History of Webster County, Iowa

Excerpts from the "The History of Iowa", by Benjamin F. Gue. Copyright 1903
Transcribed by Sue Soden .

Copyright © 1998 by Sue Soden.

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WEBSTER COUNTY, IOWA
1853 created
1853 renamed Hamilton
1853 recreated
1853 organized
COUNTY SEAT: Fort Dodge
PARENT COUNTY: Risley & Yell

Webster County, as first established in January, 1853, is now Hamilton, but
by an act of the same General Assembly, which took place six months later,
the counties of Yell and Risley were united under the name of Webster and
the original county of Webster was named Hamilton. In July, 1855, the south
half of Humboldt was added to Webster. The latter county was named for the
famous Massachusetts lawyer, Daniel Webster, and these numerous changes in
boundaries were made through the influence of the proprietors of the towns
of Webster City and Fort Dodge in order to secure to them the county-seat.

Henry Lott and others went into Des Moines valley near the mouth of the
Boone River in 1847 and soon after Isaac Bell, Jacob Mericle, Tolman
Woolsey, D.B. Spaulding, Orsborn Brannon, John Tolman, Thomas Holliday, and
William Pierce settled in the southern part of Webster County along the Des
Moines River and tributaries. Rev. John Jones was a famous hunter and
pioneer preacher in that vicinity. Up to 1853 about one hundred fifty
settlers had made homes along the river south of Fort Dodge.

In August, 1853, an election was held and the following county officers
were chosen: William Pierce, judge; Tolman Woolsey, recorder and treasurer;
Jesse Goodrich, clerk; J. Doty, sheriff, and John Tolman, school fund
commissioner. A town was laid out on a beautiful prairie between the Des
Moines and Boone Rivers in the fall of 1853 named Homer which was made the
first county-seat. There the first court was held in the fall of 1854 by
Judge McFarland. Granville Berkley was the first postmaster at Homer, which
made a rapid growth.

The old fort had been vacated by the soldiers in October, 1853, and Major
William Williams had charged of the abandoned Government property. Soon
after the land, which had been reserved for the post, was offered for sale
and purchased by a syndicate at the head of which was Major Williams. In
March, 1854, the survey and plat of the original town of Fort Dodge was
completed, the survey having been made by S.C. Wood of Boone County. The
syndicate consisted of Colonel Jesse Williams, John Lemp, Bernhart Henn and
George Gillaspy and was known as the "Fort Dodge Land Company." Major
William Williams was the resident manager who made the purchase of the
lands and caused the town of Fort Dodge to be laid out. A post-office was
established at Fort Dodge and the town became a competitor to Homer for the
county-seat.

Among the earliest settlers at Fort Dodge were John F. Duncombe, John L.
Cheyney, H. Beecher, H.A. Cramer, C.H. Vincent, W.O. Ruggles, E.G. Morgan,
John Garrahty, Albert Morrison and Ezekiel Hinton. A plan was devised by
citizens of Fort Dodge and Newcastle, on the Boone River, to divide the
county and make each of these towns the county-seat of the new counties
thus created. The first step was calling an election in April, 1856, for
the removal of the county-seat from Homer to Fort Dodge. By cooperation of
the citizens of Fort Dodge and Newcastle and the entire northern part of
the county Fort Dodge was successful. The Legislature of 1857 divided the
large county of Webster, creating the county of Hamilton out of the eastern
part and the county-seat was established at Webster City, the new name for
the town of Newcastle. The division line between the new counties left
Homer close to a town which had made a remarkable growth, and was at one
time the most important in northwestern Iowa. Business and citizens
deserted it, houses and stores were left without tenants and for years it
was a deserted village.

The boundaries of Hamilton were made identical with the original county of
Webster the present county containing none of the territory of the original
county of that name. On the 26th of February, 1857, the north tier of
townships of Webster County was annexed to the new county of Humboldt,
leaving Webster with an area of seven hundred twenty square miles.

The first sermon preached in Fort dodge was by the Rev. J.H. Burleigh in
the fall of 1851 in a hospital tent. Williams and Lemp operated the first
store in 1855 and C.C. Carpenter, afterwards Governor, taught the first
school in the winter of 1855-56. Hoyt Sherman and E.W. Lucas of Des Moines
bought the first lots sold in Fort Dodge in March, 1855. John F. Duncombe
owned the first law office in April and Dr. S.B. Olney was the first
physician. The first hotel was opened in 1854 by W.R. Miller in one of the
barracks. In July, 1856, A.S. White established the first newspaper in
northwestern Iowa, at Fort Dodge. It was a Weekly Democratic journal named
the Fort Dodge Sentinel. The first railroad built into the county was the
Iowa Fall and Sioux City which reached Fort Dodge in May, 1869. In Webster
County are found extensive deposits of gypsum and its manufacture into
stucco is one of the most important industries in the State.

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archivist with proof of this consent.
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