Part 56 (1/2)
The grove was named in honor of the first settler who owned most of the land, on which the grove is situated. During the early '50s and '60s Clinton towns.h.i.+p produced more wheat, it is said, than any other towns.h.i.+p in the county, all of which was hauled to Cedar Rapids.
BUFFALO TOWNs.h.i.+P
Buffalo towns.h.i.+p was first settled by George C. Perkins, who came here in 1839 and made a claim which he occupied thereafter during his lifetime. In the early days it was well wooded and consequently much of this land was sold in small strips to adjoining farmers.
GRANT TOWNs.h.i.+P AND WALKER
For the following interesting sketch of the early settlement of northwestern Linn county we are under obligations to Justin Barry, editor of the Walker _News_.
Grant towns.h.i.+p, forming the northwest corner of Linn county, was organized in 1872 as the result of a struggle over the levying of a tax in aid of the construction of a railroad. The B., C. R. & N., since incorporated into the Rock Island system, had projected a line from Cedar Rapids north toward the Minnesota line. Was.h.i.+ngton towns.h.i.+p, then embracing much more territory than at present, had voted a five per cent tax in aid of the road. Those living in the northern portion of the towns.h.i.+p rebelled, and in an effort to escape the tax pet.i.tioned for a division of the territory and the formation of a new towns.h.i.+p.
They succeeded in the latter effort and the new towns.h.i.+p was designated Grant, in honor of General Grant, who was then president. However, the people did not escape the tax, and some of those who most vigorously opposed it later embarked in business in the new town of Walker, which sprung up with the coming of the railroad, and thus their defeat became in fact the foundation for modest fortunes, which came from the large territory and the equally large profits of pioneer business days.
As the earlier settlers sought out the timbered sections regardless of the quality of the land, what is now Grant towns.h.i.+p, comprised as it is almost wholly of prairie, was one of the last portions of the county to be developed. Some few settlers came early, but progress generally was slow. A family named Norris was the first to settle within its territory, being already located along what is now its southern border when John K. Speake and family came in 1840. The Norrises have since disappeared and no one seems to know whither they went. James Buforde Speake is now the oldest living settler in the towns.h.i.+p, and though past eighty years of age he continues to operate the farm in section 19 on which his father filed when the family arrived here from Illinois in 1840.
Other settlers came at long intervals, but for many years after the arrival of the first it was predicted with great a.s.surance that the northern portion of the towns.h.i.+p never would be settled but would always remain a wilderness. And yet this valley, including the present town site of Walker, lying north of what in the early days was called Wright's Grove, now Fox's Grove, must have presented an attractive picture and one of rare beauty in its wild state, viewed from the surrounding hills, a little creek winding its way through the center, flanked all about by great rolling ridges and fringed on either bank with willows, with here and there a giant oak towering above all else.
William Davis settled in the southwest portion of the towns.h.i.+p in 1841, and on his farm in about 1850 or a little earlier was laid out the first cemetery in the towns.h.i.+p. It is still in use for that purpose and many of the monuments erected in the early days bear quaint inscriptions. Mr. Davis died in 1866, leaving a large estate to his sons, Hezekiah and Edward, who carried on extensive farm operations.
The former kept a pack of hounds and for many years scoured the country for miles around in search of wolves. The Davises later met with reverses and left the county years ago shorn of a large share of the princely estate, which once had embraced many hundreds of acres of land in Benton and Linn counties.
E. D. Hazeltine, who died only a few weeks ago at his home in Center Point, was another early settler in the southern portion of the towns.h.i.+p, and he was long active in all its interests. He served for some time in the early days as a county commissioner. During the '50s numerous pioneer families arrived, including those of Thomas Fee, W. C.
Ring, C. G. and Benjamin Gitch.e.l.l, W. S. Bliss, Chorydon Gilchrist, Christian Iehl, and others.
Following the close of the Civil war development was more rapid, a number of soldiers fresh from the service joining the pioneers in their work of subduing the wilderness. In 1873 when the railroad arrived settlement had reached the northern border of the towns.h.i.+p, where James A. North, Walker Purviance, William Moses and others were located. The building of the railroad brought the establishment of a new town on section 4, which was called Walker, in honor of W. W. Walker, then chief engineer and afterward superintendent and receiver of the road.
James K. Hotchkin built the first business building, opening a general store, and he was also appointed as the first postmaster. The second business building was erected by Theo. Hamblin, present mayor of the town, who engaged in the grocery business. O. C. Barnes built a hotel on the site now occupied by the Walker _News_ office, and Fred Hoffman erected the store building now occupied by S. Liddle. The first residence was built by C. G. Gitch.e.l.l, who leased his farm in section 21 and engaged in the lumber and grain business in partners.h.i.+p with Fred Hoffman, and Mrs. Gitch.e.l.l was the first woman resident of the town. Messrs. Gitch.e.l.l and Hoffman prospered greatly in business, ama.s.sing modest fortunes, and both remained for many years among the leaders in business affairs. Mr. Gitch.e.l.l later represented his county for two terms in the lower house of the General a.s.sembly of Iowa.
[Ill.u.s.tration: QUAKER OATS PLANT, CEDAR RAPIDS]
[Ill.u.s.tration: STREET RAILWAY STATION AT BEVER PARK, CEDAR RAPIDS]
The town grew steadily and at once became an important market point, tapping a wide territory of rich farming country, and for many years it has been recognized as the best s.h.i.+pping point on the Decorah division of the Rock Island, barring only one or two of the larger cities. The farmers soon turned their attention largely to dairying, and in the town now is one of the finest creamery plants in the state, ”Walker”
b.u.t.ter having gained a wide fame in the city markets.
Munic.i.p.al affairs have been wisely and economically administered ever since the incorporation of the town in 1891, when the following were chosen as the first officers: Mayor, W. A. Jones; councilmen, C. G.
Gitch.e.l.l, J. P. Bross, H. J. Nietert, J. N. Keys, Theo. Hamblin and P.
L. Hutchins; recorder, O. C. Swartz; treasurer, M. B. Dodge; a.s.sessor, E. R. Wheeler; marshal, J. M. Peyton. Walker now has a pretty park embracing about two blocks of ground, a complete munic.i.p.al water-works system affording fire protection to all portions of the town, and a well equipped fire department. The water-works system has just been re-enforced by the sinking of a second deep well, affording an inexhaustible supply of water, and the installation of a second pumping equipment.
The town's graded school system has reached a high standard of efficiency, and its graduates rank well as teachers and as students in higher inst.i.tutions. The school has four departments, all of them crowded to their full capacity, the enrollment including many tuition scholars. Several thousand dollars have already been set aside as the foundation of a fund for the erection of a new brick school building, which will be a necessity within a few years.
The town is well supplied with churches, having four protestant and one Catholic society. In the order of their organization they are: Methodist Episcopal, Free Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Christian.
The first church organized in the town was in 1874 by the Wesleyan Methodist, but that denomination has since pa.s.sed from the field.
That the town and surrounding country are prosperous and rapidly growing in wealth is shown by the fact that Walker now boasts of two strong banks having resources reaching a half a million dollars, and with deposits steadily increasing. Its business men are enterprising and progressive.
Regularly laid out, its streets lined with shade trees, bordering permanent walks and well kept lawns, the town presents a pretty appearance, and town officials and citizens seem to vie with each other in their efforts to maintain its reputation as being one of the prettiest towns in the county.