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 IOWA CIT\ 
 
 7 
 
 CONTRIBUTION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF IOWA 
 
 BY 
 
 BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH, M. A. 
 
 Published by the 
 
 STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 
 
 IOWA CITY, IOWA 
 
 1893 
 
 oWo^/iQ>
 
 IOWA CITY 
 
 CONTRIBUTION 
 
 TO THE 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF IOWA 
 
 BY 
 
 BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH, M. A. 
 
 Published by the 
 
 STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 
 
 IOWA CITY, IOWA 
 
 1893 
 
 C(i\
 
 Copyright, 1S93, 
 By Benjamin F. Shambaugh.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Iowa City is interesting chiefly as the historical capital 
 of Iowa. The object of this monograph, therefore, will 
 be to deal with the history of Iowa City as a factor in 
 the earl}' history of Iowa. And under this treatment it 
 is proposed to study the town in a two-fold aspect : as 
 an organ of the state performing the functions of a 
 capital, and as an organism illustrating the character, 
 manners and customs of pioneer life in Iowa. The 
 period covered in these pages extends from the found- 
 ing of Iowa City in the year 1839 ^^ ^^^ ^nd\ removal 
 of the capital to Des Moines in the year 1857. 
 
 No previous attempt having been made to write the 
 history of Iowa City, this monograph is necessarily the 
 result of original investigation. Fortunately, however, 
 inasmuch as Iowa City has always been the seat of 
 the State Historical Society, there has drifted into the 
 library of this society important material on the subject 
 which otherwise would have been lost or carelessly 
 destroyed. As to sources of information I have for the 
 most part relied upon contemporaneous newspapers, 
 letters, original manuscripts and miscellaneous papers. 
 The facts relative to territorial and state legislation — to
 
 iv Preface. 
 
 which I recur frequentl}' — were all taken directly from 
 the official reports. To all of these sources I have 
 made copious references in the foot-notes in order to 
 assist in verifying the statements found in the text, and 
 to facilitate the labors of the future student. 
 
 While pursuing a course of graduate study I pre- 
 pared a thesis upon "Iowa City, the Historical Capi- 
 tal of Iowa," which was accepted for the degree of 
 Master of Arts at the State University of Iowa in June, 
 1893. In connection with the preparation of this thesis 
 I owe acknowledgements to Professor W. R. Perkins, 
 at whose instance it was written. 
 
 In May, 1S93, extracts from the original thesis were 
 thrown into the form of a lecture and delivered at Iowa 
 City before the State Historical Society of Iowa. At 
 the request of Dr. J. L. Pickard, President of the State 
 Historical Society, I undertook, with a view to its pub- 
 lication by the Historical Society, a broader and more 
 thorough presentation of my study, of which the fol- 
 lowing pages are the result. 
 
 For assistance in the preparation of the monograph 
 as it now appears, I am especially indebted to Isaac A. 
 Loos, Professor of Political Science in the State Uni- 
 versity of Iowa. His criticisms and suggestions on the 
 arrangement of my material have been invaluable. To 
 Professor Loos I am also grateful for an appreciation of 
 scientific methods of stud}', and for the kindly personal 
 interest which he has taken in my work.
 
 Preface. v 
 
 To Dr. Theodore S. Parvin, librarian of the Iowa 
 Masonic Library at Cedar Rapids, I am indebted for 
 valuable information and sujjgfestions. And to Messrs. 
 H. W. Lathrop and M. W. Davis, of the State His- 
 torical Society, I am grateful for many favors. 
 
 B. F. S. 
 
 August^ i8gj.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction. page 
 
 Geological 2 
 
 Historical 4 
 
 I. 
 Early Land Claims. 
 
 Claim Associations 7 
 
 Clai.Ti Association of Johnson County 9 
 
 Claims to the Site of Iowa City 10 
 
 Claims to Section Ten 13 
 
 Claims to the N. W. Quarter of Section Fifteen ... 15 
 
 II. 
 The Founding of Iowa City. 
 
 Preliminary Legislation 17 
 
 Selecting the Site 20 
 
 The Site 25 
 
 Surveying the Town 26 
 
 The Town Plat 30 
 
 The First Inhabitants 32 
 
 The First Sales of Lots 34 
 
 III. 
 The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 
 
 Growth and Development 37 
 
 An Old Fashioned Economy 39 
 
 Mail Facilities 40 
 
 Public Roads 41 
 
 Ferries 42 
 
 Commerce 44 
 
 Mining 46 
 
 The Common Industries 47 
 
 The Iowa City Manufacturing Company 47 
 
 Local Politics 51 
 
 The County Seat 51 
 
 Early Justice 54
 
 viii Contents. 
 
 IV. 
 The Territorial Capital. 
 
 Coming of the Assembly 57 
 
 Erection of the Capitol 59 
 
 Financial History of the Capitol 65 
 
 Cost of the Capitol 72 
 
 Local Government of the Territorial Capital 73 
 
 V. 
 
 Educational Beginnings. 
 
 Mechanics' Academy 77 
 
 Snethen Seminary 80 
 
 Iowa City College 80 
 
 Iowa City University 82 
 
 From Private to Public Schools 85 
 
 Iowa Female Collegiate Institute 86 
 
 School for the Blind 88 
 
 School for the Deaf and Dumb 89 
 
 Churches 89 
 
 VI. 
 The State Capital. 
 
 First Constitutional Convention 91 
 
 The Boundary Dispute 92 
 
 Negro Suffrage 94 
 
 Second Constitutional Convention 97 
 
 The Abolition of Banks 98 
 
 An Era of Progress . 100 
 
 Early Railroad Projects loi 
 
 Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Company 103 
 
 Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company 105 
 
 A Municipal Corporation 107 
 
 Municipal Improvements 108 
 
 A Political Center 109 
 
 VII. 
 Removal of the Capital. 
 
 Agitation for Removal no 
 
 Monroe City m 
 
 Des Moines n3 
 
 Third Constitutional Convention 113 
 
 The Great Compromise iii.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Iowa City has a peculiarly significant history. Father- 
 ed by the Territory and located in a frontier wilderness 
 upon unsurveyed lands this town, unlike any other town 
 in Iowa, was a special creation. In point of ori^^in it 
 resembles more the Roman provincial town than the 
 ordinary American city. For fourteen 3'ears of its his- 
 tory it was without corporate org-anization; and durincj 
 this period it was subject directly to territorial and state 
 legislation. Iowa City is preeminently the historical 
 capital of Iowa. 
 
 Its location on the frontier called into existence the 
 most powerful claim association ever known to have 
 been organized in Iowa. Here assembled the men who 
 first formulated into constitutional and statutory pro- 
 visions the fundamental principles of Iowa law and 
 jurisprudence. It was the objective pomt of the first 
 railroad agitation west of the Mississippi River. And 
 later on it became the seat of higher education. 
 
 Located on the left bank of the Iowa River, Iowa 
 City is about sixty miles directly west of the Mississippi, 
 one-half that distance from Muscatine, eighty-six miles 
 from Dubuque, eighty miles east of the Raccoon fork of 
 the Des Moines River, seventy-five miles from Burling- 
 ton, and eighty-three miles north of the Missouri State 
 boundary line. Near the geographical center of Johnson 
 County, its latitude is 40° 38" north, and its longitude 
 90° 30 " west.
 
 2 lozva City. 
 
 The topography of the town site was unique — remind- 
 ing the tourist of the city of St. Omer in France. Lying 
 fifty feet above the w^ater level of the Iowa River, the 
 land was beautifully carved into the form of a vast 
 amphitheater. On the west there is an eminence run- 
 ning parallel with the river and covered with large 
 w^hite oaks.^ From this eminence the land descends 
 from live to seven degrees to the eastward. On the 
 northwest a high bluff, shaded by oak and hickor}- trees, 
 overlooks the river to the west and slopes gradually 
 down to the south and east. To the north, northeast 
 and less prominently eastward rises a range of hills 
 covered with hazel shrubbery and scattered growths of 
 oak. While on the south there is a plain followed by a 
 receding eminence crowned with heavy timber. The 
 basin of this natural amphitheater, which in some places 
 w^as spongy enough to mire a horse, was drained by a 
 small stream now known as "Ralston Creek."- 
 
 Geological. 
 
 Of all that long period of organic and inorganic evo- 
 lution which must have preceded the dawn of the 
 Devonian Age the rocks of low'a City bear no inscrip- 
 tions. The earliest geological records of the site of 
 Iowa City date back no farther than the beginning of 
 the Devonian Age.-' Then Iowa City lay at the bottom 
 of a clear, shallow, open sea, whose waters stretched 
 out liniillcss toward the west and southwest. This sea 
 
 1 A few of the primitive oaks are still stamiing on the campus of the 
 State University. 
 
 * Named in honor of Robert Ralston, one of the three commissioners 
 who located Iowa City. 
 
 » See Professor Samuel Calvin in loiva Ilisiorical Record, Vol. I, No. 3
 
 Introduction. 3 
 
 at first swarmed with millions of mailed worms of an old- 
 fashioned type, whose numbers, however, were greatly 
 reduced as time went on. Then, along with a variety of 
 low-typed sponges, there flourished luxuriant growths 
 of coral. These coral formations alone have made Iowa 
 City famous in the scientific world. In 1864, Agassiz 
 himself collected some with his own hand.^ Crinoids, 
 peculiar sharks and mail-clad fishes also inhabited this 
 ancient sea. Finalh' the Devonian Age came to an end 
 and with its close the life of the brachiopods, corals, 
 sponges, sharks, fishes and crinoids also came to an end. 
 Slowly the shore line of the sea retreated westward and 
 the present site of Iowa City became a part of the North 
 American continent. But this was not the last of its 
 subaquatic life. For deposited beds of sandstone tell us 
 that the whole site was again submerged shortly before 
 the close of the Carboniferous Age. In time the sea 
 again receded with the movements of the earth's crust. 
 Exposed to the powerful influences of the elements, the 
 rocks were carved into hills, basins and river courses. 
 As this destructive work went on, long geological ages 
 passed by solitarily. The Glacial Period came on with 
 its fields and mountains of crushing, grinding ice. Dur- 
 ing this period there was on the site of Iowa City a lake 
 of unfrozen w^ater surrounded by ic}^ barriers. But this 
 lake with its icy barriers too passed aw^ay, leaving all 
 ihino-s from that time on to verdure and to life. Of 
 
 1 Professor Agassiz visited Iowa City in March, 1864, for the purpose 
 of examining the coral formations in this locality. He was entertained 
 by Professor T. S. Parvin at whose request he came to Iowa City. 
 While here he delivered two lectures. One was delivered before the 
 public in general, and was on the "Coral Reefs of Iowa City;" the 
 other was on " Glaciers '' and was addressed to the Faculty and students 
 of the State University.
 
 4 lozva City. 
 
 animals there flourished an infinite variety of species, 
 from the minute worm and insect to the elephant and 
 the mastodon. 
 
 Historical. 
 
 The events that took place on the site of Iowa City 
 from the time that life first manifested itself to the ap- 
 pearance of man — the struggles for supremacy, the wars 
 of species, the conflicts of individuals, the survivals of the 
 best and the stamping out of the unfit — must forever 
 remain unknown. And respecting its occupation by 
 man previous to the advent of the European, we can 
 only say that it formed an infinitely small part of the 
 hunting grounds of the Indians. As to the possible 
 predecessors of the Indians, too much has already been 
 written and too little is actually known to call for fur- 
 ther observations here. 
 
 Father Marquette was the first white man to penetrate 
 the wilderness of what is now the State of Iowa. One 
 hundred and thirty-two years after the discovery of the 
 Mississippi by Ferdinand DeSoto, and one hundred and 
 three years before the writing of the Declaration of 
 Independence, he journe3'ed far into the then lonel}'' 
 valle}' of the Des Moines. His journey is one of the 
 incidents in the sad history of the many fruitless attempts 
 to convert the Indian tribes of the Great Lakes and the 
 Mississippi Valley to the faith of Rome. Yet the failure 
 of Marquette's mission will never detract from the deep 
 interest which all Iowa has in that romantic journey of 
 the fearless priest into the primeval wilderness of the 
 Des Moines vallev.
 
 Litrodiiction. 5 
 
 That portion of the Louisiana Purchase i which falls 
 within the Hmits of Iowa was originally a part of the 
 "District of Louisiana" placed under the jurisdiction of 
 the Indiana Territor}'. The District of Louisiana became 
 the "Territory of Louisiana" on the 4th of July, 1S05, 
 in accordance with an act of Congress approved on the 
 3rd of March preceding, and embraced that part of the 
 purchase which lay north of the 33rd parallel. When in 
 181 2 the Territor}' of Orleans, lying south of the 33rd 
 parallel, became the State of Louisiana, the Territory of 
 Louisiana was named Missouri. ^ In 18 19 the Territory 
 of Arkansas was created and Missouri, a year later, 
 became a State with substantially its present boundaries. 
 The large tract, hitherto included in the Territory of 
 Missouri, lying west and north of the State of Missouri 
 was not then formally reorganized; and the future Ter- 
 ritory of Iowa was left apparently without local govern- 
 ment for fourteen 3-ears."" Joined to the Territory of 
 
 1 That large tract of territory, known as Louisiana, was first dis- 
 covered by tlie Spaniards; but through failure to occupy, it was lost to 
 France. By treaty on the loth of February, 1763, France transferred it 
 to the Spanish crown. Spain ceded it back to France October ist, 1800. 
 Again by a treaty which was signed on the 2nd of May, 1S03, and ratified 
 by the Senate of the United States about the middle of October, 1S03, 
 Louisiana was purchased by the United States. By act of Congress, 
 October 31st, 1S03, a temporary government was authorized for the 
 newly acquired territory. " The annexation of Louisiana was an event 
 so portentous as to defy measurement; it gave a new face to politics, 
 and ranked in historical importance next to the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence." — (Henry Adams, Hist, of U. S. Vol. II, page 49.) 
 
 * U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. II, 743. 
 
 ' I say apparently without local government, for as a matter of fact 
 the settlers of this district did exercise the functions of local govern- 
 ment. Their rules, regulations and courts had, it is true, no legal sanc- 
 tion; but they had what was actually more authoritative in a new 
 country — they had the sanction of the community.
 
 6 lozva City. 
 
 Michigan on the 2Sth of June, 1S34, ^c>r civil and judicial 
 purposes, 1 Iowa became a part of the Wisconsin Terri- 
 tory in July, 1S36.- Two years later, on the 3rd of July, 
 1S38, it was established and designated as the "Terri- 
 tory of Iowa," with a temporary capital at Burlington.^ 
 In January, 1839, the iirst Legislative Assembh' of 
 the Territory appointed commissioners to select a site 
 within the limits of Johnson County* upon which to 
 locate the seat of government of the Territory of Iowa. 
 At the place thus selected the commissioners were 
 ordered to found a town to be called Iow^\ City. 
 
 1 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. IV, 701. 
 
 8 Ibid, Vol. V, 10. 
 
 3 Ibid, Vol. V, 235. 
 
 * Johnson County was organized by an act of the Council and House 
 of Representatives of the Territory of Wisconsin, approved June 22nd, 
 1S38. Previous to the passing of this act, Johnson County had been a 
 part of Dubuque County, created by the Territorial Assembly of Michi- 
 gan in September, 1S34.
 
 I. 
 
 EARLY LAND CLALMS. 
 Claim Associations. 
 
 To the superricial observer the general statement, that 
 the site of Io^va City, originally a part of the Public 
 Domain of the United States by right of purchase and 
 treaty, was donated by the General Government to the 
 Territory of Iowa for public purposes, has been an all 
 sufficient resume. Yet this statement contains no refer- 
 ence to the most interesting chapter in the history of 
 Iowa City landed property — interesting not only to those 
 who are directly concerned in Iowa City real estate, but 
 also intensely interesting to the student of "Institutional 
 Beginnings in the Mississippi Valley." The histor}' of 
 "early land claims" goes back of all government records 
 and is to be found in the history of the claim associa- 
 tions alone. 
 
 The earliest claims to land west of the Mississippi 
 River were made by pioneer farmers (or squatters) in 
 direct violation of an act of Congress prohibiting settlers 
 from trespassing on the Public Domain. These early 
 land-holders, without titles or patents from the United 
 States, had no Icg'al rights to the soil they occupied and, 
 therefore, could expect no protection from the General 
 Government. In consequence there grew up a system 
 of popular government peculiar to the pioneer communi- 
 ties of the West. It was a novel system based upon the 
 organization known as "Claim Association" or "Land 
 Club."
 
 8 Io-.ua City. 
 
 Each community or township had its own distinct land 
 association, the principal object of which was the pro- 
 tection of the bona fide settlers in what they pleased to 
 call their rights in making and holding claims — protec- 
 tion against "speculators," "land sharks" and greed}' 
 settlers. Disputes between members of an association 
 were arbitrated by the "Claim Court" or "Claim Com- 
 mittee." From the decisions of this court or committee 
 there was no appeal. Intentional failure to abide by the 
 laws of the association was punished by boycott, ostra- 
 cism, public condemnation, tar-and-feathers and the lash. 
 
 The maximum amount of land allowed to any one 
 settler varied in the different communities from one 
 hundred and sixty to four hundred and eighty acres. 
 Boundaries of claims were designated by section and 
 township lines, if the public surveys had been com- 
 pleted, otherwise by blazed trees, streams, bills, stumps, 
 stakes and rocks. These claims the settlers continued 
 to cultivate and improve until the land was offered for 
 sale by the government. 
 
 As the time announced for the public sale approached, 
 all claims were carefully recorded and marked off on 
 the township map. A "bidder" for the whole com- 
 munit}- was then appointed by the association. At the 
 sale he held the marked township map, and as fast as 
 the claims of the members of his association were called 
 by the auctioneer, he would bid the minimum price of 
 one dollar and twentv-hve cents per acre. And at this 
 price the land was invariably bought; for no one dared 
 bid against an original claimant. Let an outsider be so 
 bold as to i")ut in a counter bid, and in an instant he 
 would be "knocked down" and compelled to withdraw 
 his offer, or risk his life at the hands of tiie members of
 
 Early Loui Claims. 9 
 
 a claim association, \vho were all there ready to "do 
 their duty.-" At home as at the public sale, the mem- 
 bers were always fully protected in their rights. And 
 this, let it be understood, was no second rate protection. 
 For the law of the association was the supreme rule of 
 the community against which no man dared raise his 
 hand. 
 
 The Claim Association of Johnson County. 
 
 As soon as Johnson County was seriously mentioned as 
 the county in which the capital of the Territory of Iowa 
 would probably be located, emigrants began to examine 
 their maps for the fayored district and make prepara- 
 tions for a journey to the frontier. Anticipating a rush 
 of immigration, the •' squatters " already in Johnson 
 County took steps — immediately after the passage of the 
 act definitely fixing the location within the limits of their 
 county — to\yard forming of an association for the better 
 protection of their rights in making and holding claims. 
 xVfter seyeral preliminary meetings the " Claim Associa- 
 tion of Johnson County" was formally organized on the 
 9th day of March, 1839, ^^ ^ public meeting attended by 
 nearly eyery "squatter" in the county. 
 
 The Claim Association of Johnson County was well 
 supported by the community for which it was created. 
 Its laws and resolutions vyere at all times strictly obseryed 
 and loyally upheld. "Claim-jumping" was preyented;^ 
 and at the government land sales the association secured 
 
 1 I have been able to learn of only two cases of "c'.aim-jumping" in 
 which the association was concerned. One was an attempt on the part 
 of Mr. Crawford to "jump" a claim made by Mr. Sturgis; the other 
 attempt was made by Mr. Charles Berryhill, who was promptly given 
 the required number of lashes by Mr. Joseph Stover, of the claim 
 association.
 
 lO lozva City. 
 
 to its members the privilege of purchasing their claims 
 at the average minimum price of one dollar and twenty- 
 five cents per acre. "Xew-comers" were compelled to 
 respect the regulations of the association. Most of them 
 acquiesced willingly and signed the constitution. Robert 
 Lucas, Iowa's first Governor, having purchased a claim 
 in the countv, acknowledged the sovereignty of this 
 pioneer organization b}^ subscribmg to its constitution 
 and handing in his own claim for record.^ 
 
 Claims to the Site of Iowa City. 
 
 But the peculiar circumstances surrounding the dona- 
 tion of a part of the PubHc Domain b}' the United States 
 to the Territory of Iowa, and the founding of a town by 
 the Legislative Assembly on that land were such, that 
 settlers, unfortunate enough to have made or purchased 
 claims on the soil thus appropriated, could find no pro- 
 tection even in the Claim Association of Johnson County. 
 For the claim associations were always bound to respect 
 the rights of the United States.- With but two exceptions 
 the claimants to the tow^n site of Iowa City received no 
 remuneration for their claims or their improvements. -"^ 
 
 1 Other prominent men whose names are attached to the constitution 
 of this claim association are: S. C. Hastings, one of Iowa's early Repre- 
 sentatives in Congress, and afterwards a Judge of the Supreme Court 
 of Iowa, and also a Judge of the Supreme Court of California; Morgan 
 Reno, Territorial and State Treasurer of Iowa; S. H. McCrory and 
 Henrv F'elkner, members of the Legislative Assembly of Iowa; and 
 Robert Ralston, one of the commissioners who located the capital at 
 Iowa City in 1S39. 
 
 2 The claim associations in the west, let it be borne in mind, were 
 organized not to protect settlers against the government, but to protect 
 them against speculators and unscrupulous " squatters." 
 
 3 In speaking of the site of Iowa City in this connection, I wish to be 
 iniderirtood as referring not only to section ten, the original Seat of Gov- 
 ernment, but also to the addition made soon afterward for the location of 
 the Johnson County Court House, the northwest quarter of section fifteen.
 
 Early Lcuui Claims. ii 
 
 The lirst exceptional case was that of J. G. Morrow, of 
 Bloomington.^ It is recorded, that on the 2nd of January, 
 1839, Samuel Bumgardner, of Johnson Count}', sold to 
 J. G. ]Morrovv, of Muscatine County, the southeast quar- 
 ter of section ten, township seventy-nine north, range 
 six, west of the tifth principal meridian. This quarter 
 section became a part of the town site. The territorial 
 commissioners, therefore, in consideration of the claims 
 of Mr. Morrow, granted him the privilege of bidding in 
 at a nominal price one of the first lots offered for sale. 
 The second exceptional case was that of Andrew D. 
 Stephen in the locating of the seat of justice for Johnson 
 County. According to the records, Mr. Stephen had 
 purchased simp!}- the one equal undivided half of the 
 northwest quarter of section fifteen. But from another 
 source- it is learned that "A. D. Stephen, Esq., held the 
 claim and resided upon the northwest quarter of section 
 fifteen." It is further learned from this same source 
 that the county commissioners before preempting this 
 quarter section purchased the same of Mr. Stephen. 
 Thus it will be seen that in two cases the claims of the 
 occupants of what was then a part of the Public Domain 
 were respected. 
 
 The first claim to any part of section ten was made 
 by Samuel Bumgardner in October, 1837- It included 
 the southwest fractional quarter; and according to the 
 records this was the only part of section ten claimed 
 by Mr. Bumgardner. But it is also recorded that Sam- 
 uel Bumgardner on the 2nd of Januar}^ 1S39, ^°^^ to J. 
 G. Morrow, the southeast quarter of section ten. There- 
 
 1 Bloomington is now known as Muscatine. 
 
 2 A brief sketch of the early history of Johnson County, written by 
 Cyrus Sanders and Henry Felkner.
 
 12 lozua City. 
 
 fore, it would seem that Mr. Bumgardner had claimed 
 the whole south half of section ten. On the 4th of April, 
 1839, the southwest fractional quarter was sold to John 
 Kight. The north half of section ten was claimed about 
 the 15th of June, 183S, by Samuel B. MulhoUand and 
 William Willson. It is not recorded that this latter claim 
 was ever sold. 
 
 As to the northwest quarter of section fifteen, it is 
 recorded that on the 3rd of January, 1839, Samuel Bum- 
 gardner sold to Andrew D. Stephen "that part which 
 Ives east of the Iowa River." On the 20th of Februar}^ 
 of the same year, Andrew D. Stephen sold to Wilham 
 Willson "the North west quarter of section fifteen" for 
 the sum of two hundred dollars. Wihiam Willson held 
 the claim a little over eight months when he sold "the 
 one Equal undivided half" to Andrew D. Stephen, and 
 the other equal undivided half to John Kight. It is prob- 
 able that, in this sale bv W^illiam Willson of the two 
 equal undivided halves of the northwest quarter of sec- 
 tion fifteen, Mr. Kight got the north half and Mr. 
 Stephen the south half. This supposition is based on 
 the fact that Mr. Right's claim in section ten lay just 
 over the line dividincr sections ten and fifteen. Afrain as 
 to the northwest quarter of section fifteen, it is recorded 
 that on the 26th of February, 1S40, Walter Clark made 
 claim to "all that part of the N W qr of Sect 15 
 in Township 79 N R 6 west which Lyes west of the 
 Iowa River in Johnson County." Over a year after- 
 wards it is further written that Andrew D. Stephen 
 wishes to have the same portion of section fifteen 
 recorded to him "if not recorded to John Kight." The 
 records do not show that it was ever recorded to John 
 Kight, unless it was included in the "one equal undi- 
 vided half," which was "tpnt claimed" to the said John
 
 Early Land Claims. 13 
 
 Kight by William Willson on the ist of November, 
 1839. 
 
