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CHAPTER XI -- CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, PAST AND PRESENT (CONT'D)

THE COUNTY SEAT AND PRESENT TOWNS AND VILLAGES. (CONT'D)


BUSINESS MEN, PAST AND PRESENT.


One of the first business men in Harlan in 1858 was Dr. Adam T. Ault, who, with A. L. Harvey and L. W. Woodruff, kept a very small stock of general merchandise. The first boarding house in Harlan was that kept by Peter Barnett in 1858. In the fall of that year the first tavern was kept in a house built that year by William B. Newton. The first real hotel erected in Harlan was that built by J. M. Long, in 1871, called the Harlan Hotel. Soon after the war, Aaron Bergstresser established himself as a dealer in harness and as harness-maker at Harlan. The first drug store in the town was established by Dr. L. D. Frost in 1863. Very shortly later another drug store was established by Dr. R. M. Smith, father of W. T. Smith, of Harlan. The pioneer shoemaker of Harlan was George M. Couffer.

One of the first buildings to be erected in Harlan was one belonging to Isaac Plumb. Other buildings erected in 1858-59 were those of David H. Randall, Peter Barnett, S. A. Sidener and J. J. Tuck. Messrs. Babb and Johnson were early blacksmiths. A blacksmith of 1870 was Oliver McDowell, now residing in Harlan. Mrs. J. W. Sharp appears to have been the first person to engage in the millinery business in Harlan, which was in 1873. Abraham Kniss, it is said, was the first person to retail meat. The first regular meat shop was started by John Stanley in 1871. The first jeweler in Harlan, it is said, was a man named Gittens. George D. Ross appears to have been the first man in the livery business, which was in 1873. The first religious service in Harlan was conducted by Judge H. A. Tarkington, who was also a Methodist preacher, his sermon being preached December 3, 1859. Other persons in business in 1859 were L. G. Tubbs, general merchandise; William Gay & Company, general dealers in produce, etc.; A. M. Kime & Company, carpenters and builders. In the fall of 1867, it is said, a man named Gander opened a photograph studio in the upper story of the old court house. Among the earliest lumber dealers were P. B. Hunt, J. M. Long and Thomas Ledwich, who went into business about 1879, after the coming of the railroad. The first grain elevator was built in August, 1879, by J. S. Murray. Coenen & Bechtel built another elevator in 1879; J. M. Mosby, a third elevator in 1882, and others later. J. B. Besack was the editor of the first newspaper in Harlan in 1859. The paper was called the Shelby County Courier.

A review of the names of the business and professional men who at one. time or another in the past thirty-five or forty years made Harlan their home would show changes almost beyond belief. Of the men who were in business in Harlan in the seventies and who are now residents of Harlan there would be comparatively a few, as follows: W. H. Carl, Pryor Tinsley, I. W. Beems, T. H. Smith, O. McDowell (the pioneer blacksmith), G. M. Hubbell (carpenter and contractor), B. F. Pieffer, O. P. Wyland, William Wyland, B. I. Kinsey, D. D. Downs, A. W. Barton, George D. Ross, Joseph Babcock, W. L. Baughn, P. T. Nelson, J. W. Newby, and possibly a few others. If one were to include the years up to 1881, there could be added to the foregoing list B. B. Griffith, O. F. Graves, W. C. Campbell, C. M. Taylor, Dr. E. A. Cobb, D. O. Stuart, Henry Neumeyer, H. H. Luecke, E. M. Hertert, G. W. Cullison, F. M. Bowlin and possibly a few others.


Transcribed by John Schulte, March, 2024 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pp. 234-235.

 
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