	Polls.	Townships.	Polls.
Allen,	63	Four Mile,	106
Beaver,	48	Franklin,	42
Camp,	182	Jefferson,	287
Delaware,	62	Madison,	182
Des Moines,	1,097	Saylor,	117
Elkhart,	57	Washington,	28
Total in Polk county,                            2,269

(69)

 

70                                                              HISTORY

These votes were divided between the three Presidential candidates, as follows:

Fremont, -         -         -          -          -          1, 098

Buchanan,   -         -         -          -          -         888

Fillmore,     -          -          -          -         -          92

City Officers, elected May 4th, 1857, whose term of office expires May 4th, 1858:

On the eleventh of May the Council elected the following subordinate officers:
City Engineer—B. Callan.
  “   Treasurer—Benjamin Bryant.
  “   Recorder—B. D. Thomas.
  “   Assessor—H. E. Lemoreaux.
  “   Marshal—W. Deford.
Street Commissioner, West side—J. McNamarra.
    “            “            East  “      Will Tomlinson.

 

OF DES MOINES.                                                 71

Table, showing the amount and value of the real and personal property liable to taxation in Polk county, for the year 1853:

	Number.	Value.
Land,	151,683  acres,	$664,522
Town lots,	639	92,764
Horses,	1, 415	67,073
Neat cattle,	3, 716	51,532
Sheep,	3, 090	4,537
Swine,	5, 137	10,722
Capital in manufactures,		6,350
“       "   merchandise,		28,311
Carriages, etc.,	600	23,925
Moneys and credits,		60,000
All other property,		6,694
Total,		$1,016,409

 

72                                                  HISTORY OF DES MOINES.

TABLE, showing the amount and value of the real and personal property, liable to taxation, in Polk county, Iowa, for the year 1856:

	Number.	Value.
Land,	313,557 acres.	$2,498,532
Town lots,		811,517
Horses,	2,256	175,888
Mules and Asses,	74	5,446
Neat cattle,	6,788	26,172
Sheep,	3,920	6,909
Swine,	14,191	34,823
Capital in merchandise,		87,367
“       "   manufactures,		46,875
Carriages, etc.,	1,031	48,828
Moneys and credits,		204,482
Taxablehousehold furniture,		9,229
Ferry Franchises,		420
		==========
Total		$4,057,693

Increase in the value of taxable property in three years, 3,041,284.