 These records, it will be observed, are not entirely 
 satisfactor}'. For in one instance, Mr. Bumgardner has 
 only a part of the south half of section ten recorded to 
 him, but afterwards sells the whole of the south half. 
 Again, in the case of the northwest quarter of section 
 fifteen there seems to be a little vagueness. Mr. Bum- 
 gardner sells to Andrew D. Stephen that part which 
 lies east of the Iowa River. But Mr. Stephen bells 
 the northwest quarter of section fifteen to William Will- 
 son. INIr. .Willson divides the quarter and sells it again. 
 Then four months after this last transfer by William 
 Willson, Walter Clark claims "all that part of the N W 
 qr of Sect 15 which L^^es west of the Iowa River." 
 And over a vear after this Mr. Stephen asked that it be 
 recorded to him. All this discrepancy may, however, 
 be explained away bv the probable supposition that in 
 certain cases claims and deeds were not handed in for 
 record. The preliminarv surveys^ had of the claims 
 also may not have corresponded exactly to the subse- 
 quent government surveys. Then too, claims were fre- 
 quently forfeited, in which cases they were usually 
 recorded to some other settler. 
 
 Claims to Section Ten.^ 
 
 The following is a description of a Part of a claim I wish recorded that 
 was made in October 1S37. the same beeing two fractions the south west 
 fractional quarter of section Ten ifc the south East fractional quarter of 
 section nine Lying on the Iowa River Town 79. N. R 6. W. Johnson 
 County Iowa Territory containing 160 acrs.^ 
 handed in 3rd April 1839 Sa.ml Bcmgardxer 
 
 1 Surveys made by the settlers previous to the government surveys. 
 
 * The Manuscript Records from which the following extracts were 
 taken are preserved in the library of the Iowa State Historical Society. 
 
 * Taken from original MS., page 11.
 
 14 lozva City. 
 
 The following is a description of a claim we made about the 15 of June 
 
 1S3S. beeing the N. W. qr of Sect 11 & the North half of section Ten 
 
 Town 79 N R 6. West of 5 principal meridian which we wish recorded 
 
 to us' 
 
 Samuel. B. Mulholland 
 
 handed in April 6th 1S39 William. Willsox. 
 
 This Indenture made this second day of January 1S39 between Samuel 
 Bumgardner of Johnson County and Territory of Iowa of the one part 
 and J G Mori-ow of the County of Muscatine of the Territory aforsaid 
 of the other part Witnesseth that the said Samuel Bumgardner for and 
 in concideration of the sum of fift^'^ Dollars, to him in hand paid by the 
 said J G Morrow, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged has 
 bargained sold and quit claim deed given to the said Morrow to a certain 
 tract of Land clamed by him described as follows, beeing the south 
 east quarter of Section Ten (10) Town 79 N R 6 west and the south 
 West quarter of section Eleven Town 79 N R. 6. W. beeing one mile 
 and a half from the Town line of Napoleon bounded on the west by the 
 Iowa River the said Bumgardner for and in concideration of the amount 
 of money paid is to build the said Morrow upon said claim, a House of 
 the following dimensions Viz sixteen by 14 Feet wide to be put up and 
 covered in a substantial manner with Doors t.\: windows said House to 
 be finished by the 16 day of March A D 1S39. witness our hands and 
 seals this 2 day of January 1S39.2 his 
 
 Samuel -|- Bumgardner [seal] 
 witness "i^"''^ 
 
 Philip. Clark J G Morrow [seal] 
 
 A. D. Stephen 
 
 handed in June 12th. 1S39. 
 
 Know all men by these presants that I Samuel Bumgardner for and in 
 consideration of one hundred Dollars to me in hand paid the Receipt 
 where of is here by acknowledged have bargened sold and for ever quit 
 claimed unto John Kight all my right title interest claim estate and 
 demand what ever to all those tracts or parcels of land known and 
 described as follows the same beeing two fractional quarters, containing 
 about one hundred and sixty acres and situated on the Iowa River, the 
 same beeing the south west fractional quarter of Section Ten and the 
 South East fractional quarter of section Nine Town 79. N. R 6 west of 
 the 5 principal meridian lying tS: beeing in the County of Johnson & 
 
 1 Taken from original MS., page 14. 
 «/*/>/, page 31.
 
 Early Land Claims. 15 
 
 Territory of Iowa against the claims of all persons Except the united 
 states I warrcnt cS: defend the claim above mentioned up to this date 
 given under my hand & seal this 4 day of April 1839.' 
 handed in April 6th 1S39. Samuel Bumgardxer. [L S] 
 
 Claims to the Northwest Quarter of Section 
 Fifteen. 
 
 This quit claim Deed made this third day of January 1S39 witnesseth 
 that I.Samuel Bumgardner has this day bargened and sold and by these 
 presents doe bargen and convey to Andrew D Stephen (boath partees 
 of the County of Johnson and Territory of Iowa) all my right title 
 interest and claim in and to the following Tract or parcel of land lying 
 and beeing in the county and Territory aforesaid the same beeing the 
 North west quarter of section Fourteen North east quarter of section 
 tifteen and that part of the North west quarter of section fifteen that 
 lyes East of the Iowa River the above quarters beeing in seventy Nine 
 North six west of the fifth principal meridian for the sum of seventy 
 five Dollars, to me in hand paid by the said Andrew Stephen given 
 luider my hand and seal and date above written ^ 
 
 attest. 
 Samuel. H. McCrory^ Samuel Bu.mgardxer. [L. S.] 
 
 Samuel C Trowbridge. 
 admitted to record March 15th 1S39. 
 
 This quit claim deed made this. Twentieth day of February One thou- 
 sand Eight hundred iV: Thirty nine witnesseth that A D Stephen has 
 this day bargened sold and conveyed and by these presents doe bargen 
 sell and convey to William Willson boath parties of the county of 
 Johnson & Territory of Iowa A certain tract parcel or claim of land 
 lying &. beeing in the county of Johnson & Territory of Iowa the same 
 beeing the North west quarter of section fifteen Township seventy nine 
 North Range 6 west of the 5 principal meridian according to a survey 
 made by George Bumgardner for the sum of Two hundred Dollars. 
 the receipt of which is here by acknowledged given under my hand this 
 day and date above written '• 
 
 handed in March 16th 1839. (Delivered) 
 
 A D Stephen 
 
 ^ Taken from original MS., page 14. 
 
 * Ibid, page i • 
 
 3 Secretary of the Claim Association. 
 
 ■* Taken from original MS., page 6.
 
 1 6 Iowa City. 
 
 Know all men by these presants that I William Willson for and in con- 
 cideration of the sum of four hundred Dollars to me in hand paid the 
 receipt of which is hereby acknowledged I have bargened and sold and 
 by these presants do for ever quit claim to Andrew D Stephen the fol- 
 lowing claim tract or parcel of land Lying and beeing in the County of 
 Johnson in Territory of Iowa the same beeing' the one Equal undivided 
 half of the N. W. qr of Sect 15. Town 79. N. R. 6. west and the one 
 Equal undivided half of the S. W. qr of Sect Twenty Three (23) Town 
 79 N. R. 6. west of the fifth principal meridian given under my hand 
 and seal this ist day of November 1839. 
 
 handed in November ist 1839. William Wilson [seal] 
 
 Know all men bv these presants that I William Wilson has this day 
 bargened and sold by these presants do for ever quit claim to John 
 Kigh: the following claim tract or parcel of land for the sum of one 
 hundred Dollars the receipt of which is here by acknowledged the same 
 claim tract or parcel Land lying and beeing in the County of Johnson 
 & Territory of Iowa and beeing the one equal undivided half of the N 
 W. qr of Sect 15. Town 79 N R 6 west of the fifth principal meridian 
 given under my hand & seal this first day of November 1S39 - 
 
 handed in November ist. William Wilson [seal] 
 
 Walter Clark has this day made the following Claim Towit all of that 
 part of the N W qr of Sect 15 in Township 79 N R 6 west which Lyes 
 west of the Iowa River in Johnson County Febuary 26t]i 1840' 
 
 handed in Febuary 2Sth 1S40 Walter. Clark 
 
 The Following is a description of a claim if not recorded to Kight and 
 me I wish you to record it to me made this 10 da\' of March 1S41 that 
 part of the N W qr of Sect 15 Lying west of the River Township 79 N 
 Range 6 west ■* 
 
 handed in March nth 1S41. A D Steimien 
 
 ' Taken from original MS., page 40. 
 ^ /hid, page 40. 
 ' J hid, page 4 1 . 
 ■» /bid, page 49.
 
 Section Ten and the North-West Quarter of Section Fifteen. 
 
 North West Quarter. \ North East Quarter. 
 
 MULHOLLAND & WiLLSON. 
 
 
 
 South West Quarter. 
 
 South East ^larter. 
 
 Samuel BtJMGARDNER. 
 
 John Kight. 
 
 J. G. Morrow. 
 
 w <" John Kight. 
 
 ^...|.Q.^_. 
 
 U < 
 
 Andrew D Stephen. 
 
 t5
 
 , c
 
 II. 
 
 THE FOUNDING OF IOWA CITY. 
 Preliminary Legislation. 
 
 As to origin and causes of growth, Iowa City differed 
 widely from the ordinary town. Usually a town is sim- 
 ply the expansion of a small community — a country 
 village enlarged. Sometimes it centers about a mine, 
 or clings to some great river course. It flourishes at 
 the junction or terminus of large railwa}- systems. It 
 springs up where flelds are fertile and harvests abundant. 
 And favorable commercial points are never long without 
 the shop, the store and the oflice. In all cases the ordi- 
 nary town has a natural unplanned origin, and grows by 
 reason of the superior advantages of its location. With 
 Iowa Citv, however, it is all different. This town was 
 not simply the expansion of a group of country dwelling 
 houses. Without mines, it had over one thousand inhab- 
 itants before railroads had reached Chicago. Before the 
 sod of the surrounding country had been turned, Iowa 
 City was, wath the exception of Dubuque and Burlington, 
 the most prominent town in Iowa. In short, Iowa City 
 was a speciallv artificial creation, deliberately planned 
 and created by the Territory of Iowa to afford a location 
 for the permanent seat of government of the Territory. 
 Having grasped this fact we have the key to the origin, 
 growth and character of the town.
 
 1 8 lozva City. 
 
 The founding act of Iowa Cit}-, "An Act to locate 
 the Seat of Government of the Territory of Iowa, and 
 for other purposes," ^ passed at the first session of the 
 first Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa, was 
 approved January 21st, 1839. This act provides that 
 the Legislative Assembly shall meet at Burlington until, 
 by proclamation of the Governor, the public buildings at 
 the permanent seat of government shall be declared 
 ready for its reception; that three commissioners, con- 
 sisting of one person from each judicial district of the 
 Territory, shall be appointed by joint ballot of the Coun- 
 cil and House of Representatives, to locate and establish 
 a permanent seat of government; that said commission- 
 ers, or a majority of them, shall, on the ist day of May, 
 meet at the town of Napoleon and proceed to locate the 
 ;seat of government at the most eligible point within the 
 limits of Johnson Countv; that the}' shall agree upon a 
 plan and issue proposals for the erection of the necessary 
 public buildings; that they shall agree upon one of their 
 number to be " Acting Commissioner," whose duty it 
 shall be to superintend daily in person the rearing and 
 finishing of said buildings; that thev shall employ one or 
 more competent surveyors and all other hands necessar}- 
 and shall have six hundred and forty acres of land laid 
 out in lots, out-lots, streets, squares, and alleys at the 
 place where the seat of government is located, if practi- 
 cable; and that they shall have the town platted. 
 
 "An Act supplementary to 'An Act to locate the 
 Seat of Government of the Territory of Iowa, and for 
 other purposes'"- provided further that so soon as the 
 place shall be selected, and the consent of the United 
 
 ' Stat. Laws of la. Ter., ist Leg. AssV, page 435. 
 8 Ihld, page 437.
 
 TJic Founding of hnva City. 19 
 
 States obtained, the commissioners shall pi-oceed to lay 
 out a town to be called "Io\va City;" that after a plat 
 of the town shall have been recorded, the Governor shall 
 direct a sale of lots to be held under the direction of the 
 commissioners, the proceeds of which shall go into the 
 Territorial Treasury, to be expended as may be directed 
 by law, that the acting commissioner shall give bond to 
 the United States in the penal sum of forty thousand 
 dollars for faithful performance of duty; that the Gov- 
 ernor shall apply to Congress for a donation of, or a 
 preemption to, four sections of land on which to locate 
 the seat of government of the Territory of Iowa; and 
 Chauncey Swan, John Ronalds, and Robert Ralston 
 shall act as commissioners to locate the seat of govern- 
 ment and superintend the erection of public buildings. 
 
 In accordance with the fourth section of the act sup- 
 plementary to the act locating the seat of government of 
 the Territory of Iowa, and in the manner prescribed b}' 
 a joint resolution 1 of the Council and House of Repre- 
 sentatives, Congress was asked to donate "at least four 
 sections on which to locate the seat of government of 
 the Territor}' of Iowa." Congress took action on the 
 matter by passing "An Act making a donation of land 
 to the Territory of Iowa, for the purpose of erecting 
 public buildings thereon." 2 This act was approved 
 March 3rd, 1839. -^^ directed that only one section — 
 instead of four — be selected; w'hich section must be on 
 surveyed lands. Furthermore, the second section of this 
 act provides, "That if, at the time of the selection of 
 land to be made as aforesaid, the contiguous sections 
 thereto have not been made subject to public sale, or 
 
 ^ Resolution No. 12, Stat. Laws of la. Ter., ist Leg. Ass'y, page 519. 
 2 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, 330.
 
 20 Iowa City. 
 
 being so subject have not been been sold at public sale 
 or by private entry, then each and every section con- 
 tiguous to said selected section, and not so sold, shall be 
 thereafter reserved and withheld from sale in any man- 
 ner, until the further order of Congress thereon." This 
 provision was not repealed until August, 1842.^ 
 
 Selecting the Site. 
 
 It now remained for the territorial commissioners to 
 select the site. The morning of May ist, 1839, found a 
 small group of somewhat roughl}- clad pioneer settlers 
 collected at Napoleon to await the arrival of the commis- 
 sioners. For over three months these sturd}' farmers 
 had been looking forward to the coming of the commis- 
 sioners with intense interest and delight. But on this 
 particular morning they carried a look which betrayed 
 anxiety. Each man desired that the location be made 
 near his own claim, yet at the same time he was fearful 
 lest it should include his land and improvements. For, 
 they all well knew that they had, to the land they 
 occupied, no rights which the United States or the Ter- 
 ritory of Iowa were bound to respect. But as the day 
 advanced this anxiety took an unexpected turn. 
 
 BurHngton and the counties in the southeastern part of 
 the Territory were bitterly opposed to locating the seat 
 of government in Johnson County. And it was thought 
 that an attempt had been made to prevent a majority 
 of the commissioners from meeting on the ist day of 
 May as directed by law.^ The only commissioner on 
 the grounds on the morning of May ist, was Chauncey 
 Swan, of Dubuque County. As noonday approached, 
 
 1 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. VI, 846. 
 * loivii I/istoykiil Jircord, Vol. VI, 564.
 
 The Founding of Iowa City. 21 
 
 and no other commissioner appeared, the crowd began 
 to suspect fraud. There was now excitement and alarm 
 lest the entire county should be cheated out of the 
 prized location. 
 
 It is said that about noon the excitement became 
 intense, when Chauncey Swan mounted a dry-goods box 
 and made a short speech to the agitated crowd, present- 
 ing the situation as follows: The Legislative Assembly 
 had directed the locating commissioners to meet at Napo- 
 leon on the iirst day of May. Should a majority of them 
 fail to meet on that day, their actions would be null and 
 void. Chauncey Swan then called for a volunteer who 
 would undertake to bring another commissioner before 
 midnight. This certainly seemed like a hopeless under- 
 taking; for John Ronalds, of Louisa County, the nearest 
 commissioner, resided thirty-tive miles from Napoleon. 
 It would, therefore, require a ride of seventy miles in 
 twelve hours, including all stoppages and ferrying the 
 Cedar River both going and coming. But a young lad 
 named Philip Clark stepped boldly out and volunteered 
 his services. 
 
 Henry Felkner, who was among the anxious crowd 
 at Napoleon on that memorable May day, continues the 
 narrative as follows : " Of course there was much anxiety 
 lest the effort should prove a failure. Fears were enter- 
 tained that [John] Ronalds might not be at home, or 
 not disposed to come, or that he could not reach the 
 place in time. But these were all idle fears, for as soon 
 as [Phihp] Clark told him the situation he got ready at 
 once and they started with the determination to reach 
 their destination in time. While they were going at 
 their best speed the watchers at Napoleon had their 
 doubts and their fears, and as it began to draw on
 
 22 lozva City, 
 
 towards midnight, and no tidings, their fears began to 
 give way to despair. [Chauncey] Swan often consulted 
 his watch and then would send some one out to listen. 
 But no sound could be heard. This was repeated fre- 
 quently, until at last the sound of horses' hoofs were 
 heard in the distance, approaching rapidly. They did 
 not slack up till they had arrived at the place of meeting. 
 And when the riders dismounted and went in, | Chaun- 
 cey] Swan again consulted his watch and found that 
 it was just live minutes to twelve o'clock." Robert 
 Walker, a Justice of the Peace, was on hand to admin- 
 ister the oath, which was signed by the commissioners 
 and the date "May ist, 1839" thereunto afhxed. It has, 
 however, been shrewdly intimated by one present, that 
 perhaps the hands of Mr. Swan's watch were turned 
 back that night; "for it was noticed that from midnight 
 to sunrise were the shortest six hours on record." It is 
 not improbable that Mr. Swan did either stop his watch 
 or turn back its hands; for it is difficult to understand 
 how a man on horseback could travel seventy miles in 
 twelve hours over such roads as existed in the Territory 
 at that time. 
 
 On the morning of Ma}' 2nd the two commissioners, 
 Chauncey Swan and John Ronalds, "proceeded to exam- 
 ine the County of Johnson with a view to select the most 
 eligible point for said location." ^ They did some pre- 
 liminary surveying. The location was finally made on 
 Section Ten, Township Seventy-Nine North, Range Six 
 West of the Fifth Principal Meridian, on the 4th day 
 fjf May, one thousand eiglit hundred and thirt3'-nine. 
 The site was indicated by a post or slab, driven in the 
 
 ' Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Log. Ass'j, la. Ter., 
 page 90.
 
 The Founding of loiva City. 23. 
 
 ground about where the old capitol building now stands, 
 bearing the following inscription i^ 
 
 SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, 
 
 CITY OF IOWA. 
 
 May 4th^ iS^g. 
 
 C. Swan, 1 
 
 John Ronalds, y Commissioners. 
 
 RoBT. Ralston, j 
 
 Witness^ 
 
 Geo. W. Kelly, ] ^^ ,r • 
 T TT A/r T^ ' ^^s Moines. 
 
 J. H. McKenny, S 
 
 J. W. IsETT, Louisa. 
 
 J. Dillon, Dubuque. 
 
 Sec. 10, T. 79, R. 6, W. 5th Mer. 
 
 Robert Ralston, of Des Moines County, the commis- 
 sioner who did not appear at the meeting on the ist of 
 May, arrived at Napoleon on the 6th of May and agreed 
 to the proceedings of the majority of the commission- 
 ers. ^ On the 7th day of May, Chauncey Swan was 
 appointed by the board, " Acting Commissioner " to 
 superintend in person the affairs in connection with the 
 seat of government.^ 
 
 The commissioners after making the location on the 
 4th day of May agreeable to the laws of the Territory, 
 found that by the act of Congress of March 3rd, 1839, 
 the location was to be made on " surveyed lands." 
 
 1 Chas. Negus in Annals of lo-vn. Vol. VII, 326. 
 
 * Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'j, la. Ter., 90. 
 
 * Ibid^ page 90.
 
 24 lozua City. 
 
 Thereupon the commissioners unanimously agreed to 
 send a memorial to the President of the United States, 
 respectfully requesting a special survey of two town- 
 ships in Johnson County, embracing the seat of govern- 
 ment.^ The object of this was to make the location as 
 perfect as possible under the act of Congress as well as 
 that of the Territory. Accompanying the memorial, 
 which was forwarded by Chauncey Swan from Dubuque, 
 was a request from the Surveyor General's office at 
 Dubuque, calling for the survey of twelve other town- 
 ships, in addition to the two townships above mentioned.. 
 The commissioner of the General Land Office at Wash- 
 ington immediately ordered the survey of the two 
 townships as requested by the commissioners in their 
 memorial. 2 
 
 It was further provided by the act of March 3rd, 1839, 
 that notice of the selection shall, within one year from 
 the passing of the act, be officially returned to the Regis- 
 ter of the Land Office in the district in which the land is 
 situated. This provision was complied with in October, 
 1839. When at the second sale of lots in Iowa City, 
 which took place early in October, John Ronalds and 
 Chauncey Swan, commissioners, "did then and there 
 give notice to the Register of the Land Office at Du 
 Buque, that the seat of Government of Iowa Territory 
 was located on section ten. Township seventy-nine north, 
 and Range six west of the fifth principal meridian. "^ 
 
 1 Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. AssV, la. Ter., 
 page 93- 
 
 • The cominissioner of the General Land Office regretted that on 
 account of scarcity of funds he could not order the survey of the addi- 
 tional twelve townships. 
 
 * Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., 
 page 92.
 
 The Founding of Iowa City. 25 
 
 The Site. 
 
 Judging from the present appearance of Iowa City, 
 with its seven thousand inhabitants, its University, its 
 houses and graded lots, its semi-graded streets and door- 
 yard trees and bushes, it would be impossible to form 
 anything like a realistic conception of the town site as 
 it presented itself to the territorial commissioners in 
 May, 1839. 
 
 As early as October, 1837, a claim was made to a part 
 of the site bv a pioneer farmer. ^ But up to the time 
 of the meeting of the commissioners, little or nothing- 
 had been done in the way of preparing the ground for 
 cultivation. The whole site, therefore, was practically 
 in its wild and natural state. It was a wilderness, in 
 which the Indian camp-tires had scarcely gone out. 
 Poweshiek with over a thousand red men camped but a 
 few miles to the south. Few white men had settled 
 farther west. 
 
 A Burlington newspaper of that day says: "The most 
 vivid imagination can scarcely picture to itself so capti- 
 vating a spot, situated in the midst of all that wild and 
 rural scenery which can tend to embelHsh and render it 
 desirable. The river first approaches the town from the 
 north, through rocky banks of moderate height, covered 
 with a thick grove of stately trees, and then runs to the 
 south, and flows off between unequal banks scattered 
 over with venerable oaks. Opposite the city, on the 
 west side of the river, the banks are abrupt and bold, 
 and rise from the water's ed<je about fiftv feet above 
 its surface to the level of a smooth prairie, which ap- 
 proaches the bank of the river at this place and then 
 sweeps off westward in beautiful undulations of hill and 
 
 1 See Chapter I on " Early Land Claims," page 13.
 
 26 lo'va City. 
 
 dale." These banks of the Iowa River contained an 
 inexhaustible store of good building rock. 
 
 Added to resources of the earth was an abundance of 
 timber. The large grove near the site was described in 
 these words: "Big Grove, which is situated between 
 the Iowa and Cedar Rivers, has been pronounced to be 
 one of the largest and best bodies of timber in the 
 Territory, being about twent}' miles in length, with an 
 average width of six or seven miles." As for building 
 material the town could not have been more favorably 
 located. The surrounding countr}'^ was a variation of 
 hill, prairie and forest. 
 
 Surveying the Town. 
 
 Nearly two months after the locating of Iowa City, 
 the town survey was begun. "On the twenty-seventh 
 day of June, A. D., 1839, ^'^ ^^'^^ ordered by the board 
 of locating commissioners, that Thomas Cox and John 
 Frierson^ should be employed to survey Iowa City, and 
 L. Judson to draw the necessary plats." In company 
 with these men and the necessary hands, Chauncey 
 Swan, the acting commissioner, returned to Iowa Cit}' 
 in the latter part of June, and on the ist day of July 
 began the work of la3-ing out the town into streets, 
 alleys, squares, blocks and lots.- 
 
 The surveys were well under way when all work was 
 suspended in honor oi a public celebration. It was the 
 Fourth of July, 1S39. '^^^ settlers of the neighborhood 
 in conjunction with the town surveyors had planned 
 what they were pleased to call "a good old-fashioned 
 
 ' Thomas Cox represented Jackson County, and John Frierson repre- 
 icnted Muscatine Countv in the First Legislative Assembly of Iowa. 
 
 *" It is a well known fact" says Mr. .Swan in a report to the Assembl}', 
 •'especially' lo surveyors, that this is a very unfavorable season of
 
 The Founding of Jowa City. 27 
 
 celebration," to be held on the site of the future capitol. 
 A tall young oak tree, which stood on the spot now 
 occupied by the old capitol building, was stripped of its 
 branches and to its top the national flag attached. Here 
 for the first time the stars and stripes were unfurled to 
 wave over the frontier capital. The day was a pleasant 
 one. Pioneer settlers for miles around came together 
 to enjoy this first crude social event. Many of them 
 shook hands on this occasion for the tirst time. The 
 regular dinner was prepared at an Indian trading house ^ 
 about four miles down the Iowa River and brought to 
 the celebration in a lumber wagon. Added to this 
 regularly prepared meal were the baskets of provisions 
 brought by the settlers. At the proper time this '" picnic 
 dinner" was served on w^agon boxes, lifted from the 
 very wagons which had brought the settlers and their 
 families "to town." x\fter dinner toasts were offered 
 and responded to. The Declaration of Independence 
 was read. John Frierson delivered the oration of the 
 day. 2 While delivering this oration the speaker stood 
 in a wagon which had been drawn into the shade to 
 serve as a platform. 
 
 the year for surveying in the western country, in consequence of the 
 luxuriant growth of vegatation, accompanied by the heavy dews that 
 prevail at "this season of the year, making it almost impossible to com- 
 mence the labors of the day at anything like an early hour, without 
 exposure to sickness and death. The consequence is that only about 
 two-thirds of a day's labor can be performed in twenty-four hours." 
 — ^Journal of the House of Rep. of 2nd Ass'y, Ter. of Iowa, 122. 
 
 1 This trading post was known as " Gilbert's Trading House." The 
 dinner was prepared by Jonathan Harris, who at that time was keeping 
 tavern at the trading house. 
 
 * The orator is described by Cyrus Sanders as a tall, spare, raw-boned 
 and hard-featured man, who stood up in a wagon with one foot elevated 
 upon a barrel of Cincinnati whiskey and made a speech far surpassing 
 in eloquence and ability the average productions on similar occasions.
 
 28 loiva City. 
 
 After the celebration "the work of surveying the town 
 was pushed forward energetically. The ground for the 
 capitol square was selected first, the southeast corner 
 being established as the initial starting point. From that 
 point the west line of Clinton street was run north and 
 south, and established as a meridian line. The survey 
 was extended eastwardly and westwardly without ever 
 having an}- definite base line established. The lines 
 were run with an ordinary surveyor's compass, and 
 measured with a pole twenty feet long, made of two 
 strips cut from a board and nailed together. It was 
 graduated to feet and inches by a carpenter's square, 
 and afterwards each end was bound with a hoop of iron; 
 and in measuring, tally pins about one-eighth of an inch 
 in diameter were used, which added about three-six- 
 teenths of an inch to every twenty feet."^ 
 
 The special survey of township seventy-nine, ^ ordered 
 by the commissioner of the General Land Office at 
 Washington, was so far completed before the survey of 
 the town was finished, that the bounds of the town were 
 closed on the government lines as established by the 
 surveyor appointed to survev the said township. At the 
 southeast corner of the section a monument of rough 
 grey limestone was erected as a permanent landmark. 
 It still stands on Summit street, a novel relic of the 
 founding of Iowa City. Covered with the marks of an 
 advertising dry-goods merchant it certainly reflects dis- 
 credit upon the art sense of the present residents of Iowa 
 City, who are content to allow such ruthless defacing of 
 
 1 Cvrus Sanders in a brief sketch of the early history of Johnson 
 County. 
 
 * John Frierson was appointed by the Surveyor General of Iowa and 
 Wisconsin to make this survev.
 
 The Founding of Jozva City. 
 
 29 
 
 historical landmarks. There are two inscriptions on this 
 historic monument. 
 
 The inscription on the 
 
 side facing the west reads : 
 
 IOWA CITY 
 
 The Capital of 
 
 Iowa Territory 
 
 as situated on 
 
 Section N" 10. 
 
 Township 79 N. R. 
 
 6 W of the 5tii Pr M 
 
 located 
 
 May 4th 1S39 
 
 By Mess''s 
 
 Chauncey Swan 
 
 John Ronalds 
 
 and 
 Robert Ralston 
 Comm'"« & Surveyed 
 By Mess's 
 Cox Frierson & Judson 
 under the direction of 
 C. Swan Actg Com 
 " It required over two thousand stakes to be used on 
 the location and something like iifty hewed posts from 
 six inches to one foot square, and from six to nine feet 
 long for the corners of the town plat, the public square, 
 and reservations. For boarding the surveyors and hands 
 employed, I paid at the rate of four dollars per week. 
 The amount paid for surveying, including all the expense 
 of surveyor's hands, teams, setting of posts, and the 
 necessary plats of the city is $1,476.99."^ 
 
 ^ Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter^ 
 page 122. 
 
 The inscription on the 
 side facing the east reads: 
 
 M. VANBUREN 
 
 President of the u. s. 
 
 and 
 
 R. LUCAS 
 
 Gov. of the Territory
 
 30 lozua City. 
 
 The Town Plat. 
 L. Judson's plan of Iowa City as drawn by him in 
 1839, ^"^^ ^^^'^ °^^ ^y ^^^^ surveyors, was appropriate 
 for a capital city. The streets were run directly east 
 and west, and north and south. A square of about 
 twelve acres w^as laid out on the eminence near the west 
 boundary of the town. This square commanded a view 
 of the Iowa River on the west, and nearly the whole 
 of the town on the east. It was designated " Capitol 
 Square," being specially reserved as a site for the public 
 buildings. The block upon which the Chemical Labora- 
 tory of the State University now stands was to be the 
 city " Park." On the extreme eastern boundary of the 
 section an out-lot, west of Governor street and lying 
 between the Avenue and Washington street, was re- 
 served as " Governor's Square." The present College- 
 hill Park was designated on the map as " College 
 Greeji." Three squares, each equal to the ordinary 
 block, were reserved in different parts of the town as 
 markets. " North Market " included the southeast quar- 
 ter of block thirty-five, the southwest quarter of block 
 thirty, the northwest quarter of block twent3--nine and 
 the northeast quarter of block thirty-six. "Center Mar- 
 ket " was the block now occupied by the city Grammar 
 and Hiijfh Schools. " South Market " included the block 
 upon which the B. C. R. «& N. R. R. depot now^ stands. 
 The west half of block sixty was reserved for school 
 purposes. Four reservations were made for churches. 
 These reservations were located as follows: The south 
 half of block fifty-one on Church street between Gilbert 
 and Van Buren streets; the south half of block thirteen 
 on Church street between Dodge and Lucas streets; 
 the south half of block sixty-seven on Jefferson street
 
 The Fotinding of lozua City. 31 
 
 between Dubuque and Linn streets; and the north half 
 of block sixty-six on the A\enue between Dubuque 
 and Linn streets. The ground next to the Iowa River, 
 being reserved for public purposes, was designated as 
 the "Promenade." A narrow strip of ground bordering 
 on the river and lying between Market and Davenport 
 streets was marked "Lumber Yard."^ The south half 
 of block twenty was designated on the plat, " Mineral 
 Springs." It was supposed that valuable mineral springs 
 were located at this point. 
 
 According to the original plat there were twenty- 
 three streets, one avenue and one promenade. The 
 names of the streets running east and west were: (begin- 
 ning on the north) Brown, Ronalds, Church, Fairchild, 
 Davenport, Bloomington, Market, Jefferson, Iowa Ave- 
 nue, Washington, College and Burlington. The names 
 of those running north and south were: (beginning on 
 the east) Governor, Lucas, Dodge, Johnson Van Buren, 
 Gilbert, Linn, Dubuque, Clinton, Capitol, Madison and 
 Front. It will be noticed that in the naming of the 
 streets, there was a predominant tendency to use the 
 names of men of note. 
 
 Iowa Avenue was one hundred and twenty feet wide; 
 Washington, Jefferson, Clinton, Capitol and Madison 
 streets were each one hundred feet, and all others were 
 eighty feet. Alleys were twent}' feet. The national 
 road ran on a line with the Avenue directly w^est across 
 the river. One hundred blocks, seven hundred and 
 sixty-four lots, and thirty-one out-lots are marked on the 
 plat. The blocks as laid off were three hundred and 
 twenty feet square, and the regular lots eighty by one 
 
 1 The Lumber Yard and Promenade were laid out into lots in 1843 
 by the Territorial Agent, John M. Coleman.
 
 32 Iowa City. 
 
 hundred and fifty feet. Beginning with the monument at 
 the southeast corner, there was a row of out-lots laid out 
 along the east boundary of the section. There were 
 also similar rows of out-lots along the north and south 
 boundaries. 
 
 The First Inhabitants. 
 
 When the acting commissioner, Chauncey Swan, re- 
 turned from Dubuque in the latter part of June, 1839, ^^ 
 direct the surveys of Iowa City there seem to have been 
 at least three dwelling houses on the site. These were 
 plain, ordinary claim cabins built of logs. One was 
 located on the site of the present residence of Mrs. Sarah 
 A. Mvers, on Clinton street in block 21, and was occupied 
 by Matthew Teneick and and family. ^ Here the acting 
 commissioner had his headquarters while conducting the 
 surveys. The other two cabins were situated near what 
 afterwards became the corner of Brown and Gilbert 
 streets. These two cabins — one of which was built in 
 February and the other in June — -being only twenty feet 
 apart and united under a common roof, were used as a 
 tavern, the enclosed space between forming a large bar- 
 room. The proprietors were George T. Andrews and 
 Asaph Allen. 
 
 Soon after the location was made in May, Matthew 
 Teneick began to prepare timber for a regular- dwelling 
 house. This house was constructed of "good sized 
 hewed logs," and stood on the corner of Iowa Avenue 
 
 ' This was the first family to make a permanent location in Iowa City. 
 Hannah Teneick was the first white child born in Iowa City. 
 
 * Reyular dwelling house as distinguished from the temporary claim 
 cabin.
 
 The Founding of lozt-a City. 33 
 
 and Dubuque street, or directly across the street south 
 of Close Hall. It was rinished before any of the town 
 lots were offered for sale; but Mr. Teneick had no title 
 to the ground on which it was built. Chauncey Swan, 
 however, promised to use his influence in preventing 
 any outsider from bidding on the lot. Accordingly when 
 the lot was offered at the public sale, Chauncey Swan 
 made a statement of the facts to the crowd, and Mr. 
 Teneick was allowed without opposition to take the lot 
 at the minimum valuation of three hundred dollars.^ 
 
 It is further recorded by Cyrus Sanders that, previous 
 to the first sale of lots, Joseph Coe, who had erected a 
 log house on the northwest corner of Clinton and Jeffer- 
 son streets, and Walter Butler who had erected a frame 
 for a hotel in block 80 on Clinton street (near the pres- 
 ent location of Bloom's clothing house), were both per- 
 mitted to bid in their lots at the minimum price fixed 
 upon them. But Wesley Jones, who had erected a frame 
 for a store^ in block 84 on W^ashington street, and John 
 Willison, who had dug a cellar on the northeast corner 
 of Clinton and Jefferson streets with the expectation of 
 getting their lots at the minimum price were disap- 
 pointed, "as the bidders had come to the conclusion that 
 the claim business, in western parlance, was about played 
 out." 
 
 The most noteworthy building erected before the first 
 sale of lots, was a temporary tavern which stood in block 
 61, near the corner of Linn and Washington streets. It 
 was a small building and bore the appropriate name of 
 
 1 During a visit to Iowa Citj in the autumn of 1S39, Robert Lucas 
 was entertained in this house. After having been occupied as a resi- 
 dence, tavern and boarding house for about twenty years, it took fire 
 and burned down. 
 
 2 This was the fir^t frame building erected in Iowa City.
 
 34 lozua City. 
 
 " Lean-back Hall." Erected hastily of poles, it had a 
 rough board attachment which extended back some fifty 
 or sixty feet for sleeping accommodations. Lean-back 
 Hall was built in a few days, and contained a barroom, 
 kitchen, dining hall and one lodging room. The lodgmg 
 room, it is said, had but one bed; but this bed was large 
 enough to accommodate thirty-six men. "This number 
 reposed in it many a night, and no complaint was ever 
 entered against it."^ 
 
 KoTE. — Early in the month of October occurred the death of Cor- 
 delia, the only daughter of Chauncev Swan. "Little Cordelia" was 
 buried in the old cemetery and her little round tombstone still marks 
 the first grave made in that cemetery. 
 
 The First Sales of Lots. 
 
 At the Fourth of July celebration" it was officially 
 announced that there would be a public sale of lots on 
 the 1 8th of August. The Governor's proclamation of 
 the sale was published in eastern papers. Six hundred 
 and thirty dollars were expended by the acting commis- 
 sioner for eleven hundred lithographic maps of Iowa 
 City. These maps were sold throughout the Territory 
 at the rate of seventy-five cents for the ordinary sheet 
 map and one dollar for the pocket map.-'' 
 
 During the early part of August the arrivals of strang- 
 ers at the seat of government became more numerous; 
 so that bv the morning of the eighteenth it was a con- 
 siderable crowd that gathered about Lean-back Hall. 
 There were present several capitalists from the east, 
 citizens from the eastern part of the Territory, and 
 
 ' Frederick M. Irish in Annals oj /ctiw, January, 1S69. 
 
 * .See chapter II on "The Founding of Iowa City, page 26. 
 
 • One of these pocket maps has been preserved in the State Historical 
 Library.
 
 The Founding of lozva City. 35 
 
 settlers from the neighboring country. At the proper 
 time " Mr. Dougherty, of Dubuque, who was employed 
 as auctioneer, mounted a wagon and announced the terms 
 of the sale.^ The wagon then moved off, and the crowd 
 followed on to a lot near ivhere the North Presbyterian 
 Church now stands, which was the first lot offered for 
 sale, and was knocked off to John Trout, an employe of 
 the American Fur Company, for $100. They then 
 moved on to the next lot offered, and so continued 
 during the day, moving from lot to lot as sold, with 
 occasional intermissions for refreshments at Lean-back 
 Hall.2 
 
 This first public sale of lots continued for three days, 
 during which time one hundred lots were sold, amount- 
 ing to $17,292.75. Of the one hundred lots thus sold, 
 six were forfeited, which leaves the amount for which 
 certificates were actually given, $16,571.75. The lots 
 previously selected to be offered at this sale were the 
 alternate lots in the blocks in the vicinity of Capitol 
 Square. The average price paid for these lots was 
 about $176.30; the lowest price paid was $25.00; and 
 the highest price was $750.00. 
 
 At the second public sale of lots which was held on 
 the loth, nth and 12th of October, one hundred and six 
 lots were sold. This number includes the six lots that 
 
 1 The purchaser was required to pay one-fourth down cash; the le- 
 mainder in six, twelve and eighteen months; notes were required in 
 every case, payable to the acting commissioner or his successor in otfice 
 at Iowa City. 
 
 * From an unfinished history of Johnson County by Messrs. Felkner 
 & Sanders. According to an abstract in the House Jour., la. Ter., 4th 
 Leg. Ass'y, page 40, no sales were made on the iSth of August. But 
 the information in the paragraph as given above is based on the state- 
 ment of an eye witness and is perhaps correct, the abstract to the con- 
 trary notwithstanding.
 
 36 Iowa City. 
 
 had been forfeited ^ after the first sale, also three out- 
 lots. Up to the 1st of November certificates^ had been 
 given for only eighty-four lots and three out-lots, amount- 
 ing to the sum of $10,168.00. The average price paid 
 at this sale was $115.72; the lowest price was $20.00; 
 and the highest price w^as $606.00. 
 
 By the ist of January-, 1840, lots had been sold to the 
 amount of $34,397- 7 5- But only $14,648.53 of this 
 amount had been paid down; for there remained in the 
 office of the acting commissioner notes to the amount 
 of $19,749.22. 
 
 From the autumn of 1839, dates the existence of Iowa 
 City as a distinct social entity. Men who bought lots 
 at the public sales remained to fit them up for homes. 
 A considerable number of dwellings were now put in 
 process of erection. Some were simply log cabins; 
 others were frame houses sided and roofed with clap- 
 boards hewed from the trunks of native trees. Occa- 
 sionally sawed lumber was obtained from Felkner's and 
 Meyer's mill on Rapid Creek. The little pine lumber 
 that was used came by way of the Ohio and Mississippi 
 rivers to Bloomington (now Muscatine), from which 
 place it was hauled overland to Iowa City. 
 
 1 On neglect or refusal to pay either installment the lot or lots became 
 forfeited to the Territory and the purchaser lost all that he had paid. 
 
 * Certificates of purchase were given to purchasers in all cases, giving 
 the number of the block, the number of the lot, and pledging the faith 
 of the Territory' for the execution of a deed in fee simple, so soon as the 
 title shall be procured by the Territory from the General Government.
 
 III. 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF MUNICIPAL LIFE. 
 Growth axd Development. 
 
 The years 1S40, 1S41 and 1842 stand out preeminently 
 as the most eventful period in the history of Iowa City. 
 It was the spring-time, when the municipal germ planted 
 in 1839 shot up, as it were, in a single night, unfolding 
 and developing the organs of social and municipal life. 
 It was the period of youthful vigor, of expansion — seem- 
 ingly without hmit. Back to these years are traced the 
 beginnings of industr}', education, courts, politics,^and 
 rehgion. And withal this was the period of enthusiasm, 
 the time when men hoped most and planned most. 
 
 Fortunately the winter of 'thirty-nine and 'forty was a 
 mild one, without storms. Around Capitol Square many 
 buildings stood partially or wholly uncovered; others 
 were in the first stages of erection. Day after day could 
 be heard the ring of the ax and the crashing sound of 
 falUng trees. Men warmed themselves about brush-heap 
 fires, and talked and rejoiced over the prospects of the 
 future. 
 
 The one hundred inhabitants who were on the town 
 site at the opening of the year 1S40, witnessed, as the 
 year advanced, their number double, treble, then double 
 again. In the course of six months Iowa City had 
 become the most popular point in Iowa. The name of 
 the frontier capital was carried across the Mississippi
 
 38 lozva City. 
 
 into Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and beyond the Alleghanies. 
 
 The growth of the town at this time was certainly a 
 marvel. Its rapid increase and development were extra- 
 ordinar}', and up to that time are said to have been 
 unparalleled in all the west. 
 
 John B. Newhall in his " Sketches of Iowa," published 
 in 1S41, says:^ "The unprecedented growth of Iowa 
 City from a wilderness frontier, beyond the pale of civili- 
 zation, is indeed a wonder in the growth of towns. * * 
 I have heard of cities springing into existence as if by 
 magic, but in no case have I ever known the application 
 to be so just as when applied to this young capital of 
 Iowa. * * Up to the present time, being about four- 
 teen months from the commencement of Iowa City, it 
 contains a population of about 700 inhabitants, a spacious 
 city hotel, three or four brick buildings and several 
 others in progress, ten dry-goods, grocery and provision 
 stores, one drug store, one saddlery, two blacksmiths, 
 one gunsmith, three or four coffee houses, four lawyers, 
 three physicians, one church, and one primary school — 
 in short, presenting all the appearance, bustle and activity 
 of a city of years, rather than a prodigy of months. 
 Should the skeptical feel inclined to question the accur- 
 acy of this statement, I can assure them it has been the 
 result of personal inspection. I counted, even in the 
 middle of last May, the rising of one hundred buildings, 
 and saw and heard the busy workmen engaged on half 
 as many more. At that time, conversing with a gentle- 
 man from Pennsylvania, who came to the 'city' the week 
 preceding and had a frame house covered and his goods 
 in it, he said to me, 'Five days ago my house was in the 
 woods, growing.' " 
 
 '" Sketches of Iowa," by Jolin B. Ncwhiill, of Burlington, page 125.
 
 The Beginnings of ]\funicipal Life. 39 
 
 An Old Fashioned Economy. 
 
 It has become a familiar remark that the decades since 
 the war are more unlike the decades preceding- the war 
 than those years are unlike the time of Elizabeth or the 
 First George. The progress of the domestic freedom 
 of trade since the close of the eighteenth century is not 
 the less remarkable because it has been unobserved. 
 The growth of faith in freedom, nourished by the mystic 
 philosophy that spun itself about the theory of the social 
 compact, and the introduction of rapid steam transporta- 
 tion and communication by telegraph, broke down for- 
 ever the old system of restrictions that once hung upon 
 every avenue of business life. Vestiges of the old system 
 are found in the early history of Iowa City in the licenses 
 which were then regarded necessary for the lawful pur- 
 suit of ordinary trades. 
 
 On the 7th of October, Edward Foster was granted a 
 license to sell goods in Iowa City for one year at the 
 rate of twenty dollars per annum. Mr. Foster's store 
 was kept in a log cabin just north of Capitol Square. 
 On the day after Mr. Foster w^as granted a license to 
 sell goods, Asaph Allen and Walter Butler obtained 
 licenses to "keep tavern "^ for one year at the rate of 
 
 1 The following extract froin a statute law of Michigan that was 
 extended over the Territory of Wisconsin (Iowa was then a part of the 
 Territory of Wisconsin) by the act of Congress organizing said Terri- 
 tory, is characteristic of the regulations at that time: 
 
 "Every tavern keeper shall, at all times be furnished with suitable 
 provisions and accommodations for travellers, and shall keep in his 
 house at least two spare beds for guests, with good and sufficient ?Tieet- 
 ing and covering for such beds respectively, and provide and keep good 
 and sufficient stabling and provender of hay in winter, and hay and 
 pasturage in summer, and grain for four horses or other cattle, for the 
 accommodation of travellers. * * * * Every tavern keeper shall, 
 within thirty days after obtaining his license, put up a proper sign, on
 
 40 Io-u.>a City. 
 
 thirty dollars. Mr. Allen had, for at least three months 
 previous to this time, been conducting a tavern;^ but Mr. 
 Butler opened his tavern about the time the license was 
 issued. Butler's tavern, which was kept in a frame 
 building erected especiallv for the purpose, was for 
 several years the principal public place in Iowa City. 
 
 Robert McKee & Co. took out a license to keep a 
 store for one year at the rate of eighteen dollars. Their 
 store was located in a small log house which stood near 
 the northwest corner of Clinton and Burlinfjton streets 
 (near where the Baptist church now stands). It is also 
 recorded that about the middle of November Charles 
 Drury took out a license to keep a general store at the 
 same rate. 
 
 The first grocery was in a cabin on the east side of 
 Dubuque street between College and Burlington streets, 
 and was known as the "Buck Grocery." Above the 
 door a pair of deer horns naivelv served as a sign — the 
 proprietor's name was Henry Buck, That Mr. Buck's 
 store was a grocery is certain. For, according to the 
 3rd section of "Ax Act regulating Grocery License," 
 passed by the Legislative Assemblv of the Territory of 
 Iowa,- "a grocery shall be deemed to include any house 
 or place where spirituous or vinous liquors are retailed 
 by less quantities than one gallon," and it is known that 
 spirituous liquors were thus sold at the "Buck Grocery." 
 
 Mail Facilities. 
 
 The mail facilities, which up to this time had been 
 meager and uncertain, were now made more adequate 
 
 or adjacent to the front of his house, with his name thereon, and keep 
 lip such sign during the time he shall keep a tavern." 
 
 ' See Cliapter II on the "The Founding of Iowa City," page 32. 
 
 * Stat. Laws la. Ter., Sess. 1S39-40 of Leg. Ass'v, page 27.
 
 The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 41 
 
 by the establishment of regular mail routes to the more 
 important points in the Territory.^ The Napoleon post- 
 office, which had been established in March, 1839, was 
 removed to Iowa City by Samuel H. McCrory and 
 located in the store of Charles S. Foster, just north 
 of Capitol Square, sometime during the same year. 
 Chauncey Swan, who succeeded Mr. McCrory as post- 
 master, on the 14th of November, 1839, changed the 
 name of the post-otKce from "Napoleon" to "Iowa City." 
 Mr. Swan was succeeded in office by James M. Hawkins, 
 September 2nd, 1841. On the 3rd of August, 1842, 
 Samuel C. Trowbridge was appointed postmaster, which 
 position he held for seven 3-ears. 
 
 Public Roads. 
 
 Along- with the increase in mail facilities there was a 
 development of public means of travel. While the first 
 emigrants of 'thirty-nine were compelled to follow rivers, 
 streams and Indian paths, those who came later in the 
 3'ear were guided by the crooked wheel-tracks of ox 
 wagons. In 1840 and 1841, regular public roads were 
 laid out. 
 
 All the principal highways at that time were estab- 
 lished by acts of the Legislative Assembly and were 
 known as "territorial roads." ^ In 1841, four of these 
 principal highways connected Iowa City with the outside 
 
 t F. M. Irish relates that the Iowa City mail was brought up from 
 Bloomington (Muscatine) by any of the citizens having business there; 
 and that he (Mr. Irish) had often brought out the mail in the crown of 
 his hat or tied up in a pocket handkerchief. — See Annals of lovja, April, 
 1868; page 109. 
 
 2 The "territorial road," with perhaps the exception of important 
 bridges, was improved at the expense of the inhabitants of the county 
 or township through which it passed.
 
 42 lozva City. 
 
 world, namely: One running from Iowa City through 
 Muscatine County to Bloomington (Muscatine); one 
 running from Iowa City through Louisa and Des Moines 
 Counties to Burlington; one running from Iowa Cit}^ 
 through Cedar, Clinton, Jackson and Dubuque Counties 
 to Dubuque; and one running from Iowa City south to 
 Mt. Pleasant in Henry County. Indeed, Iowa .City was 
 at that time the converging point of all the important 
 territorial roads. 
 
 One of the most popular roads in the Territor}^ was a 
 "military road" established by Congress between Iowa 
 City and Dubuque. Twenty thousand dollars was appro- 
 priated by Congress for the improvement of this road. ^ 
 
 But previous to the establishment of either territorial 
 or military roads there existed between Iowa City and 
 Dubuque a public highway that was characteristically 
 pioneer. Strangers in crossing the prairie found it diffi- 
 cult to keep the direct course and often wandered far 
 out of their way. This was especially true of travelers 
 between Iowa City and Dubuque. The citizens of Iowa 
 City desiring to remedy this difficulty employed one, 
 Lyman Dillon, to plow a furrow between the two towns 
 in as direct a line as practicable. Early one morning 
 Mr. Dillon, accompanied bv a driver, started from Iowa 
 City with a large breaking plow drawn by five yoke of 
 oxen. When he reached Dubuque he had made a fur- 
 row one hundred miles long. "Dillon's furrow" was an 
 efficient guide to the traveler, and soon a well beaten 
 road was made by its side. 
 
 Ferries. 
 The settlers west of the Iowa River reached the town 
 
 ' The Langworthy Bros., of Uiibuque, had the contract to lay out tlie 
 greater part of thib military road.
 
 The Bcginninos of Municipal Life. 43 
 
 by crossing the river in canoes and on what may be 
 termed "flatboat ferries." Benjamin Miller started the 
 first regular fen-y across the Iowa River in the winter 
 of 1838-39. This ferry which crossed in the vicinity 
 of the present location of the B., (J. R. &: N. R. R. 
 bridge was subsequently managed by F. x\. A. Cobbs. 
 On the 6th of March, 1840, Messrs. Sturgis and 
 Douglass were granted a license to keep a ferry across 
 the Iowa River; and on the same day Andrew D. 
 Stephen was granted a license to keep a ferry at the 
 point where the "National Road"^ crossed the river. 
 But Mr. Stephen having neglected to establish a ferry 
 m due time, his license was revoked on the 13th of 
 October, 1840, and a new license granted to John D. 
 Able. 2 Mr. Able established his ferrj' where the upper 
 wagon bridge now crosses the river; and this was the 
 first regular ferry to cross the Iowa River at Iowa City.^ 
 On the nth of September, 1841, Mr. Able transferred, 
 along with a claim on the west bank of the river, the 
 "ferry, Boat. Rope Canoe, & so forth belonging to and 
 heretofore used at said ferry "^ to Pleasant Arthur. 
 About a month after the transfer Mr. Arthur had the 
 license renewed.-^ 
 
 1 According to a map of Iowa City published in 1839, the " National 
 Road" crossed the Iowa River on a line with Iowa Avenue. 
 
 2 The license fee in both cases was $15.00. 
 
 ' The toll rates established by the county were as follows: 
 
 Footman 6^ cts. = " fip" = " fippenny-bit" = " picayune." 
 
 Man and horse . . . 12^ " =" bit" = " levy " = "'levenpence." 
 
 One horse and wagon (or carriage) 25 cts. 
 
 Two horses, or oxen, and wagon 37/^ " 
 
 Each additional horse or yoke of oxen 6^ " 
 
 Each head of neat cattle in droves (>%. " 
 
 Sheep and hogs per head 3 'i 
 
 * From original MS. records of the Claim Association of Johnson 
 County. 
 
 5 Mr. Arthur's license fee was $25.00.
 
 ^.jj. ■ Tozua City. 
 
 Commerce. 
 
 In the early years of Iowa City, water courses were 
 still the great channels of tratfic. But, as has already 
 been observed, the location of Iowa City commanded 
 no commercial point of advantage. The traffic of Iowa 
 Citv, therefore, was mostly overland; and before rail- 
 roads had become the common carrier, this was slow 
 and expensive transportation. Articles of produce and 
 merchandise were hauled overland in ox-wagons to and 
 from the Mississippi river. 
 
 Drv-goods and the like were purchased in New York, 
 Boston and other eastern cities and shipped by way of 
 the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, or by way of the Gulf 
 of Mexico and the Mississippi, to Bloomington (Musca- 
 tine), BurHngton and Dubuque. Groceries were pur- 
 chased almost exclusively in St. Louis; for at that time 
 St. Louis was to the West what Chicago is to the North- 
 west to-day. 
 
 Produce, which consisted mostly of corn, wheat, pork 
 and lard, was sent in part to the Mississippi towns for 
 exportation. But in the transportation of produce the 
 Iowa River — a considerable body of water, especially 
 in the spring months — was utilized to a great extent. 
 Loaded on flatboats or keel -boats, corn, wheat and 
 pork were floated down the Iowa River to the Missis- 
 sippi, and thence on the same boats to St. Louis, where 
 both the produce and the boats were disposed of. 
 
 Moreover, the inliabitants of Iowa City believed that 
 the Iowa River could be made a navigable water course 
 and that Mississippi steamers would some day carry on 
 a direct commerce with the town. This belief was 
 greatly strengthened by an e\ent which occurred on the 
 20th of June, 1840.
 
 The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 45 
 
 On the evening of that day, which was Sunday, the 
 inhabitants were startled by the puffing of a steamboat. 
 In a few minutes the entire population of the town 
 turned out and rushed down to the ferry landing to wel- 
 come with hearty cheers the arrival of what proved to 
 be the steamboat "Ripple." The next morning the 
 citizens held a mass meeting at the city hotel. At this 
 meeting resolutions were passed providing for a grand 
 public dinner to be held in commemoration of the event 
 and appointing committees to investigate the matter of 
 improving the Iowa River and making it navigable. 
 
 The editor of the lozva City Standard declared that 
 "The comparatively low^ stage of water will effectually 
 silence any sneers that may be thrown out concerning 
 high water navigation, etc., and we now have the fact 
 proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the Iowa 
 River is navigable beyond this place for seven months 
 in the year. This arrival has effectually changed the 
 relation in which we formerly stood to the other towns 
 in this Territory. We are now no longer dependent 
 upon the towns on the Mississippi for our imports ^ — nor 
 are we subjected to the labor and expense of drawing 
 across the country all articles brought from abroad. We 
 have now^ a situation in many respects superior to any in 
 the Territory."^ 
 
 In a speech at the public dinner Major John B. New- 
 hall said: "From this day forward the practicability of 
 navigating the Iowa River remains no longer the sub- 
 ject of conjecture. From this day henceforth, a new era 
 will commence in the destinies of your city. The most 
 skeptical must believe; for here is the evidence before 
 you — yes, gentlemen, ere another month shall elapse 
 
 1 /oti'rt City Standard, Vol. I, No. 31.
 
 46 lozva City. 
 
 the performance of the gallant little "Ripple" shall be 
 emblazoned to the world in letters of living lifjht."^ 
 
 But all this was gross exaggeration, and the hope in 
 the navigability of the Iowa River never was realized. ^ 
 In 1847 and 1848, the General Assembly considered the 
 question of slack-water navigation on the Iowa River 
 and addressed a memorial to Congress on the subject; 
 but before any effectual movement could be inaugurated 
 railroads had robbed the water of its former superiority 
 as a means of internal commerce. 
 
 Mining. 
 
 A discovery of what was supposed to be lead ore in 
 the month of April, 1842, created considerable excite- 
 ment in Iowa City at the time. The discovery was 
 made by Jesse McCart, who it is said, " found, nine miles 
 above the city, on the banks of the Iowa River, a load 
 of lead by digging fourteen feet below the surface." 
 
 Of this discovery the editor of the Iowa City Standard 
 says: "Nothing better could have happened to make this 
 section of the countr}- and especially Iowa City, a perfect 
 Eldorado, than the discover}- which has been made in 
 Johnson County. It has, ever since the settlement of this 
 county, been believed, that it abounded with immense 
 mineral of various kinds. Several townships of 'land 
 west of Iowa City, we are told, were returned to the 
 General Land Ofhce as mineral lands. This must form 
 a new era in the historv and existence of Iowa City."^ 
 
 ' loiva City Standard, \'ol. I, No. 31. 
 
 ^ \w 1842 the steamer "Rock River" arrived at Iowa City; and in 
 1844 the steamer " Emma" got as far as tiie capital. But tliese arrivals 
 were of little consequence. 
 
 ' lov.a City Statidard, Vol. II, No. 19.
 
 The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 47 
 
 Mining, however, as in the case of the first steamboat 
 arrival, was simply an exciting incident instead of an 
 epoch-making event. 
 
 The Common Industries. 
 
 The ordinary trades, such as those of the carpenter, 
 the smith and the mason, were introduced and flourished 
 during the first year of the town's existence. At one 
 time there was a turning-lathe on Ralston Creek. For 
 a number of years Mr. Gaymon managed a chair factory. 
 John A. Copenhafer also established a chair factory. 
 This latter factory was located on Ralston Creek, oppo- 
 site the present site of the oil mill. Here marble-headed 
 canes were manufactured, the marble used being none 
 other than the bird's-eye marble from the Iowa City 
 quarries. 
 
 The making of brick was also begun at an earl}' day. 
 In this occupation Sylvanus Johnson was the pioneer. 
 He operated a brick-yard in the year 1840, and on the 
 15th day of April of that year moulded with his own 
 hands the first brick ever made in Johnson County. 
 From his kiln Mr. Bostwick obtained the material for 
 the first brick building erected in Iowa City. The walls 
 of this building were laid in 1840 by George T. Andrews. 
 
 The transportation of produce down the Iowa River 
 on flatboats created a lively business in building of boats. 
 
 The Iowa City Manufacturing Company. 
 
 The distinguishing characteristic of Iowa City was 
 political, and not industrial. The industrial organiza- 
 tions of the town were, therefore, ordinary and com- 
 monplace. Yet to this general rule there was one 
 noteworthy exception — the "Iowa City Manufacturing 
 Company."
 
 48 Iowa City. 
 
 It was on the evening of the 13th day of April, 1843, 
 that a few citizens assembled at the office of the terri- 
 torial agent, John M. Coleman, for the purpose of taking 
 steps in reference to a burying ground that had been 
 donated by the Territor\\ The business for which they 
 were called together was duly arranged, and the meeting 
 adjourned. But immediateh^ after the adjournment was 
 announced, Mr. Coleman arose and requested the citizens 
 to remain, saying that he desired to make a suggestion. 
 The citizens again took their seats. Mr. Coleman then 
 brought forward his suggestion, which was to the 
 effect that the citizens of Iowa City make an effort 
 to utilize the watc?' power of the Iowa River. The sug- 
 gestion was favorably entertained by those present, and 
 it was resolved to hold a meeting at the " American 
 Hotel " for a more thorough consideration of the matter, 
 within a few days. Mr. Coleman's proposition now met 
 with enthusiastic support on every hand. The result 
 was that on the 17th the "Iowa City Manufacturing 
 Company " was organized and articles of association 
 adopted. 1 
 
 Chauncey Swan was elected President of the com- 
 pany. Other men who prominently interested them- 
 selves in this new enterprise were: A. E. McArthur, 
 Silas Foster, M. M. Montgomery, Thomas Sni'der and 
 David Switzer. 
 
 The manai^ement havmg been vested in a board of 
 directors, it was resolved to commence operations just 
 as soon as capital stock to the amount of $5,000 had 
 been taken. This amount was soon subscribed, and the 
 erection of a dam was begun on the iSth of June, under 
 the direction of A. B. Newcomb. By the middle of 
 
 ' lo-Md Capital Rrforlcr, Vol. II, No. 20.
 
 The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 49 
 
 August the capital stock had swelled to $10,000, and at 
 the dam thirty hands were employed in hewing and 
 digging.^ During the fall months the work was pushed 
 forward with wonderful vigor. At the same time a grist- 
 mill was in the process of erection. By the ist day of 
 January, 1S44, the dam and mill were so far completed 
 that the officers and workmen, who surrounded the table 
 at a rudimentary boarding house near b}-, were served 
 with "corn dodgers" and mush made of meal ground 
 that day by the water power of the Iowa River. 
 
 The location of the mill and dam was about two miles 
 northwest of Iowa City at a point now known as Coral- 
 ville. This site was donated to the company by Walter 
 Butler, with, however, the reservation by him of the right 
 of erectincT a mill on the west bank of the river and of 
 using water from the company's mill sufficient to run a 
 saw mill with one saw. The Iowa River throughout its 
 entire course afforded no better site; here the bed of 
 the river was of solid rock with a beautiful fall below. 
 
 The dam when completed was perhaps the finest 
 structure of its kind west of the Mississippi River. It 
 was ten feet high, and with an ordinary stage of water 
 contributed hydraulic force equal to seven hundred and 
 eighty horse power. 
 
 Yet after all, it was not the erection of a great dam 
 and the building of a gristmill, that gives the Iowa City 
 Manufacturing Compan}^ a truly great significance in the 
 history of Iowa Cit}-. This significance is found in the 
 company's industrial system. As the Claim Association 
 of Johnson Count}- was operated on modern socialistic 
 principles, so the Iowa City Manufacturing Company 
 founded an industry on the principles of the modern 
 cooperative labor system. Many of the stockholders 
 
 1 loTxa City Standard, Vol. Ill, No. 32.
 
 50 lozva City. 
 
 instead of paying for their shares in money — which to be 
 sure they did not have — paid for them in the labor of 
 their own hands; while some few, merchants, paid for 
 their shares in goods and provisions. A rare spectacle it 
 must have been to see the stockholders with their own 
 picks, spades and axes, digging, shoveling and hewing, 
 and wading deep in the Iowa River; while merchants, 
 who had taken shares, contributed groceries and provis- 
 ions for their support. So thoroughly was the system 
 carried out that upon the completion of the dam, it is 
 said, the books of the company showed a total expense 
 of but tzvcnty-jivc dollars in money. ^ 
 
 On the 5th of November, 1845, the mill and dam 
 passed from the control of the Iowa City Manufacturing 
 Companv into the hands of Newcomb »& Harris. But 
 the immense power afforded by the dam was never 
 efficiently utilized until after 184S, when the improve- 
 ments were purchased by Ezekiel Clark. By the year 
 1850, Mr. Clark had put in a large and well equipped 
 plant. The flouring mill was then "dri^•en day and night, 
 and furnished the greater portion of the flour for the 
 inhabitants of the northwestern part of our State. It was 
 no unusual sight to see tifty and sixty wagons ranged at 
 this mill at one time, some of them from as far north as 
 Woodbury County, and from all the intermediate settle- 
 ments and from southern Minnesota."- 
 
 Note. — Besides the mills at Coralville, there is anotlier historic Iowa 
 City mill. It is located about a half inile north of town, and is known 
 as "Terrill's Mill." The dam for this mill was erected in the autumn 
 of 'forty-three by Walter Terrill; the mill itself was built during the 
 following year. 
 
 ' Annah of lozva, April, 1869, page 193. 
 
 '^ In 1855 Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood bought an interest in these mills. 
 And it was from this industry that he was afterwards called to become 
 Iowa's greatest Governor and most honored citizen.
 
 The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 5 '^ 
 
 Local Politics. 
 
 In early times Iowa City was an enthusiastic Whig 
 town. Every one was interested in politics, for the 
 "machine" and "ring" were then unknown. Men, 
 however, did not seem to be so broad in their political 
 views as they were later on. This narrowness was 
 strikingly reflected in the editorials of the press, which 
 were often insultinrj and scurrilous. 
 
 Being a Whig town the victory of William Henry Har- 
 rison was commemorated by an "Illumination." "The 
 hearts of the people," it is said, "\'<'ere given over to 
 utter joyousness. Almost every habitation was resplend- 
 ent with light. The square, the park, the avenue, indeed 
 the whole city was one grand mass of embodied light 
 from nine o'clock until about midnight. Men became 
 boys and played their antics over again. Every move- 
 able thine: became a sleif^h and everv locomotive was 
 put in requisition to give them impetus. The United 
 States flag with her stars and stripes added beauty to 
 the scene." ^ 
 
 Iowa City remained a stronghold of the Whigs until 
 1845, when in August the Democrats carried an election 
 by a small majority. 
 
 The County Seat. 
 
 The importance of the average American town is 
 generally determined by its official relation to the state 
 and county in which it is located. In these relations, 
 Iowa City w^as doubly favored. As capital it w^as the 
 first town in Iowa; and as seat of justice it became the 
 center of Johnson County. 
 
 1 lozva Standard, Vol. I, No. lO.
 
 52 loiva City. 
 
 Created by an act of the Legislative Assembly of 
 Wisconsin, passed at the winter session of 1837-38, held 
 at Burlington, Johnson County was temporarily attached 
 to Cedar County. But the few inhabitants soon peti- 
 tioned for a separate organization. There being at that 
 time two rival communities in the county, the "Harris 
 Community " and the " Gilbert Community," the former 
 desired the location of the seat of justice to be made at 
 the -proposed town Osceola, while the latter maintained 
 the superior importance of the proposed town Napoleon. 
 The question was finally settled b\' an act of the Wis- 
 consin Assembly, approved June 22nd, 1S38. This act 
 provided for the separate organization of the County 
 of Johnson with the seat of justice at Napoleon. Situ- 
 ated on the left bank of the Iowa River about one and 
 a half miles below Iowa City, the town of Napoleon 
 never consisted of more than two houses. Yet in that 
 place Johnson Countv had its official beginnings. There 
 the District Court of the United States sat to hear a case 
 of frontier horse-stealinif- 
 
 On the 7th of October the court of county commis- 
 sioners assembled at Napoleon for the last time; for that 
 day the court " adjourned to meet to-morrow morning 
 at eight o'clock at the house of F. M. Irish in Iowa 
 City." Pursuant to adjournment, the court met with 
 Henry Felkner, Robert Walker and Philip Clark pres- 
 ent. From this time on it is very probable that Iowa 
 City was in reality the ofHcial town of the countv: for, 
 having been created the capital of Iowa Territory in the 
 preceding month of May, it was now the universal 
 opinion that the county seat should be near the seat of 
 government. In December, 1839, ^^^*^ re-location of the
 
 The Beginnings of Mtmicipal Life. 53 
 
 seat of justice of Johnson County was authorized by the 
 Legislative Assembly.^ 
 
 Having met on the 27th day of January, the commis- 
 sioners, upon the motion of Henry Felkner, repaired 
 to view the several quarter-sections of land adjoining 
 the seat of government. After due examination they 
 decided upon the northwest quarter of section fifteen 
 for the future seat of justice. Philip Clark was then 
 authorized by the commissioners to repair to Dubuque 
 and enter the quarter-section for county purposes. Fur- 
 thermore, it was "Ordered that a memorial be forwarded 
 to Congress, directed to the care of W. \V. Chapman, 
 requesting Congress to pass a law authorizing the afore- 
 said board to locate upon the aforesaid quarter-section 
 of land for county purposes." In compliance with this 
 request. Congress in an act approved August ist, 1842, 
 granted the right of preemption at the minimum price 
 for the fractional northwest quarter, east of the river, of 
 section fifteen, containing one hundred and seventeen 
 acres and sixty-four one hundredths of an acre, more or 
 less, on the terms and conditions of an act passed May 
 26th, 1824, relating to county seats. In the meantime 
 the commissioners had made satisfactory arrangements 
 with Andrew D. Stephen the claimant of the land. (See 
 Chapter I on "Early Land Claims.") 
 
 On the 9th of November, 1841, the board ordered the 
 new county seat to be laid out as follows: "Twenty-four 
 blocks to be surveyed off the north side at present, each 
 block to be three hundred and twenty feet square, includ- 
 ing alleys, the north and south streets to correspond with 
 the streets which run north and south in Iowa City; and 
 the streets runninir east and west to be eight v feet wide, 
 
 ^ Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Sess. 1S39-40 of Leg. AssV, page 25.
 
 54 Iowa City. 
 
 each block to be divided into eight lots, and alleys to be 
 twenty feet wide." The first sale of lots was held on 
 the 24th and 25th of May, 1841; lots were sold to the 
 amount of $2,903.50. With this considerable sum it was 
 resolved to begin the erection of necessary county build- 
 ings — jail and courthouse. 
 
 Experience led the county to erect the jail first. Jesse 
 Berry and James Herron drafted the plans, according to 
 which a small brick building was erected by James 
 Trimble on the corner of Clinton and Prentiss streets. 
 But this building, though better than an ordinary frame 
 house, was not always efficient for jail purposes; in 
 August, 1843, two prisoners broke through its walls 
 and escaped. Again in 1852 another criminal broke jail 
 and fled. In 1864, the "old jail" was sold to C. H. 
 Berryhill for the sum of sixty dollars. 
 
 On the 8th of April, 1S42, F. H. Lee, the agent for 
 the County of Johnson, was instructed and authorized to 
 receive proposals for the erection of a temporary court- 
 house. The building was to be twenty-eight by fifty- 
 six feet, two stories high, and constructed of brick. And 
 during the next few years such a courthouse was erected 
 on block 8, lot 8, in the county seat. Previous to the 
 completion of these two county buildings the county had 
 rented different rooms and buildinj^fs in Iowa Citv for 
 court and jail purposes. 
 
 Early Justice. 
 
 The first District Court in Iowa City (the second one 
 in the county) met on the 9th, loth and nth of Sep- 
 tember, 1839. The cases brought before the court at 
 this session were for the most part cases relating to the 
 the violation of the law regulating the sale of liquors to
 
 The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 55 
 
 Indians, i At this session the following men were im- 
 panelled and sworn in as grand jurors: 
 
 Andrew D. Stephen. Alonzo C. Dennison. 
 
 I. P. Hamilton, Isaac Bowen. 
 
 Wm. Sturgis. Henry Felkner. 
 
 John Hawkins. S. B. Mulholland. 
 
 Fred. Dysinger. Wm. Kelso. 
 
 Abner Wolcott. Jesse McCart. 
 
 Ebenezer Douglass. Wm. M. Harris. 
 
 Robert Walker. Sam'l H. McCrory. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that in frontier set- 
 tlements law and justice were not administered by the 
 courts alone. Criminals were not unfrequently punished 
 other than by "due process of law." Cases involving 
 real estate difficulties were generally settled by the 
 "claim court." (See chapter I on "Early Land Claims.") 
 While other offenses against the community or individ- 
 uals of the community were often dealt with by the 
 "vigilance committee" or the "mob." 
 
 And in the frontier settlements of the West the people 
 were justified in taking the law into their own hands; 
 for in the absence of courts and local government the 
 vigilance committee was often absolutely necessary to 
 the proper administration of justice. 
 
 To this pioneer method of administering justice, Iowa 
 City was no exception. In one instance a prisoner was 
 taken from the officers and whipped and choked till he 
 confessed his crime; in another, the obnoxious citizen 
 was drowned in the Iowa River. ^ In July, 1844, the 
 
 1 For the law regulating the sale of liquors to the Indians see Stat. 
 Laws, La. Ter., ist Sess. of Leg. Ass'y, page 274. 
 
 * I refer to the drowning of Boyd Wilkinson in the Iowa River 
 in 185S.
 
 56 
 
 lozva City. 
 
 "vigilance committee" as chosen in Iowa City consisted 
 of the following persons r^ 
 
 Wm, B. Snyder. 
 H. Downer. 
 E. T. Lock. 
 A. J. Lucas. 
 Ed. Eatman. 
 Chas. Cartwright. 
 Thos. Cahill. 
 John Parrott. 
 I. N. Sanders. 
 Jas. Robinson. 
 
 Wm. McCormick. 
 G. T. Andrews. 
 S. Williams. 
 L. D. Gobin. 
 N. A. White. 
 G. W. Hawkins. 
 D. Calhoun. 
 John Matthews. 
 A. Jones. 
 Wm. Sheladay. 
 
 ^ See lozva Standard, Vol. IV, No. 29.
 
 IV. 
 THE TERRITORIAL CAPITAL. 
 
 Coming of the Assembly. 
 
 Iowa City did not become the capital of Iowa /;/ fact 
 until the 6th day of December, 1S41. In the meantime 
 Burlington remained the temporary seat of government. 
 It was explicitly stated in the founding act of Iowa City, ^ 
 that the Legislative Assembly should meet at Burlington 
 for three }'ears, until by proclamation of the Governor 
 the Public Buildings at Iowa City were declared ready 
 for its reception. But at the end of two years it had 
 already become quite evident that the Capitol would not 
 be in condition to receive the Legislative Assembly at 
 the time contemplated in the above mentioned act. In 
 view of this fact, an act passed in January, 1841, fixing 
 the time for the meetincr of the next Leijislative Assem- 
 bly as the first Monday in December, 1841, contained 
 the special provision that if the Public Buildings at Iowa 
 City were not in condition to receive the Legislative 
 Assembly at that time the Assembly zvould still meet in 
 Iowa Cifv in case other and sufficient buildings shall be 
 /u7-nished, rent free. The citizens of Iowa City were 
 not slow in informing the Assembly that "other and 
 sufficient buildings" would be provided for their accom- 
 modation. 
 
 The whole town was now tilled with enthusiasm. 
 
 1 See Chapter III on "The Founding of Iowa City," page iS.
 
 58 Jozva City. 
 
 That one thing for which many of the inhabitants had 
 crossed the prairie and endured the privations of pioneer 
 life was about to be located in their midst. During the 
 summer, Walter Butler — the most public-spirited of all 
 his townsmen — erected a building for the accommodation 
 of the coming Legislative Assembly. ^ 
 
 Butler's Capitol was a two-story frame structure, and 
 was located on Washington street in block 80, just east 
 of what is now Whetstone's drug store. Its dimensions 
 were sixt}^ by thirty feet. 
 
 And in this plain unattractive building the Legislative 
 Assembly of Iowa first met in low^a City on the 6th day 
 of December, 1841. It w^as a cold day, made disagree- 
 able by wand and rain and sleet. The Council, with nine 
 members present, met in the second story and was called 
 to order by the secretary, B. F. Wallace. Promptly at 
 twelve o'clock M., Joseph T. Fales called the House to 
 order in the rooms below. At this tirst meeting of the 
 Representatives at Iowa City seventeen counties were 
 represented, namely: Lee, Van Buren, Des JMoines, 
 Henry, Louisa, Washington, Muscatine, Johnson, Cedar, 
 Jones, Linn, Scott, Clinton, Dubuque, Clayton, Delaware 
 and Jackson. The session was opened with prayer by 
 the Rev. Mr. Hummer. Only one session of the Legis- 
 lative Assembly was held in Butler's Capitol; for b}' 
 December, 1S42, the Capitol on Capitol Square was so 
 far completed as to accommodate the Legislative Assem- 
 bly as well as the territorial officers. 
 
 ' " Walter Butler agreed to put up a building if a certain number of 
 citizens would obligate themselves to pay him the difference between 
 the cost of the building and the price it would command when no longer 
 required for use by tlie Legislative Assembly. But for some cause the 
 pledges were never fulfilled, and Walter Butler sustained a great loss 
 thereby." — F. M. Irish in Annah of Io-\a^]\\\y^ 1S6S, page 19J.
 
 The Territorial Capital. 59 
 
 Erection of the Capitol. 
 
 The historical importance of the first regular Capitol 
 of Iowa justifies a detailed description of its erection. 
 For to-day it is the most significant monument of the 
 early history of Iowa. The story of its erection, its 
 financial history, the legislative, judicial and educational 
 memories that cluster around its walls, lend it a rever- 
 ential distinction unparalleled by any other public build- 
 ing ever erected in the State. Begun in 1839, the 
 building of the Capitol extends over the long period of 
 fifteen years. 
 
 Immediately after his return from Dubuque in the 
 latter part of June, 1839, Chauncey Swan, the Acting 
 Commissioner, having procured tools and assistance, 
 began opening up a quarry on the left bank of the 
 Iowa River about six blocks north of Capitol Square. 
 From this quarry rock was afterwards obtained for the 
 foundations and a portion of the walls of the Capitol. 
 Early in July a site was cleared, and in September men 
 were employed to prepare the ground for the founda- 
 tions. The turf and dirt removed at this time were 
 deposited in Iowa Avenue on the east side of Capitol 
 Square. 
 
 In the meantime the commissioners had adopted plans 
 for the Capitol. John F. Rague was the architect; 
 although it is said that the Rev. Samuel Mazzuchielli, a 
 Catholic priest at Dubuque, was the original designer 
 of the building. 1 
 
 The following is a fair description of the Capitol 
 as originally planned by the architect and afterwards 
 erected by the Territory: Being located in the center 
 of Capitol Square, "it is one hundred and twenty feet 
 
 ^lo-uui Historical Record, Vol. IV, page 102.
 
 6o Jozua City. 
 
 long north and south, and sixty feet east and west. It 
 is to be ornamented bv magnificent porticos, one on . 
 each side, supported by four massive pillars six feet and 
 ten inches in advance of the walls of the building. The 
 base of each portico is forty feet long and including the 
 steps extends twenty-two feet and seven inches in ad- 
 vance of the walls. The exterior of the building is thus 
 described: From the window sills of the basement, which 
 will be level with the pavements, to the water table, the 
 face of the walls is made of large blocks of cut stone. 
 The water table, which is five feet one inch from the 
 ground, is composed of forty-eight blocks, sixteen inches 
 thick, from seven to nme feet long, said to weigh from 
 six to eight thousand pounds each after they were 
 dressed. These blocks form for the heavy basement 
 walls, a kind of coping; from the outside of which the 
 walls of the upper story make an offset of sixteen inches, 
 leaving the water table for that width exposed to view 
 entirely around the building, which adds much to the 
 beauty and apparent strength of the work. On each 
 of the fronts there are eight pilasters, three feet and 
 ten inches wide, and projecting twelve inches from the 
 face of the walls; these are to be surmounted by cut 
 stone caps supporting the architrave, thus giving to the 
 the building the appearance of being studded by pillars. 
 I At the suggestion of the investigating committee the 
 pilasters were dressed in the same manner as the doors, 
 water table, jambs, etc. | It is the intention to use rough- 
 cast or hard-finish on the whole building except where 
 the dressed work may appear. The cornice if made to 
 the plan will be liighly ornamental. ^ * * * T\\it 
 roof is to be surmounted b}- a cupola, which * * * 
 
 ' The cornice was not made higlily ornamental.
 
 The Territorial Capital. 6i 
 
 will be ornamental but expensive. The base of the 
 cupola is an octagon, supported by the interior vestibule 
 walls. Upon this base stand eight corinthian columns 
 crowned with handsome capitals supporting a spherical 
 roof. Within the circle of the columns the space is 
 enclosed by eight long windows placed also in an octa- 
 gonal form by which light is communicated to the stair- 
 way descending in the middle of the building through 
 the successive stories. As constructed the Hght is shut 
 out from the main stairway which leads to the halls of 
 the Assembly in the second story. The interior arrange- 
 ment is as follows: The basement story is entered by 
 two doors in the opposite ends, both opening into a hall 
 seven feet wide, which runs directly through the build- 
 ing north and south, dividing it into two equal parts. 
 There are four rooms on each side about twenty feet 
 square, designed for committee rooms. There is also a 
 large and convenient wood room, and a tire-proof vault, 
 arched with brick, and covered wath grouted masonry 
 more than three feet thick, for the safety of public docu- 
 ments. On the next floor there is the same division 
 north and south, and a broad hall or vestibule east and 
 west entered from the porticos on each side of the build- 
 ing. North of the vestibule, east side, is a room forty- 
 two by twenty- one and a half feet, designed for the 
 Supreme Court; a corresponding room of the same size 
 on the south of the vestibule, is designed for the use of 
 the Secretary of the Territory. West of the north and 
 south hall are four rooms, equal in size, designed for 
 the use of the Governor, Auditor, Treasurer, and the 
 Librar}^ On the upper floor the north and south hall 
 is omitted. In the south wing is the Representatives 
 Hall, fifty-two feet and six inches by forty-two feet in
 
 62 lozva City. 
 
 the clear. In the north wing are the Council Chamber 
 and three small committee rooms, cut off from the west 
 side of it."i 
 
 Proposals for the above described building having 
 been published in the lozva JVezvs^'^ at Dubuque, the con- 
 tract for its erection was tinally let to Rague & Co.^ 
 Early in the spring of 1840, Skeen and McDonald, con- 
 tractors for Rague & Co., began operations on the 
 Capitol with a large force of hands. The work was 
 prosecuted so vigorously that by the 4th of July the 
 contractors were ready to la}' the corner stone; accord- 
 ingly preparations were made for the laying of the 
 corner stone of the Capitol on the national hoHday. 
 
 Elaborate arrangements w^ere made for this imposing 
 ceremony. Governor Lucas came up from Burlington 
 to deliver the oration. A great public dinner or barbe- 
 cue was held in the city park, followed by toasts and 
 speeches. And all the while the booming of guns was 
 accompanied by the cheers of pioneers, shouting for 
 "Hberty" and "freedom," for "Iowa" and her "Capitol." 
 
 About this time Skeen and McDonald, having received 
 $10,000 for the work already done, quit their contract, 
 leaving matters in a somewhat embarrassing condition. 
 The erection of the Capitol, however, was continued 
 under the personal direction of Chauncey Swan. But 
 
 1 Taken from the report of the investigating coiiiinittee appointed by 
 the Assembly in December, 1840. — See House Jour., 3rd Leg. Ass'y, 
 la. Ter., page 190. The description as it appears in the report was 
 found not only to be incomplete but inaccurate as regards the measure- 
 ments. I have therefore taken liberties with the quotation and changed 
 it in many places. 
 
 * For advertising the proposals $91.00 was paid to the lotva Neivs. — 
 House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 123. 
 
 'This same company had just erected the state-house at Springfield, 
 Illinois.
 
 The Territorial Capital. 63 
 
 the work now progressed slowly. Rock for the water 
 table was transported overland twenty miles from Cedar 
 County. By the close of the year the inside walls of 
 the building were raised to the second floor, the outside 
 w^alls of the north end to the top of the second tier of 
 windows, the east front to the center of the second tier 
 of windows, and the south end and west front nearly to 
 the bottom of the same. In this condition the walls 
 were covered for the winter. 
 
 Doubts as to the abilit}- of Chauncey Swan and a 
 vague suspicion that accounts on the PubHc Buildings 
 were not quite accurate led to the appointment of a 
 committee bv the Assembly to investigate affairs at 
 Iowa City. This was in December, 1840, The com- 
 mittee proceeded to the capital, where they were cordi- 
 ally w^elcomed by the townsmen and invited to a public 
 dinner. After examining the plans, material and work- 
 manship of the Capitol, the committee thoroughly in- 
 spected all papers and accounts found in the othce of the 
 Acting Commissioner, the condition of all of which was 
 embodied in a detailed report to the Assembly. This 
 report, while it revealed the fact that some papers and 
 accounts were not made out in the most business-Hke 
 manner, contains no charges of corruption. 
 
 All this, however, led to a change in the management 
 of affairs at Iowa City. An act passed in January, 1S41 ' 
 created two new oflices, namely: the office of "Super- 
 intendent of Public Buildings" and the office of "Terri- 
 torial Agent." The duties which had heretofore belonged 
 to the Actinor Commissioner were now divided between 
 these two offices, the Supenntendent of Public Buildings 
 having charge of the erection of the Capitol and the 
 
 J Stat. Laws, la. Ten, Session 1840-41 of Leg. Ass'y, page 37.
 
 64 loiva City. 
 
 Territorial Agent, acting as secretary and treasurer, 
 having charge of the sales of lots. For the year 1841, 
 Chauncey Swan was appointed Superintendent of Public 
 Buildings, and Jesse Williams, Territorial Agent. 
 
 Agreeable to the directions of the Assembly, the 
 Superintendent of Public Buildings now " proceeded with 
 a vigorous prosecution of the work" on the Capitol. 
 During the months of March and April a competent 
 number of hands were employed and set to work. Yet 
 it was impossible to put the Capitol in readiness to 
 accommodate the Legislative Assembly in December. 
 The condition of the building at that time was described 
 as follows: "The walls of the Capitol on the east front 
 are raised to the bottom of the cornice, being thirty-five 
 feet from the grround. The walls of the west front and 
 the ends of the building, are thirty feet from the ground. 
 The east portico has also been raised this season."^ 
 
 For the year 1842, Wm. B. Snyder was appointed 
 Superintendent of Public Buildings, and John M. Cole- 
 man, Territorial Agent, both thoroughly efficient and 
 competent men. Thinking that the rock that was being 
 used in the Capitol was of an inferior quality, Mr. Sny- 
 der, after some preliminary examination, discovered a 
 very promising bed of rock about ten miles northwest of 
 Iowa City, on the right bank of the Iowa River.- This 
 quarry — known from that time on as the "Old Capitol 
 Quarry" — was opened, and boats were prepared for 
 the transportation of rock down the river. On the ist 
 day of April the cutting of this new stone was begun 
 at the Capitol. Much of the rock already laid in the 
 
 ' Report of Territorial Agent, House Jour., 4th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., 
 
 P-'Kc 53- 
 
 * Report of .Sup. I'til). Buildings. — House Jour. 5th Leg. Ass'y, la. 
 Ter., page 32.
 
 The Territorial Capital. 65 
 
 walls was replaced by the superior material from the 
 new quarry. During this season the roof was raised 
 and covered with "Alleghany shingles" purchased in 
 Cincinnati.! The Capitol was in this condition when on 
 the first Monday in December, 1842, the furniture hav- 
 ing been removed from Butler's Capitol, the fifth Legis- 
 lative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa met w^ithin its 
 walls. 
 
 With an unfinished interior, semi-erected porticos and 
 no cupola — thus the Capitol remained for a number of 
 years. After Iowa had become a State, appropriations 
 were made from time to time for its completion. But to 
 this day the first Capitol of Iowa stands unfinished, the 
 portico on the west front being entirely wanting. 
 
 Financial History of the Capitol. 
 
 The financial history of the Capitol, which to be 
 properly understood must be separately considered, is 
 truly significant. It explains the difficulties under which 
 Iowa's first Capitol was erected, the long delayed com- 
 pletion of that Capitol, the interference on the part of 
 the Territory with the price of Iowa City real estate, 
 and the money famine that existed in Iowa City from 
 1 84 1 to 1844. Furthermore, it illustrates admirabh" the 
 law that bad money tends to drive out good money, ^ 
 the parsimony of the early Legislative Assemblies, state 
 opposition to corporations, and that tendency to over leg- 
 islation characteristic of new commonwealths. 
 
 1 The bill for these shingles was not paid until the Cincinnati prop- 
 erty of William B. Snyder, the Superintendent of Public Buildings, was 
 about to be seized, when the Legislative Assembly came to his relief 
 and paid the full amount. — Stat. Laws, Li. Ten, Session 1845 of Leg. 
 Ass'y, page 97. 
 
 * I refer to "Gresham's Law."
 
 66 lozva City. 
 
 In the fii^st place, Congress donated to the Territory 
 of Iowa $20,000 for pubhc buildings,^ and a section of 
 land on which to erect said buildings. This was certainly 
 not a large donation; but from the outset it was the hxed 
 policy of the Territory to erect its Capitol out of the 
 funds created by the $20,000 of cash and the proceeds 
 of the lots laid out on the section of land selected as the 
 site for the capital. It was the persistence on the part 
 of the Territory in carrying out this policy that led to 
 the financial difhculties involved in the erection of the 
 Capitol, to its long delayed completion, and finally to the 
 disgrace of the faith of the Territory. 
 
 No sooner was it discovered after the sales of 'thirty- 
 nine, that the proceeds of the lots at the seat of govern- 
 ment would not meet the immediate expenses of erecting 
 the Capitol, than the Territory, ignoring the laws of 
 supply and demand, appeared as a "bull" in the market 
 and attempted to raise the price of Iowa City real estate. 
 This was to be accomplished by means of legislative 
 enactments fixing the average minimum price of the lots 
 in Iowa City. The first legislation was exceedingly bold. 
 By an act approved on the 24th of June, 1840,- the 
 Assembly directed a valuation of the lots to be made 
 that would not reduce the total valuation below the 
 average sum of $300 per lot, notwithstanding the fact 
 that the average price paid for lots the preceding season 
 was only $146. But the interference on the part of the 
 Territory to raise the price of lots met with no success. 
 For in less than seven months after the approval of the 
 act of June 24th, the Assembly ordered the average mini- 
 mum valuation per lot reduced from $300 to $200.^ 
 
 ' L'. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, page 239. 
 
 ' Slat. Laws, la. Ter., Extra Session, 1S40, of Leg. Ass'v, page 5. 
 
 ' Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S40-41 of Leg. AssV, page 60.
 
 The Territorial Capital. 67 
 
 Again in Februaiy, 1842, the Territorial Agent was 
 directed to reduce the average minimum price of the 
 unsold lots, and of any and all lots which had become 
 forfeited, fifty per cent, below the prices fixed thereon 
 by the last valuation. ^ In 1843 the average minimum 
 price was reduced to $80 per lot.- 
 
 Even after these sweeping reductions lots could hardly 
 be sold at any price. In 1845, Morgan Reno, the Ter- 
 ritorial Treasurer, gave it as his opinion that the unsold 
 lots w^ould not sell for more than an average of $30. In 
 that year twenty lots were sold at the average price of 
 $14 per lot.^ 
 
 The causes which compelled the Territory to make 
 such great reductions are evident. The valuation in the 
 first instance was much too high; the stream of immi- 
 gration had ceased to flow in so rapidly; good desirable 
 lots purchased at the first sales by speculators were 
 afterwards offered at prices more reasonable than those 
 fixed by the Territory upon the remaining unsold lots; 
 and being short of money the Territorial Agents had 
 issued large amounts of scrip for labor and material on 
 the Capitol, which scrip was good for its face value only 
 in payment for lots purchased of the Territory. Many 
 laboring men who had purchased lots with this scrip 
 would offer their lots at a sacrifice in order to get U. S. 
 money. In competition with the speculators and the 
 scrip-purchased lots the Territory was outdone. 
 
 In the meantime, while the Legislative Assembly was 
 admirably illustrating the foolishness of the attempt to 
 artificially raise the price of Iowa City real estate by 
 
 1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S40-41 of Leg. Ass'y, page 90. 
 * Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 6th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 283. 
 s Report of Ter. Treas., House Jour., Sth Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., pages 
 24S, 249.
 
 68 Iowa City. 
 
 means of legislation, the Acting Commissioner and Terri- 
 torial Agents were evolving a novel monetary scheme, 
 which in the end all but resulted in complete ruin. 
 
 In this Chauncey Swan took the initiative, when in 
 1840 he sold lots to the amount of several thousand dol- 
 lars to be paid for in labor and material on the Capitol.^ 
 Men who worked on the Capitol were paid in Iowa City 
 real estate certiticates which were receivable at the office 
 of the Acting Commissioner in pavment for lots. In 1841, 
 lesse Williams, the Territorial Agent, went a step farther 
 than his predecessor. Mr. Williams issued certiticates of 
 indebtedness to laborers and other creditors of the Ter- 
 ritory on account of the Capitol, payable to the bearer 
 and receivable in pa^-ment of any debts due the office. ^ 
 Notes or certificates of indebtedness of this sort were 
 issued during the year 1840 to the amount of $4,285.60. 
 Many of these certificates naturally found their wa}' into 
 the hands of men who were debtors of the Territory for 
 lots purchased. Thus the certificates would in the course 
 of time return to the office of the Territorial Agent. 
 
 It will be observed, however, that while the certificates 
 of indebtedness served well enough as a medium of ex- 
 change, they as inferior money, drove the lawful United 
 States currency out of the office of the Territorial Agent; 
 and the difficulty now resolved itself into the problem, 
 how to get enough good money to meet the demands 
 of the office. There was but one recourse — a loan. 
 Accordingly on the 28th of June, 1841, the Territorial 
 Agent made a loan of $5,000 of the Miners' Bank of 
 Dubuque, and on the 30th of September of the same 
 year an additional loan of $500. Both loans were negoti- 
 
 > Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 3rd Leg. Ass'y, page 22. 
 * Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 4th Leg. Ass y, page 36.
 
 T]ie Territorial Capital. 69 
 
 ated on the faith of the unsold lots in Iowa City. The 
 $5,000 note was to be paid at the Bank of America in 
 the cit}' of New York, eighteen months after date, with 
 interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum, payable 
 quarterly at the State Bank of Missouri in the city of St. 
 Louis; while the $500 note, with the same rate of inter- 
 est, was to be paid nine months after date at the State 
 Bank of Missouri in the city of St. Louis. ^ But to the 
 disgrace and humiliation of the Territory of Iowa, the 
 $500 note was protested at the Bank of Missouri, and 
 the $5,000 note was not fully settled until the 3'ear 1847,* 
 being nearly live years after it had become due. And in 
 the meantime, the Assembly of lowa,^ as well as the 
 Constitution of 1846, had closed the doors of the Miners' 
 Bank. When paid, the Treasurer's report shows that 
 this debt amounted to $6,931.23.'^ 
 
 It was, however, in 1842 that the monetary scheme 
 adopted b}' the Territorial Agents came to its logical 
 conclusion — repudiation. The large number of hands 
 employed in March and April were all paid in scrip, 
 issued and based exclusively on unsold lots, and made 
 payable to the bearer and receivable at the office for all 
 sales made after the first day of A fay. ^ The town was 
 flooded with this scrip, and U. S. money began rapidly 
 to disappear. 
 
 At the office of the Territorial Agent the money 
 
 1 Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 4th Leg. Ass'y, page 36. 
 
 -Stat. Laws of Iowa, ist Session Gen. AssV, page 43. 
 
 ^ Granted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of \V'isconsin 
 in November, 1S36, the charter of tlie Miners' Bank of Dubuque was 
 repealed by the Legislative Assembly of Iowa in May, 1S45. — See Stat. 
 Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S45 of Leg. Ass'y, page 54. 
 
 * Report of State Treas., Stat. Laws of Iowa, Extra Session ist Gen. 
 Ass'y, page 105. 
 
 ^ Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 5th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 28.
 
 70 loiva City. 
 
 famine took a serious turn. The laborers at the quarry 
 and on the Capitol demanded at least money enough to 
 supply their daily wants; for the scrip would not pass 
 with the merchants for goods, ^ neither would it be taken 
 by the farmers for provisions. ^ And all the while this 
 scrip of 'fort3^-two, along with certificates of 'forty and 
 'forty-one, was being returned to the office in payment 
 for lots and for redemption. In this almost hopeless 
 condition the Territorial Agent, prohibited by the Leg- 
 islative Assembly from making any loans, began to 
 repudiate scrip and certificates issued by his own office. 
 It was but a partial repudiation, l)ased upon technical 
 discrimination, and naturally caused much dissatisfaction 
 throughout the town. The Territorial Agent was finally 
 called upon to explain his actions to the Assembly. 
 Whereupon he set forth the whole matter, seeking justi- 
 fication in the fact that his com-se of action was in keep- 
 ing with the manifest intention of the Assembly to have 
 the work on the Capitol carried on without further 
 delay. ^ Good U. S. money was necessar}^ to prosecute 
 the work; and to obtain this money, repudiation was his 
 only recourse. As to the technical discrimination, he 
 explained that, the scrip of 'forty-two having been issued 
 on the basis of unsold lots and receivable for lots sold 
 after the first day of Ma}-, he did not consider himself 
 bound to redeem it in an}- other wa}'. Furthermore, in 
 refusing to accept certificates of tlie issues of 'forty and 
 
 ' A few mercliants did receive i^crip in payment for goods, but at a 
 discount of nearly fifty percent. The firm of Murry A: Sanxay received 
 scrip to the ainouut of several thousand dollars, with the expectation of 
 having it redeemed when presented to the Territory. This scrip was 
 finally redeemed, but not entirely until 1S4S. 
 
 * Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 5th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 2S. 
 
 » Ibid^ page 56.
 
 The Territorial Capital. 
 
 71 
 
 'forty-one in payment for arrears on lots sold in 1839, he 
 maintained that these certificates were based on lots sold 
 in 'forty and 'fort3'-one and not on lots sold previous to 
 
 that time.i The 
 plain fact in the 
 matter was, the 
 Territorial 
 Agent resorted 
 to repudiation 
 because i t vv a s 
 his only means of 
 getting money, 
 and he adopted a 
 technical dis- 
 crimination to 
 give this repudi- 
 ation the face of 
 justice. 
 
 1 See Report of Ter. 
 Agent, House Jour., 
 5th Leg. Ass'y, la. 
 Ter., pages 56, 57, 58. 
 
 Note.— The speci- 
 men of scrip given 
 on this page is copied 
 from a specimen of 
 the issue of 1842. — 
 See House Journal of 
 the Fifth Legislative 
 Assembly of the Ter- 
 ritory of Iowa, page 
 5S. ^ 
 
 
 
 Real Estate Security, 
 
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 72 lozva City. 
 
 Cost of the Capitol. 
 
 The reports of the Acting Commissioner and Terri- 
 torial Agents are so compiled that it is impossible to 
 work out with any satisfactory degree of accuracy the 
 sums total of .the receipts and expenditures involved in 
 the erection of the Capitol. Some of the accounts of 
 Chauncey Swan are exceedingh- vague and indefinite. 
 The reports are all too general and by no means uniform. 
 Accounts on the Capitol are often inseparably connected 
 with ^expenditures arising from the town surveys and 
 improvements. 
 
 I will, however, venture several approximations, which, 
 although not strictly correct, are of sufficient accuracy as 
 general estimates. The receipts arising from the sales of 
 lots from 1839 ^o 1846 amount to about $75,000. The 
 special cash appropriation of Congress was $20,000. At 
 the Miners' Bank, $5,500 was borrowed. And after 
 being admitted into the union the State made appropri- 
 ations of between $15,000 and $20,000. This would 
 make as receipts the total sum of about $117,000. After 
 deducting from this sum $5,000 for expenses connected 
 with the town survevs and incidental matters, there 
 remains the sum of $112,000 for the erection of the 
 Capitol. 
 
 From another line of investigation I come to nearly 
 the same estimate. After taking from the reports those 
 accounts which seem to pertain to the Capitol alone, I 
 find that they amount in total to nearly $111,500. We 
 may therefore, I think, safelv estimate the cost of the 
 Capitol in round numbers as $112,000.1 
 
 ' The cost has also been estimated at ^123.000. — See lozva Historical 
 Record, \o\. I\', page 107.
 
 The Territorial Capital. 73 
 
 Local Government of the Territorial Capital. 
 
 As the territorial capital, Iowa City had no corporate 
 form of municipal government. In this respect it was 
 behind the other important towns of the Territory. 
 
 But it was certainly not the fault of the Legislative 
 Assembly that Iowa City did not sooner become an 
 organized municipal corporation ; for as early as January 
 1 84 1, an act was passed to incorporate the town under a 
 special charter. ^ Rejected at the time of its tirst passage, 
 this act was successively revived in 1842^ and in 1844.^ 
 As to the rejection of the act after its second revival in 
 1844, the Capital Reporter comments editorially as fol- 
 lows: "We are gratified in being able to state that the 
 good sense of our citizens has rejected the act for the 
 incorporation of our cit}-, revived at its last session by 
 the Legislature. Had this act of incorporation gone into 
 force, the consequences would have been in all probabil- 
 ity, that our present taxes would have been at least 
 doubled within one year — and the citv but little benefited 
 by the additional burden."^ The dread of the extra bur- 
 den of taxation undoubtedly had much to do with the 
 rejection of the charter. 
 
 Another potent factor which meets us in the consider- 
 ation of the attitude of the town towards municipal 
 government is the peculiar circumstance which always 
 confronts us when we attempt to analyze the character 
 of low^a City. I refer to the fact that Iowa City was 
 originally founded and ozvned bv the Territorv- 
 
 During the first six years of its existence, Iowa City 
 
 1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1840-41 of Leg. Ass'v, page 97. 
 * Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S41-42 of Leg. Ass'v, page 25. 
 ' Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S43-44 of Leg. Ass'y, page 156. 
 •* lozva Capital Reporter^ Vol. Ill, No. i6.
 
 74 
 
 Jo'iva City. 
 
 was virtually controlled and managed by the officers 
 who had charge of the affairs of the Territory at the 
 capital. From 1S39 ^^ 1841 this officer was styled 
 "Acting Commissioner." From 1841 to 1845 he was 
 styled "Territorial Agent," and shared his duties and 
 influence with another officer known as "Superintendent 
 of Public Buildings." These officers, it is true, were 
 clothed with no municipal authority; but by virtue of the 
 high prestige of their office they had a great influence 
 in local matters.^ 
 
 iThe 
 
 1839 
 1S40 
 1841 
 1841 
 1842 
 1842 
 1843 
 1843 
 1844 
 1845 
 1845 
 
 following is a list of the 
 Chauncey Swan 
 Chauncey Swan 
 Jessse Williams 
 Chauncey Swan 
 John M. Coleman 
 Wm. B. Snyder 
 John M. Coleman 
 Wm. B. Snyder 
 Anson Hart 
 Anson Hart 
 Morgan Reno . 
 
 influential men from 1839 to 1S46: 
 
 . Acting Commissioner. 
 
 . Acting Commissioner. 
 
 . Territorial Agent. 
 
 . Superintendent of Public Buildings. 
 
 . Territorial Agent. 
 
 . Superintendent of Public Buildings. 
 
 . Territorial Agent. 
 
 . Superintendent of Public Buildings. 
 
 . Territorial Agent. 
 
 . Territorial Agent. 
 
 . Territorial Treasurer.
 
 V. 
 EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS. 
 
 " It is with a reverence such as is stirred by the head- 
 waters of some mighty river that one looks back" to 
 the educational beginnings in the town, which, having 
 become the seat of the State University, is now the 
 center from which comes the inspiration to higher edu- 
 cation. 
 
 These beginnings, although tiny when contemplated 
 in the light of our present institutions, do, nevertheless, 
 reflect much credit upon the character of the early 
 inhabitants of Iowa City and the Territory of Iowa. 
 Such a luxuriant growth of schools as sprung up during 
 the tirst decade certainly indicates a richness of soil; 
 and if they died prematurely, that was due to their 
 over-abundance. Education, at first confined to private 
 schools, was taken up after a few years b}^ academies 
 and colleges, which in turn were succeeded by the for- 
 mer system of private enterprise. The private schools 
 reigned for about six years, when they were superseded 
 by the free public schools established by the town 
 council. 
 
 It was in the year 1840 that Jesse Berry opened the 
 first school in Iowa City in a one-story frame building, 
 which he had erected on College street in block 84, just 
 west of what is now known as " Coldren's Grocery." 
 Here, in this building — which was used as school house.
 
 76 Iowa City. 
 
 church and courthouse — the children of Iowa City first 
 met to learn to read and write and spell and count. 
 Jesse Berry was a "school-master" of the "old school 
 davs" of which the present generation knows but little. ^ 
 He was a faithful teacher and highly respected through- 
 out the town. Sometime during the same year, I. M. 
 Choate opened another private school on Market street, 
 in that little old frame building which still stands on the 
 north side of block 78, just back of the EngHsh Lutheran 
 church. 
 
 1 The following extracts are from the original note-book of Jesse 
 Berry, which has been preserved in the library of the Iowa State His- 
 torical Society. These extracts are fitting illustrations of the cost of 
 education in a pioneer community; of the way in which tuition was 
 paid; and of the annoyances with which the early school- masters had to 
 contend. 
 
 Jesse Berry. Iowa City, 1840-41. 
 
 F E Jones Dr. 
 
 to tuition up to the time he ran away 9.00 
 
 by washing up to the same time Cr 2.00 
 
 Walter Butler Cr $ Cts. 
 
 By cash 5-62l^ 
 
 By 100 brick 60 
 
 To tuition up to the 20 of August 1840 i5-87>^ 
 
 Sanford Harned Cr. 
 
 by washing one pair pantaloons i.oo 
 
 John Crum Dr. 
 
 To tuition 1200 
 
 To house rent 5.00 
 
 By hauling one load of posts 75 
 
 1 chicken 12!-^ 
 
 April "jth, received payment by taking a due bill • . . i6.i2l^ 
 
 Benjamin Weiser Dr 
 
 To tuition up to the 20 Aug. 1S40 S.oo 
 
 Cr. 
 By 3 days work @ $1.75 per day 5.25
 
 JSducaiional Beginnings. *J*J 
 
 Mechanics' Academy. 
 
 The movement in favor of higher educational institu- 
 tions was inaugurated by the " Mechanics' Mutual Aid 
 Association of Iowa City" in 1842 — notwithstanding the 
 incorporation of a certain " Iowa Seminary " as early as 
 December, 1840. This Mutual Aid Association was 
 organized on the 6th of January, 1841, by seven Iowa 
 City mechanics. It was a thoroughly public-spirited 
 association and at once became very popular, increasing 
 
 David A Burns Dr. 
 
 To tuition up to Aug. 20. 1840 8.00 
 
 By mending i pair of shoes 87^ 
 
 George Ressler Cr. 
 
 by hauling brick and mortar 38 
 
 C K Ward Cr. 
 
 by I lb candles 25 
 
 Sanford Harned Dr. 
 
 To tuition 4.75 
 
 To $1.00 tax paid sheriff i.oo 
 
 Cr. 
 By washing 50 
 
 By 13^ days work 2.62I 
 
 Joseph Stover Dr. 
 
 to tuition 48^ days 3.25 
 
 George T. Andrews Dr. 
 
 to tuition 120 days Soo 
 
 Walter Butler Dr. 
 
 3 spelling Books 1.75 
 
 to county order 5.00 
 
 Benjamin Weiser 
 
 2 Spelling Books 51 
 
 B P Moore 4 bushel potatoes M B 
 
 Evans 34 bushel Ruta Bagas M B @ 25 
 
 Butler 17 " " " " @ -5 
 
 Butler 25 bushel corn M B 
 
 Kelby i "• onions " @ 50
 
 78 lozua City. 
 
 its membership from seven to sixty in the course of one 
 year. The greatest work of the association was the 
 founding of the " Mechanics' Academy." 
 
 The academy building was erected in 1842 on the 
 "School Reserve" east of the "City Park," the south 
 half of which reserve was donated in 1842/ and the 
 north half in 1844^ to the Mechanics' Association, for 
 literarv purposes. On the 14th of June the corner stone 
 was laid; and a proud day that was for the members 
 of the association. "Agreeable to invitation, the citi- 
 zens assembled about 2 o'clock in the temporary State 
 House ^ for the purpose of forming a procession and 
 marching to the building to witness the ceremony of 
 laying the corner stone of the Mechanics' Academy. 
 Business was suspended and all classes left their occu- 
 pations, and devoted the afternoon to the recreations 
 attendant upon the occasion. The procession formed 
 about 4 o'clock, and after marching through the princi- 
 pal streets of the city, proceeded to the ground. At the 
 head of the procession we noticed different clergymen 
 of the city, next came the invited guests of the Associ- 
 ation, then the officers of the Association, the teachers 
 and children of the different schools, and a large con- 
 course of citizens brought up the rear. The choir of 
 the Methodist Protestant Church lent their aid in the 
 entertainment.""^ The oration of the day was deHvered 
 by the Rev. John Libby. 
 
 Filled with enthusiasm for the enterprise so favorably 
 begun, the mechanics pushed forward the work on the 
 
 1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S41-42 of Leg. Ass'v, page 5. 
 
 * Stat. Laws, la. Ter.. Session 1S43-44. of Leg. Ass'v, page 79. 
 
 8 Butler's Capitol. Sec Chapter IV on "The Territorial Capital," 
 page 58. 
 
 * lozmt Cofilol Reporter, Vol. I, No. 29.
 
 Echicatio)iaI Bcg'inniug's. 79 
 
 Academy with much vigor. As in the erection of a dam 
 by the Iowa City Manufacturmg Company, Httle money 
 was required to carry on this educational enterprise. 
 For the stock-holders paid for their shares in labor and 
 material; the mason contributed his labor in the laving 
 of the walls, and the carpenter his skill and his lumber. 
 In this novel manner the mechanics erected a two-story 
 brick building tifty-four and a half feet long b}' twenty- 
 six and a half feet wide. When completed it was the 
 tinest school building in all the Territory. Within its 
 walls the State University of low^a had its beginning. 
 
 In i860 the University rented the academy building 
 for a period of five years at an annual rent of $300. By 
 this time the bulk of the stock had fallen into the hands 
 of Robert Hutchinson,^ who in a deal wdth the Univer- 
 sity gave up all his claim to this property in exchange 
 for a lot on College street,- which had come into the 
 possession of the University on the foreclosure of a 
 mortgage. In 1866, how^ever, the General Assembly 
 declared that the original "School Reserve" as granted 
 to the Mechanics' Mutual Aid Association had reverted 
 to the State because it had been, used for other than 
 "literary purposes;" and in order to give the University 
 a clear title to the property the General Assembly re- 
 donated the "Reserve" to the University. ^ 
 
 The Academ}^ was divided into two departments: a 
 "male department" and a "female department." The 
 female department was opened to students as early as 
 June, 1843; while the male department was hrst organ- 
 ized in October. During the wanter session of 1843-44, 
 
 1 The original stock-holders sold their shares to Mr. Hutchinson at a 
 great discount. 
 
 * See Archives of the State University, Record A, page 266. 
 s Stat. Laws of Iowa, nth Gen. Ass'y, page 5S.
 
 8o Iowa City. 
 
 one hundred and twenty students were enrolled. Messrs. 
 W. Hamilton and H. Hamilton assisted by Mrs. Hamp- 
 ton conducted the school under the direction of the 
 trustees. 
 
 With all its favorable and promising beginnings the 
 Mechanics' Academy was soon abandoned. The mem- 
 bers of the association lost interest in the institution and 
 left it to die for want of proper support. It is, never- 
 theless, very probable that it would have developed into 
 a first-class academy had not so many other schools 
 sprung up about that time to rob it of its patronage. 
 
 Snethen Seminary. 
 
 The "Snethen Seminary "^ was established in 1844, 
 by the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Protestant 
 denomination. According to the original plan of organ- 
 ization there w^as to be a preparatory, a collegiate and a 
 theological department. W. B. Snyder was the chief 
 promoter of the institution, and W. K. Talbot was the 
 principal teacher. The Methodist Protestant church on 
 Iowa Avenue was used for recitation purposes. Snethen 
 Seminary was never a strong school, and when trouble 
 arose with the principal, Mr. Talbot, it went down 
 rapidly. Its total existence fell short of two years. 
 
 Iowa City College. 
 
 By an act of the Legislative Assembly approved 
 February 15th, 1843, "Iowa City College" was incor- 
 porated.- Established by and under the auspices of 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, this college was to be 
 
 * Named in honor of Nicholas Snethen, of Cincinnati, a prominent 
 clerfjyman in the Methodist Protestant denomination. 
 
 * Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1842-43 of Leg. Ass'y, page 75.
 
 Educational Beginnings. 8i 
 
 founded upon " a plan most suitable for the benefit of 
 the youth of every class of citizens and of every relig- 
 ious denomination, who shall be freely admitted to equal 
 advantages and privileges."^ The Board of Trustees 
 together with the Faculty were granted the power "to 
 confer upon the deserving any and all degrees in the 
 arts and in the learned professions." The north half of 
 block five was donated to the college, provided that a 
 college edifice be erected thereon within a limited time.- 
 On the 3rd day of April, 1843, the Board of Trustees 
 were sworn in with the Rev. James L. Thompson as 
 President; and in April, 1846, the College was organized 
 by James Harlan, ^ who took charge of the institution as 
 "President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science." 
 Mr. Harlan was assisted by an additional professor and 
 several instructors. The grade of studies actually taught 
 was preparatory. For recitation and other school pur- 
 poses the College occupied the edifice on Iowa Avenue 
 formerly owned and occupied by the Methodist Protest- 
 ant denomination. (The Methodist Episcopal church 
 had recently purchased this building from the Methodist 
 Protestants.) Like its predecessors, Iowa City College 
 was in active operation less than two years. It was 
 brought to a close primarilv bv the resignation of Mr. 
 Harlan.^ During its existence it was satisfactoril}- suc- 
 cessful as a college preparatory school. ^ 
 
 ' Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S42-43 of Leg. Ass'y, page 76. 
 
 8 Ibid^ page 80. 
 
 s Now the Hon. James Harlan, of Mt. Pleasant. 
 
 ■* Mr. Harlan resigned because he had been elected Superintendent of 
 Public Instruction in Iowa. 
 
 ^ The facts relating to Iowa City College were given to me by Hon. 
 James Harlan, who is still living.
 
 82 lozua City. 
 
 Iowa City University. 
 
 Of all the early educational projects, that of the Iowa 
 City University was the most elaborate in its scheme of 
 oro'anization and the most detailed in its plan of opera- 
 tion. In short it was to be a university; and in this sense 
 it was the precursor of the present State University. 
 
 Iowa City University was incorporated b}' an act of 
 the Legislative Assembly approved June 2nd, 1845.^ 
 The act provided: that the University shall be under 
 the direction of a board of thirty regents,- who shall 
 hold their first meeting at the Capitol on the first Mon- 
 day in June, 1845; that the lirst Board of Regents 
 chosen by the stockholders shall be elected on the first 
 Monday in March, 1845, and ever afterwards once in 
 every three vears; that the stock of said Universit}' shall 
 consist of shares of twentj'-five dollars each: that the 
 Governor of Iowa shall be, ex-officio. President of the 
 Board of Regents; that the Board of Regents shall have 
 power to connect with the University a Law School and 
 a Medical School, and may admit charity students, re- 
 ceive donations and bequests for the University, and 
 confer any and all degrees in the arts and in the learned 
 professions — and in conferring such honors anv person 
 entitled to a seat in the Council or House of Representa- 
 tives shall be entitled to a seat and vote with the Board 
 of Regents. 
 
 > Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1845 of Leg. AssV, page 61. 
 
 - Regents were: Sinylie H. Bonliam, Charles R. Fisk, H. D. Dow- 
 ncv, William K. Talbot, James Robinson, Robert Gower, A. H. Daven- 
 port, Edward E. Fay, Morgan Reno, Edward Johnson, G. W. Jeffries, 
 A. H. Robbins, James Clark, M. D. Talbot, John McConnell, E. B. 
 Turner, Josiah H. Bonney, Joseph B. Teas, William Patterson, Moses 
 Beers. George S. Hampton, Joseph B. Davis, E. Metcalf, F. Springer, 
 R. F. .Shinn, William Abbe, Thomas S. Wilson, John Brophy, and G. 
 II. Walworth.
 
 Educational Beginnings. 83 
 
 Besides the articles of incorporation, the onh' other 
 source of information regarding this University is a small 
 bundle of letters and papers preserved in the library of 
 the State Historical Society. From these we learn that 
 James Robinson was President of the Iowa City Univer- 
 sity, and in the absence of the Governor, served as 
 President of the Board of Regents; that George S. 
 Hampton was Secretar}'; that agents were sent out to 
 solicit "donations and bequests;" and that "the multi- 
 plicit}' of agents for the various benevolent causes and 
 the Society to aid Western Colleges" were a "great 
 hinderance" to these University agents. Furthermore 
 from these same papers we learn that it was resolved: 
 "That there be a preparatory department to the I. C. 
 University which shall go into immediate operation, and 
 also that classes be organized for the University itself 
 as fast as students may be obtained or are sufficiently 
 advanced for the purpose;" that "any selected professor 
 of the Universit}' who shall obtain funds sufficient to 
 endow a professorship shall be permanently continued;" 
 that the practical duties of religion may be recommended 
 by the professors to the students of the University, yet 
 no sectarian tenets shall be taught to the students of said 
 University; that students who are unable to defray the 
 expense of tuition, on producing evidence thereof, shall 
 be entitled to have their tuition free, provided they 
 evince a scholarship to entitle them to this favor." 
 
 The committee appointed to employ instructors for 
 the preparatory department reported that they had 
 secured the services of the Rev. W. R. Talbot, the Rev. 
 W. D. Talbot and the Rev. Charles R. Fisk as said 
 instructors. 
 
 A committee also recommended "that the Sessions of
 
 84 lo'iva City. 
 
 each Department consist of five calendar months each, 
 and that all, except such as with whom a special agree- 
 ment is made at entrance, by the trustees or professors, 
 be taxed for not less than a whole session, unless in the 
 opinion of the trustees they are detained by sickness, 
 and the prices of tuition be per session, as follows : 
 
 For Orthography, Reading, Writing, Mental Arithmetic . . . $3.75 
 
 For Orthograplij, Arithmetic, Grammar and the commencement 
 
 of Latin 6.00 
 
 Modern and Ancient Geography, History, Elements of Astron- 
 omy, Natural, Mental and Moral Philosophy, Mineralogy, 
 Geology, Botany, Rhetoric, Logic, Mathematics, etc., and the 
 remaining Collegiate studies 8.50 
 
 To the above prices $1.00 per session to be added where payment is 
 delayed to the close of the Session. 
 
 Agents of the Iowa City University went as far south 
 as Kentucky and as far east as Boston to solicit dona- 
 tions. In the library of the State Historical Society there 
 are about one hundred and forty volumes, some of them 
 over one hundred years old, which were presented to 
 the University. 1 
 
 The only evidence that the University was ever put 
 into actual operation is, that in the latter part of March, 
 1846, there was a public examination, and at the public 
 exhibition given on the ist and 2nd of April "the origi- 
 nal addresses, dissertations, dialogues and disputations of 
 the young ladies and gentlemen, a portion of which were 
 in Greek and Latin, were all respectable, and many of 
 theni of superior quality." 2 
 
 ' These same books were afterwards donated to the " Iowa Female 
 Collegiate Institute." 
 
 * Capitol Reporter, Vol. V, No. 10.
 
 Educational Beginnings. 85 
 
 From Private to Public Schools. 
 
 The whole movement toward higher education was 
 premature. There was neither wealth nor patronage in 
 Iowa adequate for its proper support. Consequently 
 the birth of Academy, Seminary, College and University, 
 all within the period of five or six years, proved fatal. 
 There was not patronage enough for all; and in the 
 strutjg'le for existence thev strangled each other. Not 
 one of these larger institutions survived; and education 
 was again left to private individual enterprise. 
 
 Thus in proportion as these more ambitious attempts 
 failed, private schools flourished. Mr. Choate's school 
 had continued all the while; and as early as September, 
 1 84 1, Mrs. Hulin opened a school for youn'g ladies^ in a 
 little house on block 61, near the corner of Linn and 
 Washington streets. From the Standard we learn that 
 in 1843 there w^ere two private schools in operation: 
 one conducted by Dr. W, Reynolds, called the "Select 
 School" and numbering forty pupils; the other num- 
 bered thirtv-five pupils and was managed by Mr. Hart.^ 
 
 In 1844 there was still another private school, known 
 as the ''Iowa City Institute."^ Three years later, H. W. 
 Lathrop (now librarian of the State Historical Society) 
 opened a school in the basement of the old Methodist 
 Protestant church. From 1847 to 1853, private enter- 
 prise in education reached the acme of its success. 
 
 But the transition from private to public education had 
 already set in as early as 1847. Iowa City township* 
 
 1 lo-va City Standard^ Vol. II, No. 13. 
 
 2 lo-Ma Standard, Vol. Ill, No. 32. 
 8 lozva Standard, Vol. IV, No. 46. 
 
 * The number of school children returned for the whole township in 
 1847 was 416; and the school fund apportionment for :he same year 
 was $170.60.
 
 86 lozva City. 
 
 was then divided into two districts, viz : No. i, southern, 
 and No. 2, northern. On the 25th of May, 1847, Mr. 
 A. G. Gower opened the first free public school '^ in the 
 building, which by that time had become noted as a 
 school edifice — the Methodist Protestant church 2 on 
 Iowa Avenue. (It was at the close of Mr. Gower's first 
 term that ]Mr. Lathrop opened his school in the same 
 building.) But for six years after this beginning, the 
 free schools were of little consequence, there being no 
 adequate funds for their support. There was no local 
 taxation for educational purposes, and the apportionment 
 from the State was meager. 
 
 The change from the private to the public system of 
 education is interestingly illustrated in the experience of 
 H. W. Lathrop in the northern district. When the free 
 school was closed for want of funds, Mr. Lathrop would 
 organize private classes. But when the state apportion- 
 ment was received he would secure the contract for the 
 free school, take his, private pupils with him and become 
 a public teacher. When the public funds were exhausted 
 he would again organize his private classes. But after 
 the incorporation of Iowa City in 1S53, all this came to 
 and end, and an efficient system of v/ard schools was 
 established by tlie town council. 
 
 Iowa FE:\rALE Colle<;iate Ixstitute. 
 
 As the period of educational beginnings was coming 
 to a close a final attempt was made to establish a large 
 educational institution. The scheme this time was in- 
 augurated by the Independent Order of Octd Fellows, 
 and aimed at the founding of a female seminar\'. As the 
 
 1 lo-va Standard, New Series, Vol. I, No. 47. 
 » Called at this time the " College Building."
 
 Educational Beginnings. 87 
 
 originator of this project, the Rev. A. Russell Belden 
 first laid his plans before the lodge on the 20th of July, 
 1S53. On the records of the next meeting of the lodge 
 appears the following: '•'•Resolved, That this lodge sub- 
 scribe $600.00 for the erection of a Female Seminary in 
 Iowa City, under the articles of incorporation proposed 
 by Bro. A. R. Belden, etc."i 
 
 Under the name of the "Iowa Female Collegiate 
 Institute" the proposed institution was incorporated for 
 a period of twenty years, beginning with the 29th day 
 of July, 1853. The capital stock, which was divided into 
 shares of twenty-five dollars each, was not to exceed 
 twenty-five thousand dollars nor be less than five 
 thousand dollars, and was to be "raised by voluntar\' 
 donations to the institution by encampments, lodges, 
 members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
 other friends of the enterprise." One hundred dollars 
 in stock secured a fellowship consisting of free tuition in 
 all branches of the collegiate department for twenty 
 years or for life. " The sole government of the school, 
 together wdth the use of the buildings, appurtenances, 
 and profits of said school shall be vested in A. Russell 
 Belden and Sarah L. i\llen during the period of twent}- 
 years under the direction of the Board of Trustees. The 
 Board of Trustees shall consist of the principals of the 
 institution and two persons chosen annually from each 
 lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Iowa 
 City." 
 
 The new enterprise had the confidence of the com- 
 munity and the lodges, and six thousand dollars was 
 speedily raised. The use of the west half of College 
 
 1 Historical Sketch of Kosciusko Lodge, I. O. O. F., Iowa City, 
 page II.
 
 88 loiva City. 
 
 Green (now known as College-hill Park) was granted 
 by the town council^ as a site for the seminary building, 
 which was located near the southwest corner. The 
 corner stone^ was laid in October. C. O. Waters, of 
 Muscatine, delivered the address on this occasion, and 
 R. H. Sylvester read a poem. 
 
 The erection of the seminary building was under the 
 personal direction of Mr. Belden, who indeed was the 
 chief promoter of the whole undertaking. As planned 
 by Mr. Banbury, the building was to be constructed of 
 brick, thirty by eighty feet and three stories high. By 
 the month of August, 1S55, "^^ walls of the basement 
 and lirst story were completed, when Mr. Belden sud- 
 denly died of Asiatic cholera. This sad death proved 
 disastrous to the Iowa Female Collegiate Institute; for 
 no one could be found with the abilitv and enthusiasm 
 necessary to carry on the work so successfullv begun. 
 
 In 1856, C. Billings Smith made an attempt to revive 
 the fallen enterprise but met with complete failure. Col- 
 lege Green reverted to the town, and in the course of 
 time the half-completed walls were torn awav. With 
 the downfall of the Iowa Female Collegiate Institute, 
 Iowa City witnessed the last failure to establish a large 
 educational institution in her midst. State institutions 
 now became the principal factors in Iowa City's educa- 
 tional history. 
 
 School for the Blind. 
 
 By an act of the General Assembly approved January 
 i8th, 1853,'' an "Asylum for the Blind" was established 
 
 ' See Ordinance No. 20 in Citv Ordinances publislied in 1S57. 
 * The contents of tiie box placed in the corner stone are preserved in 
 the library of the Iowa Slate Historical Society. 
 » Stat. Laws of Iowa, 4tii Gen. Ass'y, page 47.
 
 Educational Beginnings. 89 
 
 at Iowa Cit}' under the principalship of Samuel Bacon. 
 The institution was opened for the reception of students 
 on the 4th of April. Mr. Bacon was assisted by T. J. 
 McGittigen as instructor in music, and by Mrs. Sarah K. 
 Bacon, as matron. As principal, Mr. Bacon, though 
 blind himself, conducted the institution with eminent 
 success. In August, 1862, the school was removed from 
 Iowa City to Vinton, in Benton County. 
 
 School for the Deaf and Dumb. 
 
 The State "Institution for the Deaf and Dumb" was 
 established at Iowa City in accordance with an act of 
 the General Assembly approved January 24th, 1855.^ 
 At that time, out of the three hundred and one deaf 
 mutes in the State, lift}' attended this state school. W. 
 E. Ijams, who in fact had started the institution as a 
 private school, was made principal: but in 1S62 he re- 
 signed and Benjamin Talbot was appointed in his stead. 
 In 1866 a strong effort was made to remove the institu- 
 tion to Des Moines, which failed. Soon afterwards, 
 however, it was removed to Council Bluffs. 
 
 Churches. 
 
 It can hardly be charged that Iowa City was the seat 
 of infidelitv; for the a'l'owth of her churches was as 
 luxuriant as the growth of her schools, and far more 
 persistent. Almost from the very beginning the inhabit- 
 ants of Iowa City were surrounded by the most favor- 
 able religious conditions. Within a sincjle decade seven 
 different societies had been orjjanized and seven church 
 buildinors erected. 
 
 1 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 5th Gen. Ass'y, page 133.
 
 po Iowa City. 
 
 The impetus and diversity given to religious develop- 
 ment in these early years were, however, in a measure 
 the result of an outside stimulus as found in the liberal 
 policy of making certain land donations. This polic}' 
 was outlined by Chauncey Swan in 1839, when on the 
 town plat he caused four half-blocks to be reserved for 
 church purposes. 1 (See Chapter II on "The Founding 
 of Iowa City," page 30. ) In keeping with Mr. Swan's 
 policy the Legislative Assembly in Jul}-, 1840, passed 
 "An Act to grant certain lots of land in Iowa Citv, for 
 Church and Literary purposes."' According to this act 
 any religious denomination then existing in the United 
 States was entitled to one equal half of any of the 
 reserved half-blocks, " conditioned that they will erect 
 and finish on said lot a meeting house or place of wor- 
 ship within three years from the passage of this act." 
 The conditions of the act, it will be observed, neces- 
 sitated immediate action on the part of those denomina- 
 tions wishing to obtain the benefits of the land donations. 
 
 From 1840 to 1843, there seems to have been a gen- 
 eral religious movement in Iowa Cit}-, which resulted 
 in the organization of local branches of the following 
 denominations: jVIethodist Episcopal, Methodist Protest- 
 ant, Catholic, Presbyterian, New School Presbyterian, 
 Baptist and Universalist. Of these all but the Pres- 
 byterian and New School Presbyterian built on lots 
 reserved and granted by the Territory in accordance 
 with the conditions above named. 
 
 1 Church street derived its name from the circumstance of having 
 been the street on which two of the reservations were located. No 
 churclies, however, were ever erected on Cliurch street.
 
 VI. 
 
 THE STATE CAPITAL. 
 First Constitutional Convention, 
 
 Iowa City is preeminently the historical capital of 
 Iowa. For not only was it the permanent capital of the 
 Territory of Iowa, but, upon the admission of the Ter- 
 ritory into the Union, it also served as capital of the 
 State for a period of twelve years. 
 
 Two years and ten months after the first meeting of 
 the Legislative x\ssembly at Iowa City, "An Act to 
 provide for the expression of the opinion i of the people of 
 the Territory of Iowa upon the subject of the formation 
 of a State Constitution for the State of Iowa" was passed 
 by the Assembly and approved February 12th, 1844.^ 
 At the township elections held in the month of April 
 following the passage of this act, the people of the Ter- 
 ritory decided by large majorities in favor of a consti- 
 tutional convention. Accordingly at the next regular 
 election seventy-two delegates were chosen to attend 
 such a convention.^ 
 
 On Monday, October 7th, 1S44, the delegates from 
 
 1 Before the Assembly had ever met at Iowa City, State Government 
 had ah-eady been talked of in parts of the Territory. — Bloomington 
 Herald, Vol. II, No. 6. 
 
 2 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S43-44, page 13. 
 
 3 In the election of delegates the Democrats were victorious, electing 
 a majority of the delegates.
 
 .92 lovja City. 
 
 the different counties of the Territory assembled in the 
 Capitol at Iowa City to draft a constitution for the future 
 State. The convention was called to order b}- Gen. 
 Francis Gehon, of Dubuque County, and upon his motion 
 Ralph P. Lowe, of Muscatine, was appointed President 
 ■pro ton. The Rev. Mr. Snethen opened the convention 
 with prayer. 1 After the delegates had presented their 
 credentials, committees were appointed to examine these 
 credentials and prepare rules for the government of the 
 convention.^ 
 
 On the da}^ following, Shepherd Leffler, of Des 
 Moines County, was unanimously elected President of 
 the convention. After listening to a short speech by 
 Mr. Leffler the delegates at once vigorousl}' applied 
 themselves to the task before them in a business-like 
 manner. 3 A constitution having been formulated, the 
 first constitutional convention, after a session of twenty- 
 four days, adjourned sine die on the morning of Novem- 
 ber ist, 1844.'^ 
 
 The Boundary Dispute. 
 
 But when the constitution of 1844 was presented to 
 Congress a dispute arose between Congress and the 
 people of the Territor}- over the question of state 
 boundaries. As fixed by the constitutional convention 
 •the boundaries of the future State were: 
 
 Beginning in the middle of the main cliannel of the Mississippi river 
 opposite the mouth of the Des Moines river; tlicnce up the said river 
 
 1 A motion to have the convention opened each day witli prayer 
 was, after considerable discussion running through several days, indefi- 
 nitely postponed. — See Journal of Convention, page 31. 
 
 * Journal of Convention, pages 3, 4. 
 
 * lo-va Capital Report cr, Vol. Ill, No. 40. 
 
 * Journal of Convention, page 211.
 
 The State Cafital. 95 
 
 Des Moines in the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point where 
 it is intersected by the Old Indian Boundary line, or line run by John 
 C. Sullivan in the year iSi6; thence westwardly along said line to the 
 "Old North-west corner of Missouri;" thence due west to the middle 
 of the main channel of the Missouri river; thence up in the middle of 
 the main channel of the river last mentioned to the mouth of the Sioux 
 or Calumet river; thence in a direct line to the middle of the main 
 channel of the St. Peter's ri^•er, where the Watonwan river (according 
 to Nicollet's map) enters the same; thence down the middle of the main 
 channel of said river to the middle of the main channel of the Missis- 
 sippi river; thence down the middle of the main channel of said river, 
 to the place of begin ning.i 
 
 Congress was not satisfied with these boundaries, and 
 in an act approved March 3rd, 1845, ordered that part 
 of the constitution which referred to boundaries to read : 
 
 Beginning at the mouth of the Des Moines river, at the middle of the 
 Mississippi, thence by the middle of the channel of that river to a par- 
 allel of latitude passing through the mouth of the Mankato or Blue- 
 Eaith river, thence west along the said parallel of latitude to a point 
 where it is intersected by a meridian line, seventeen degrees and thirty 
 minutes west of the meridian of Washington city, thence due south to 
 the northern boundary line of the state of Missouri, thence eastwardly 
 following that boundary to the point at which the same intersects the 
 Des Moines river, thence b}' the middle of the channel of that river to 
 the place of beginning. 2 
 
 In April the new state constitution was submitted to 
 the people of the Territory. But the people, unwilling 
 to concede to the few changes made in the boundaries 
 by Congress, rejected the constitution entire. 
 
 When the Legislative Assembly met in June, 1845, an 
 act was passed ordering the constitution to be re-submit- 
 ted to the people of the Territory upon the first Monday 
 of August for their ratification or rejection: '■'■Provided, 
 That the ratification of the constitution shall not be con- 
 strued as an acceptance of the boundaries fixed by Con- 
 
 * Journal of Convention, page 187. 
 
 ' U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, page 742.
 
 94 Iowa City. 
 
 gress in the late act of admission, and the admission 
 shall not be deemed complete until whatever condition 
 may be imposed by Congress, shall be ratified by the 
 people."^ At the August election the constitution of 
 1844 was again rejected by the people of the Territory. 
 
 Negro Suffrage. 
 
 In these early days there existed in Iowa a predomi- 
 nant sentiment against negro suffrage. Accordingly the 
 provisions relating to suffrage incorporated in the con- 
 stitution drafted in 1844 read: "Every white male, etc." 
 Yet there did exist a small minorit}' who advocated 
 negro suffrage; and when the convention of 1844 met 
 at Iowa City to draft a constitution for the future State, 
 a petition, praying that all the rights and privileges of 
 other citizens be granted also to people of color, was 
 presented and read to the convention. A few da3's after 
 the readmg of the petition, the committee appointed to 
 consider it reported that in their opinion it would be 
 inexpedient to grant the prayer of the petition. And in 
 support of their position the committee attempted to 
 reconcile the doctrine of expediency with the social 
 compact theory of government, as Vvill be seen in the 
 following: 
 
 That all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator 
 with equal unalienable rights, your committee are free to admit: That 
 so far as nature is concerned those rights are as sacred to the black man 
 as the white man, and should be so regarded. This liowever is a mere 
 abstract proposition, and although strictly true, when applied to man in 
 a state of nature; yet it becomes very much modified when man is con- 
 sidered in the artificial state in which government and society places 
 him. Thus the infant is not entitled to liberty or the pursuits of hap- 
 piness until he arrives at the age of twenty-one years. Females by the 
 
 1 .Stat. Laws, la. Ter. Session 1845, page 3:.
 
 The State Capital. 95 
 
 arbitrary rules of society are excluded and debarred from many things 
 which males consider rights and high privileges — such as the elective 
 franchise, holding office, &c. Now in these cases the female and infant 
 are denied what we abstractly term unalienable rights, and they submit 
 without complaint or murmer. No one thinks of sympathizing with 
 them in their deprivations. The philanthropist has never had occasion 
 to commiserate their fate, still it is in those respects the same as the 
 citizen of color. The negro is surely no better than our wives and chil- 
 dren, and should not excite sj'mpathy when they desire the political 
 rights W'hich they are deprived of. 
 
 The great error that exists in the minds of our citizens who reason 
 in favor of negro suffrage and citizenship, arises from their mingling the 
 natural and artificial rights of man, and treating the artificial institu- 
 tions of government as sacred and as undeniable to man as the abstract 
 rights of nature; a position which is untrue in point of fact, and in 
 opposition to the experience of the whole world. Governments are 
 strictly conventional, and although based upon the laws of nature, they 
 are necessarily limited and circumscribed in their operation. It is made 
 for those who are to be benefitted by it, and is not bound to imbar its 
 doors and receive every vagrant who may take refuge in it. 
 
 Government is an institution or an association entered into by man, 
 the very constitution of which changes or modifies to a greatei- or less 
 extent his natural lights. Some are surrendered, others modified. The 
 compensation for these sacrifices, is found in the greater security in 
 those rights retained, and a cheapening of the expense of protecting 
 them. It is a means sought by man to make more available, secure, 
 and certain his unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuits of hap- 
 piness. Thus the citizen acquires a species of property in his govern- 
 ment, which he has a right to enjoy without molestation and without 
 disturbance. In forming or maintaining a government it is the privi- 
 lege and duty of those who have or are about to associate together for 
 that purpose to modify and limit the rights or wholly exclude from the 
 association, any and every species of persons who would endanger, les- 
 sen or in the least impair the enjoyment of these rights. We have seen 
 that the application of this principle limits the rights of our sons, modi- 
 fies the privileges of our wives and daughters, and would not be unjust 
 if it excluded the negro altogether. — 'Tis the party to the compact that 
 should complain, not the stranger. Even hospitality does not sanction 
 complaint under such circumstances. True, these persons may be un- 
 fortunate, but the government is not unjust. 
 
 If your committee are correct in their views, the question presented 
 for consideration is plainly this: Would the admission of the negro as 
 a citizen tend in the least to lessen, endanger or impair the enjoyment
 
 96 
 
 loiva City. 
 
 of our governmental institutions — in other words would the accession 
 of a negro population produce any of these consequences. If it would 
 we should be unwise to admit them, if it would not, then it would be 
 wanton and wrong to exclude them. The whole subject should be 
 properly treated as a question of policy or contract where self interest is 
 just as properly consulted, as in the promotion of a commercial treaty 
 or a private contract. 'Tis the -vliite population who are about to form 
 a government for themselves — no negro is represented in this conven- 
 tion, and no one proposes to become a member of the compact. 'Tis the 
 white population of this Territory who petition for the admission of the 
 negro. They necessarily believe that the introduction of such a popu- 
 lation as citizens would not interfere with the enjoyments of the white 
 citizens, or they place this admission on the ground that the negro has 
 the arbitrary claim, based as a natural right. The proposition would 
 stand thus: 
 
 I St, That the negroes are a desirable or at least a harmless popu- 
 lation: 
 
 2nd, That the negro has a natural right to be admitted as an equal 
 citizen. 
 
 The former proposition begs, the latter commands. 
 
 Can the negro be admitted to those privileges and not impair the 
 rights of the whites.' your committee think not. The Government then 
 would be unjust to admit them. The negro not being a party to the 
 government has no right to partake of its privileges. 
 
 However your committee may commiserate with the degraded condi- 
 tion of the negroes, and feel for his fate, yet they can never consent to 
 open the doors of our beautiful State and invite him to settle our lands. 
 The policy of other States would drive the whole black population of 
 the Union upon us. The ballot box would fall into their hands and a 
 train of evils would follow that in the opinion of your committee would 
 be incalculable. The rights of persons would be less secure, and private 
 property materially impaired. The injustice to the white population 
 would be beyond computation. There are strong reasons to induce the 
 belief that the two races could not exist in the same government upon 
 an equality without discord and violence, that might eventuate in insur- 
 rection, bloodshed and final extermination of one of the two races. No 
 one can doubt that a degraded prostitution of moral feeling would ensue, 
 a tendency to emalgamate the two races would be superinduced, a de- 
 graded and reckless population would follow; idleness, crime and 
 misery would come in their train, and government itself fall into anar- 
 chy or despotism. Having these views of the subject your committee 
 think it inexpedient to grant the prayer of the petition. * 
 
 ' Journal of Convention, page 52.
 
 The State Capital. 97 
 
 Second Constitutionat. Convention. 
 
 The constitution of 1S44 had been rejected; but by 
 an exceedingly small majority. The sentiment in favor 
 of state government was still strong throughout the 
 Territory; and on the 17th day of January, 1846, an act 
 of the Legislative Assembly was approved providing for 
 the election of delegates to a convention to form a con- 
 stitution and state government.' In pursuance of this 
 act thirty-two delegates were elected at the township 
 elections held in April. 
 
 On the 4th day of May, 1846, the second constitu- 
 tional convention convened at Iowa City in the halls of 
 the Capitol. Enos Lowe was elected President of the 
 convention. As in 1844 there was a business-like dis- 
 posal of the work in hand. There was no loafing, no 
 waste of public funds. In the course of two wrecks the 
 labors of the convention were completed, and final ad- 
 journment was made on May 19th. The constitution 
 adopted by this convention was subsequently accepted 
 by the people of the Territory on the 3rd day of 
 August, 1846, by a vote of 9,492 to 9,036.- 
 
 The two important questions discussed in the conven- 
 tion of 1846 related, the one to state boundaries, and the 
 other to corporations (especially banking corporations). 
 After much debate the question of state boundaries was 
 settled by the adoption of those lines which to this day 
 obtain for the State. The discussion on corporations 
 was more intense and resulted in the total prohibition, 
 for a time, of all banking business within the limits of 
 Iowa. 
 
 1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S45-46, page 37. 
 
 2 Bloomingtoti Herald^ New Series, Vol. I, No. 22.
 
 98 lozua City. 
 
 The Abolition of Banks. 
 
 The hostility toward banking corporations, which was 
 so effectually incorporated in the constitution of 1846, 
 was as old as the Territory. It first manifested itself 
 in repeated attacks on the Miners' Bank of Dubuque. 
 Inherited from the Territory of Wisconsin, ^ the Miners' 
 Bank never was cherished by the people of Iowa. 
 Indeed it was looked upon by them with a feeling of 
 jealousy and suspicion. Intensified by the hard times 
 that followed the panic of 1837, this feeling began to call 
 for the repeal of the Bank's charter. At the same time 
 a general movement against banking corporations was 
 inaugurated throughout the Territory. 
 
 The strength of this sentiment in 1S44 ma}' be gauged 
 by section 3 of article IX of the State constitution drafted 
 in that year, which section reads: 
 
 The Legislature shall create no bank or bankhig institution, or cor- 
 poration witii banking privileges in this State, unless the charter witli 
 all its provisions, shall be submitted to a vote of the people at a general 
 election for State officers, and receive a majority of the votes of the 
 •qualified electors of this State, cast for and against it. 
 
 In 1845 the Legislative Assembly repealed the char- 
 ter of the Miners' Bank of Dubuque and provided for 
 "winding up the affairs of the same."^ This action of 
 the Assembly was based upon the charge that the char- 
 ter had been abused or misused. On the other hand, 
 the Miners' Bank maintained that there had been no 
 such abuse or misuse, and resisted the enforcement of 
 the act. The matter was then taken to the courts, and 
 a decisi(jn rendered against the Bank h\ the Supreme 
 
 ^ Sec Chapter IN' on "The Territorial Capital," page 69, foot-note 3. 
 * Stat. Law^, la. Ter., .Session 1S45 of Leg. Assy, page 54.
 
 The State Capital. 99 
 
 Court.* Whether the Assembly was justitied in abolish- 
 ing the Miners' Bank, I do not know. But in repeahng 
 the charter without at the same time making satis- 
 factory arrangements for the payment of certain just 
 debts 2 due the Bank from the Territory, the Legislative 
 Assembly certainly committed a disgraceful breach of 
 faith. 
 
 The movement against banking corporations did not 
 end with the repeal of the charter of the Miners' Bank. 
 In 1846 it reached the point where the total abolition 
 of all banks and banking business was demanded. And 
 to satisfy this demand the following provision was incor- 
 porated in the constitution vmder which Iowa became a 
 State : 
 
 No corporate body shall hereafter be created, renewed or extended, 
 with the privilege of making, issuing, or putting in circulation, any bill, 
 check, ticket, certificate, promissory note, or other paper, or the paper 
 of any bank, to circulate as money. The General Assembly of this 
 State shall prohibit, by law, any person or persons, association, com- 
 pany or corporation, from exercising the privileges of banking, or creat- 
 ing paper to circulate as money. ^ 
 
 Iowa remained without banks until 1857, or for about 
 twelve years. By the new State constitution drafted in 
 1S57, banking business was again legahzed.'* In 1858, 
 "An Act to Incorporate the State Bank of lowa"^ and 
 "An Act authorizincr General Banking in the State of 
 Iowa"® were passed by the General Assembly. 
 
 1 Morris Reports (Iowa), page 48^. 
 
 - See Chapter IV on "The Territorial Capital," pages 6S, 69. 
 
 3 Article IX, Section i of Constitution (1S46). 
 
 4 Article VIII of Constitution (1S57). 
 
 5 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 7th Gen. Ass'y, page 125. 
 * Ibid, page 215.
 
 lOO loiva City. 
 
 An Era of Progress. 
 
 It has already been observed that the growth and 
 development of Iowa City during the first two years of 
 its existence was phenomenal. ^ But as early as 1842 a 
 reaction had set in. There was a great decrease in real 
 estate values; business congested; and the ambitious 
 attempts in education failed completely. However, with 
 the admission of Iowa into the Union in 1846, with all 
 the privileges and powers of a sovereign State, the tide 
 of fortune again turned in favor of the capital city. 
 
 The constitutional conventions of 'fort}'- four and 
 'forty-six had added much to the reputation of Iowa 
 City abroad. For throughout the Territory the con- 
 stitutions were discussed and incidentally Iowa City 
 would receive mention in the same breath. Then be- 
 sides there was the added dignity of being the State 
 capital. With the increase of population there had 
 been a corresponding increase of public business. The 
 Assembly expanded, and new pubhc offices were cre- 
 ated. And all this helped to intensify the activities at 
 the capital. 
 
 The re-invigoration was soon perceptible. In May, 
 1847, the Standard records that: "At no time within 
 two or three years past has there been such a show of 
 active business operations in our city as at present. The 
 merchants have fine stocks of cfoods and seem to be 
 driving a profitable trade in their respective lines; the 
 mechanics are busily employed; the citizens enjoy good 
 health; and in every part of the town there is a general 
 righting up of houses, door-yards, gardens and enclos- 
 ures, indicating a reaction of public spirit. The country 
 
 1 Chapter III on "The Beginnings of Municipal Life," pages 37, 38.
 
 The State Capital. loi 
 
 having taken a healthy start, we may now look forward 
 to a steady improvement." ^ 
 
 And this, let it be remembered, was the glorious 
 period in the history of Iowa City, the era of progress 
 - — ^from the meeting of the first two constitutional con- 
 ventions in 1844 and 1846 to the meeting of the third 
 convention in 1857. Just beginning to realize the vast 
 possibilities of her resources, Iowa felt strong in the 
 vigor of youth ; and as the capital, Iowa City partook of 
 this robust and exuberant feelino-. Furthermore the 
 town was now influenced by the touch of such high- 
 minded men as Robert Lucas, John Chambers, James 
 Harlan, W. Penn Clarke and Samuel J. Kirkwood. 
 
 Iowa City was the seat of high courts of justice. The 
 Supreme Court of Iowa met in the northeast room on 
 the lower floor of the Capitol. And from time to time 
 the United States District Court met in the same room. 
 
 During this period Iowa City became historic as the 
 birth-place of the fundamental principles of Iowa law 
 and jurisprudence. The three state constitutions, as 
 well as the code of 185 1, were all drafted in Iowa City. 
 
 Early Railroad Projects. 
 
 Iowa Cit}' was just beginning to feel the impulse of 
 a renewed life, when by the entrance of railroads into 
 the city of Chicago, there was aroused throughout the 
 West a general interest in railroad construction. In 
 Iowa this interest was most active in and around Du- 
 buque, ^ where on the nth of March, 1848 a large public 
 meeting^ was held for the purpose of taking steps in 
 
 1 lo-va Standard, New Series, \o\. I, No. 45. 
 
 s/<5/rf,Vol. II, No. 26. 
 
 s " Dubuque" in loxva Standard, New Series, Vol. II, No. 26.
 
 I02 lozva City. 
 
 reference to a railroad that would connect Lake Michi- 
 gan with the Mississippi 1 and extend into Iowa. At the 
 same time the people of Bloomington- (Muscatine), Iowa 
 City, Keokuk, Davenport and Burlington were not asleep 
 to the advantages of railroads. Moreover, Iowa City, 
 being the capital of the State, was naturally the objec- 
 tive point of all the early railroads projected within the 
 limits of Iowa. 
 
 The tirst railroad proposed within the limits of Iowa 
 was to run from Dubuque to Keokuk via Iowa City 
 through the counties of Dubuque, Jones, Linn, Johnson, 
 Washington, Henry and Lee. And so considerable was 
 the interest taken in this scheme that in January, 1848, 
 the General Assembly memorialized Con<rress for lands 
 to be appropriated in the construction of a railroad from 
 Dubuque to Keokuk.^ 
 
 In December, 1848, the board of directors for the 
 Dubuque & Keokuk Railroad met at Iowa City and 
 elected Maj. L. H. Langworthy, of Dubuque, President; 
 P. R. Skinner, of Anamosa, Secretarv; and J. H. Fisher, 
 of Iowa City, Treasurer. At this meeting the directors 
 listened to a report of the engineer appointed to make 
 a reconnoisance of the proposed route. According to 
 this report the length of the route was estimated at 
 about one hundred and ninety-six miles. The super- 
 structure contemplated was to consist of " longitudinal 
 sills, cross sills and rails, all of timber, the rails sur- 
 mounted with iron plates." As estimated, the cost of 
 
 ' This was known as the Chicago iV Galena I^aiiioad. — lov^'u Sfaiid- 
 ar(i,'Se\v Series, Vol. II, Xo. 17. 
 
 2 See Iiloomin<rton Herald, New Series, Vol. II, Nos. S3, S6. 
 2 Stat. Laws of Iowa, Extra Session, 1S47-4S, page 100.
 
 The State Cafital. 103 
 
 the road completed and ready for cars was to be $2,071.- 
 788.00.1 The detailed report of the engineer was pre- 
 sented to the General Assembly, and accepted bv that 
 body in Januar}-, 1849, ^" ^ joint resolution memorializ- 
 ing Congress a second time for a grant of lands to aid 
 in the construction of the proposed road.^ In 1851, the 
 company was granted a right of way;^ but the Dubuque 
 & Keokuk Railroad was never constructed. 
 
 Besides the Dubuque and Keokuk project the other 
 proposed roads were: The Davenport & Council Bluffs 
 Railroad, to run " from Davenport via Bloomington 
 (Muscatine), Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to some 
 suitable point near Council Bluffs on the Missouri 
 River ;"^ the Camanche & Council Bluffs Railroad, to 
 run "from Camanche in Clinton Countv via Dewitt, 
 Tipton, Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to Council 
 Bluffs on the Missouri River;"'' and the Lyons Iowa 
 Central Railroad, to run "from the Narrows of the Mis- 
 sissippi River in the town of Lyons, in Clinton County 
 [via Iowa City ] to Council Bluffs." « 
 
 Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Company. 
 
 On the 14th day of October, 1850, the Davenport «& 
 Iowa City Railroad Company was organized by a few 
 of the citizens of Iowa City who on that day met at the 
 office of George S. Hampton. James P. Carleton was 
 elected President; LeGrand Byington, Treasurer; and 
 
 1 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 2nd Gen. Ass'y, Resolution No. 5, page 171. 
 
 2 Ibid^ page 171. 
 
 * Stat. Laws of Iowa, 3rd Gen. Ass'y, page 129. 
 
 * Stat. Laws of Iowa, 2nd Gen. AssV, Resolution 15, page 1S4. 
 B Stat. Laws of Iowa, 31-d Gen. Ass'y, page 70. 
 
 * Ibid^ page 95.
 
 1 04 lozva City. 
 
 Henry W. Lathrop, Secretary.^ Five thousand dollars 
 had already been subscribed to the capital stock of the 
 company. 2 
 
 The people of Davenport had already expressed their 
 willingfness to concur with the citizens of Iowa Citv in 
 this new enterprise, when, on the 21st of October, 1850, 
 at a special meeting of the Board of Directors held at 
 Iowa City, LeGrand Bvington was authorized to pro- 
 ceed to Davenport and Rock Island for the purpose of 
 procuring the services of an engineer to make a survey 
 of the proposed route. ^ Soon afterwards the necessary 
 surveys were made by one, Richard P. Morgan.* The 
 notes of the survey, along with an estimate of the cost 
 of constructing a road and of the probable amount of 
 business, were then published in pamphlet form and dis- 
 tributed throughout the East, the object being to get 
 eastern capitalists interested in the proposed railroad.^ 
 
 At a regular meeting of the Board of Directors held 
 at Iowa City on the 2nd of November, it was resolved 
 to send a memorial to Congress praying for a grant of 
 lands. <* In Januar}-, 1851, the use of "Center Market'"' 
 in Iowa City was granted to the company b}' the Gen- 
 eral Assembly as well as a right of way through the 
 State. 8 
 
 It was, however, not so much the sincere object of 
 the Davenj">ort & Iowa City Railroad Company to build 
 
 1 Original MS. Records of the D. cV I. C. R. R. Co., page i. 
 
 * Ibid, page i. 
 ' Ibid, page 3. 
 
 * Ibid, page 9. 
 
 '' Oral testimony of the company's Secretary, H. W. Lathrop. 
 « Original MS. Records of the D. & I. C. R. R. Co., page 5. 
 ' .Slat. Laws of Iowa, 3rd Gen. Ass'y, page 19. 
 "* Ibid, page 22.
 
 The State Capital. 105 
 
 a railroad as it was their purpose to survey a route, 
 obtain a right of vvav, show up the feasibihty of building 
 railroads in Iowa, and, when the opportunity should pre- 
 sent itself, to transfer their rights and property to the 
 first railroad company that proposed to enter the State, 
 provided Iowa City be made a point in the construction 
 and operation of the road.^ The desired opportunity 
 came with the organization of the Mississippi & Missouri 
 Railroad Company at Chicago in 1853. 
 
 Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company. 
 
 At the meeting of the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad 
 Company in Chicago in May, 1853, LeGrand Byington 
 represented the interests of the Davenport & Iowa City 
 Railroad Company, and W. Penn Clarke, assisted by 
 LeGrand Byington, was delegate on behalf of the peo- 
 ple of Iowa City. After the Chicago meeting the lead- 
 ing men of the M. & M. R. R. Co. appeared in Iowa 
 City, and at a public meeting unfolded their plans as 
 follows : 
 
 1. They assumed to build the first division of the 
 main line to Iowa Citv in two vears. 
 
 2. To extend a branch from Iowa City to the Min- 
 nesota line, through Cedar Rapids. 
 
 3. To construct and operate another branch from 
 Iowa City through Washington to the Missouri at St. 
 Joseph. 
 
 4. To pay all interest on county and city bonds issued 
 until the road paid dividends at the rate of 10 per cent. 
 
 In consideration whereof they required local stock 
 subscriptions to the amount of about $140,000. 
 
 About $30,000 was immediately subscribed by the 
 
 1 Oral testimony of the company's Secretary, H. \V. Lathrop.
 
 io6 lozva City. 
 
 citizens. Soon afterwards bonds were voted by Johnson 
 County to the amount of $50,000 and by Iowa Cit}- to 
 the same amount. And the Davenport & Iowa City 
 Raih'oad Companv transferred to the M. «& M. R. R. 
 Co., all their rights, franchises, property and stock on 
 the conditions heretofore named. 
 
 The work on the main division of the road from Dav- 
 enport to Iowa City, which was begun at once, was to 
 be completed bv the ist day of January, 1856. As the 
 eventful day approached there was great excitement and 
 stir in Iowa City. The citizens resolved to hold a grand 
 railroad festival on the 3rd of Januarv, and donated 
 $2,600 to meet expenses. Invitations were sent out to 
 prominent citizens of Chicago, Rock Island, Dubuque, 
 Burlington and other Iowa towns. 
 
 On the last day of December it was feared that the 
 road w'ould not be finished that da\'. Whereupon a 
 number of the citizens of Iowa City laid hold of the 
 work with their own hands. Their labors were con- 
 tinued far into the night and in the light of large wood 
 fires and burning tar barrels presented a dramatic scene. 
 
 At two o'clock JanuarN' 3rd, the booming of guns 
 announced the arrival of seven cars filled with guests, 
 who were received by the citizens and escorted to the 
 Capitol. Here they were welcomed by LeGrand Bying- 
 ton, the President of the dav. Dr. Maxwell, of Chicago, 
 responded on behalf of the guests. Then followed the 
 banquet with toasts and speeches. The old stone Capi- 
 tol never witnessed a more joyous occasion. It was 
 long after midnii^ht when the last strains of music hushed 
 and the last foot-falls resounded through the corridors of 
 the Capitol. 
 
 Having reached Iowa City in January, 1S56, the M. 
 & M. R. R. Co. (lid not for se\'eral years extend their
 
 The State Capital . 107 
 
 road farther west. This fact contributed much to the 
 importance and growth of Iowa City; for, being the 
 terminus of the only raih"oad in Iowa-, the trafiic and 
 immigration to interior Iowa necessarily passed directly 
 through the town. The era of progress which had set 
 in about 1847, continued; and Iowa City now grew 
 rapidly, notwithstanding she was about to lose her dis- 
 tinction as the capital city. 
 
 A Municipal Corporation. 
 
 Without an organized form of municipal government 
 for a period of fourteen years, Iowa City was finally 
 incorporated under special articles of incorporation pass- 
 ed by the General Assembly and approved on the 24th 
 of January, 1S53. 
 
 Previous to this, however, there had been an attempt 
 to maintain a town government which after a trial of 
 several months proved ineffectual. The officers elected 
 at the time w^ere: James Robinson, Mayor; Anson 
 Hart, Secretary; Thomas Ricord, Treasurer. Ebenezer 
 Sangster, who had been appointed Marshal, at once pro- 
 ceeded to carry out the duties of his office by ordering 
 the inhabitants to clean up the streets and alleys. These 
 orders, unfortunately, led him into difiiculty; for the 
 inhabitants were so unaccustomed to the commands of a 
 town officer that in many cases they flatly refused to 
 obey. But the real crisis of this administration came 
 when the officers, finding it necessary to obtain money 
 for the support of the government, levied a municipal 
 tax. This tax the people refused to pay. Whereupon 
 the officers, disgusted at being left without financial sup- 
 port, dropped their official duties and returned to their 
 ordinary pursuits.
 
 io8 lozva City. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 6th of April, 1853, the following 
 officers of Iowa Cit}- took the oath of office before 
 George S. Hampton, Clerk of the Supreme Court of 
 Iowa: Jacob DeForest, Mayor; Anson Hart, Recorder; 
 C. H. Buck, Treasurer; Robert Hutchinson, Marshal; 
 Benjamin King, Assessor; and Edward Lanning, Wil- 
 liam H. Hunt, Thomas Snyder, Franz P. Brossart, Wil- 
 liam Penn Clarke, Peter Roberts, Peter Statzer and John 
 Van Fleet, Aldermen. On the evening of the same day 
 these officers held their first meeting in the Capitol. 
 
 Municipal Improvements. 
 
 Up to the time of its incorporation Iowa City must 
 certainly have presented a ragged appearance. The 
 streets were neither paved nor graded. In many places 
 they were almost impassable on account of brush and 
 stumps of trees. With the exception of a few hundred 
 feet on Clinton street there were no sidewalks. One 
 hundred and fourteen dogs ran loose untaxed: and 
 droves of hogs, running at large, rooted in the streets 
 and before private door yards. Indeed the hog had 
 become an obnoxious public nuisance. 
 
 To the task of remedying this condition of affairs the 
 new administration at once applied its energies. An 
 ordinance to "provide for Cleaning of Streets, Roads 
 and Sidewalks" passed by the City Council on the 
 13th of April was soon followed by others relating to 
 nuisances, street grading, the removal of brush and 
 stumps, and sidewalks. Hogs were prohibited from 
 running at large; and all dogs were taxed. In Feb- 
 ruarv, 1855, a Board of Health was created. In Decem- 
 ber, 1856, a permit to light the town by gas for twenty 
 years was granted to David R. B. Nevin & Co.
 
 The State Capital. 109 
 
 A Political Center. 
 
 From 1839 to 1857, Iowa City, being the capital, was 
 the nerve-center of Iowa politics. It was the seat of the 
 General Assembly and the town of public conventions of 
 all kinds. From January to January the atmosphere 
 was full of politics. During the sessions of the General 
 Assembly discussions naturally became more vehement 
 and heated; for all eyes in the State were then turned 
 towards the capital. Lobbyists appeared at the hotels 
 and plied their profession with much zeal; yet the lobb\- 
 in those da^'s is insignificant when compared to the 
 body of persons that now hovers about the Capitol at 
 Des Moines to "influence" public officials. 
 
 Then too the members of the earlier Assemblies were 
 not so open to political intrigues and jobbery. Mostlv 
 farmers, they were as a rule straight-forward honest 
 men, and did what seemed to them their duty towards 
 their fellow citizens. It is true that their narrow-minded- 
 ness sometimes led them into blunders; but such mis- 
 takes were due to ignorance and not to corruption. In 
 a certain respect they w^ere at one w'ith their successors. 
 They were parsimonious. In practicing their economv 
 they were over-zealous. Their conception of public 
 business was narrowed by their ideas of private enter- 
 prise. To appropriate more money than could be readily 
 counted on one's fingers was to them a great waste of 
 public funds. 
 
 Full of life and energy while the General Assembly 
 was in session, Iowa City was certainly dull w^hen the 
 members had finished their public business and departed 
 to their homes. During the period of adjournment the 
 town was even more forsaken than it now is after com- 
 mencement.
 
 VII. 
 
 REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL. 
 
 Agitation for Removal. 
 
 The same argument that led to the location of the 
 capital in Johnson County in 1839, forced its removal to 
 Des Moines in 1857. I refer to the argument that the 
 capital of a Territory or State ought to command a 
 central location, both geographically and with respect to 
 the future mass of population. 
 
 No sooner had Iowa become a State than it was 
 observed, especially by the inhabitants of the Des Moines 
 valley, that the location of Iowa City was far from the 
 geographical center of the State as bounded by the con- 
 stitution of 1846. Hence the public mind began to 
 look forward to an ultimate change in the location of 
 the capital.! But the change did not come without a 
 struggle. 
 
 At the first session of the General Assembly which 
 met at Iowa City in December, 1846, the question of 
 removal was first brought up, and at the time was dis- 
 cussed with considerable interest. The argument based 
 on the principle of rodral location was a strong one; but 
 the opposition were undoubtedly in the right when they 
 maintained that immediate removal would be premature. 
 For the center of population had not }et passed Iowa 
 
 1 Stat. Laws of Iowa, ist Gen. AssV, page 204.
 
 Removal of the Capital. 1 1 1 
 
 City. Shortly before the close of the session the discus- 
 sion ended in a compromise, that proposed to leave Iowa 
 City in possession of the State University upon the 
 removal of the capital farther west. With this under- 
 standing "An Act to provide for the location of the 
 Seat of Government of the State of Iowa and for the 
 selection of land <jjranted by Congress^ to aid in erecting 
 Public Buildings " was passed by the General Assembly 
 and approved on the 22nd of February 1847.^ By this 
 act, John Brown, Joseph Hoag and John Taylor were 
 appointed commissioners to meet in the month of May, 
 1847, and examine the State for the purpose of selecting 
 land and of making a location for the permanent seat of 
 government, which location must be near the geographi- 
 cal center of the State. -^ 
 
 Monroe City. 
 
 In accordance with their instructions from the General 
 Assembly the above named commissioners met in Henry 
 County^ and proceeded to examine such parts of the 
 State as they deemed expedient; and after an examina- 
 tion of a considerable portion of the unsettled as well as 
 the settled parts of the State, they selected live sections 
 of land in Jasper County, namely: Sections four, five, 
 eight, nine, the west half of section three and the west 
 half of section ten, all in township seventy-eight north, 
 range twenty west of the fifth Principal Meridian. ^ On 
 
 1 Five sections of land were granted bv Congress in an act passed 
 March 3rd, 1845. — U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, page 790. 
 - Stat. Laws of Iowa, ist Gen. Ass'y, page 85. 
 3 Ibid, page 85. 
 
 * Report of Commissioners, House Jour., 2nd Gen. Ass'y, page 199. 
 s Ibid, page 199.
 
 112 lozva City. 
 
 these lands the commissioners caused to be laid out a 
 town which they called Monroe City.^ 
 
 After Monroe City had been surveyed and platted the 
 commissioners gave notice of a public sale of lots. The 
 sale was begun on the 28th of October and continued 
 from day to day until the 2nd of November. Four 
 hundred and fifteen lots were sold at these sales. 
 One of the commissioners alone purchased thirtv-eight 
 lots — for which he paid the average price of about $6.50 
 per lot. 
 
 The location of Monroe City, however, met with gen- 
 eral disapproval throughout the State. The people of 
 the Des Moines valley, for whose special benefit the 
 removal had been made, called a public meeting to 
 protest against the action of the commissioners. Even 
 those who had so strongly advocated removal, now that 
 the location had been made nearer the geographical 
 center of the State, began to feel that it was absurd to 
 remove the capital while yet the center of population 
 remained east of Iowa City. Indeed, so universal was 
 the dissatisfaction that at the next session of the General 
 Assembly an act was passed vacating the town of Mon- 
 roe City. 2 Thus the first agitation for removal proved 
 abortive and Iowa City remained the capital ten years 
 longer. 
 
 Note. — The proceeds of the sale of the five sections of land, granted 
 by Congress to the State of Iowa and selected by the commissioners in 
 Jasper County as the location for the capital, were afterwards appropri- 
 ated for the use and benefit of the Iowa Agricultural College in the 
 original act establishing said College in 1S5S. — See Stat. Laws of Iowa, 
 7th Gen. Ass'y, page 774. 
 
 ' Report of Commissioners, Mouse Jour., 2nd Gen. Ass'y, page 199. 
 
 '•^ The act vacating Monroe City also provided for refunding all money 
 received in payment for lots purchased in said town. — .Stat. Laws of 
 Iowa, 2nd Gen. Ass'y, page 147.
 
 Removal of the Capital. 113 
 
 Des Moines. 
 
 The Monroe City episode had the immediate effect of 
 weakening the party in favor of removing the capital. 
 But they still argued for a central location, ^ and finalh', 
 when the 5th General Assembly met at Iowa City in 
 the winter of 1854-55, succeeded in passing "An Act 
 to relocate the seat of Government. ^ 
 
 This act, which was approved on the 25th of January, 
 1855, provided, that five commissioners, appointed by the 
 Governor, shall select a site within two miles of the 
 junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in Polk 
 County; and that "it shall be the duty of the commis- 
 sioners in making the relocation to obtain at least as 
 much land as is necessary for the capital buildings, and 
 may be practicable to obtain without charge to the State, 
 and also an}^ and all grants and donations of land and 
 town lots, within their power to the State." ^ 
 
 In comphance with the above act the commissioners 
 appointed by the Governor selected as a site for the 
 permanent seat of government of the State the land 
 upon which the present Capitol of Iowa stands in the 
 cit}^ of Des Moines on the east side of the Des INIoines 
 River. 
 
 Third Constitutional Convention. 
 
 On the day previous to the one on which the act to 
 relocate the seat of government was approved, an act of 
 equal importance received the signature of the Governor. 
 This was an act submitting to a vote of the people the 
 question of a constitutional convention to revise and 
 
 1 See House Jour, of 3rd Gen. Ass'y, pages 236, 2S9. 
 * Stat. Laws of Iowa, 5th Gen. Ass'y, page 105. 
 s Ibid., page 106.
 
 114 lozva City. 
 
 amend the constitution of 1846.^ At the general election 
 held on the first Monday in August, 1856, the people 
 decided in favor of revision — they had grown weary of 
 the clause in the constitution of 1846 which abolished 
 banks — and on the Tuesday after the first Monday in 
 November elected delegates to a convention. 
 
 This convention, the third of its kind called into exist- 
 ence by the people of Iowa, assembled at Iowa City on 
 the 19th da}^ of January, 1857.2 The General Assem- 
 bly being yet in session at the Capitol, the convention 
 held its meetings for a few days in the Supreme Court 
 room, which on account of its size was somewhat incon- 
 venient.^ On the 20th, permanent organization was 
 effected with Francis Springer as President.^ On the 
 29th the General Assembly adjourned, after which the 
 convention occupied the more convenient halls of the 
 Assembly. After a session of forty-live days the third 
 constitutional convention adjourned sine die.^ 
 
 The constitution drafted by this convention — known 
 as the constitution of 1857 — was submitted to the peo- 
 ple and approved by them at the general election in 
 August, 1857. 
 
 The constitution of 1857, like the constitutions of 1844 
 and 1846, contained an elaborately drawn bill of rights, 
 defined the conditions of suffrage, and besides prescrib- 
 ing the form of government in its legislative, executive 
 
 > Stat. Laws of Iowa, 5th Gen. Ass'y, page 114. 
 "Journal of Convention, page 3. 
 
 * Familiar with the situation the city councils of both Dubuque and 
 Davenport oflfered to entertain the convention and furnish suitable 
 accommodations in case the convention decided to remove from Iowa 
 City. — .See Journal of Convention, pages 6, 7. 
 
 * /hid, page 10. 
 
 ■"' /bid, page 389.
 
 Removal of the Capital. 115 
 
 and judicial departments, embraced detailed legislation 
 respecting state debts, corporations, education and 
 school lands, and miscellaneous topics. The sev'eral 
 constitutions of Iowa have alike conformed to the gen- 
 eral tendency in American commonwealths to legislative 
 enactments by constitutional conventions. This tendency, 
 developed no doubt by the desire to secure permanence 
 in legislation, marks on the one hand the confidence of 
 the people in itself, while on the other hand it intimates 
 a suspicion of the shifting caprice of successive Assem- 
 blies. It is an incident to democratic government, at 
 least in its formative period, and constitutes in its most 
 pronounced form the American type of the Swiss refer- 
 endum. The location of the State University at low.a 
 City by the constitutional convention of 1S57 is a fine 
 example of an enactment by the convention purely legis- 
 lative. 
 
 The Great Compromise. 
 
 The struggle over the permanent location of the capi- 
 tal was a long one. Begun at the first session of the 
 General Assembly of the State, it was waged incessantly 
 for a period of eleven years. It generated a feeling of 
 sectional jealousy so strong that from the beginning it 
 was evident that the question could be settled only by 
 a compromise. 
 
 Accordingly the first formal proposal for the removal 
 of the capital farther west contemplated the establish- 
 ment of a State University at Iowa City. This compro- 
 mise was reluctantly entertained by the people of Iowa 
 City — the}^ insisted on holding the capital. But when, 
 in the course of time, they saw that the argument in 
 favor of central location would ultimately prevail, the}"
 
 Ii6 lovja City. 
 
 acquiesced and petitioned the General Assembly for the 
 State University. Thereupon two acts were passed by 
 the General Assembly in February, 1857, one providing 
 for the relocation of the capital, and the other establish- 
 ing the State University at Iowa City. The location of 
 the capital in Jasper County, however, was disapproved, 
 and the organization of the State University delayed. 
 
 When the third constitutional convention assembled at 
 Iowa City in January, 1857, Des Moines had already 
 been selected as the site for the capital and the State 
 University had been put into actual operation at Iowa 
 City. To make the arrangement more binding the con- 
 vention incorporated this great compromise into the new 
 constitution : 
 
 The Seat of Government is hereby permanently established, as now- 
 fixed by law, at the City of Des Moines, in the county of Polk; and the 
 State Uiiiversity at Iowa City in the county of Johnson. 
 
 In the fall of 1857, the capital was removed to Des 
 Moines. The archives of the State were all transported 
 overland; for the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Com- 
 pany had not yet extended their road beyond Iowa City. 
 The snows of the winter of 1857-58 had begun to fall 
 when the public safe, the last article to be removed, was 
 loaded on two bobsleds and drawn by ten yoke of oxen 
 from the old capital to the new.
 
 IOWA 
 
 State Historical Society 
 
 IOWA CITY, IOWA. 
 
 INCORPORATED 1867. 
 
 The object of the Iowa State Historical Society is to 
 collect and preserve such books, manuscripts and other 
 material as will be of use to students of history — espe- 
 cially students of Iowa history. 
 
 LIBRARY. 
 
 The Hbrary of this Society is located at Iowa City, 
 Iowa. It is open to the public in general on Wednes- 
 days and Saturdays, and to special students on all other 
 days. 
 
 PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 The Iowa Historical Record is issued quarterly and 
 contains miscellaneous articles on topics of Iowa history. 
 
 Other publications consist of lectures delivered before 
 the Society, and monographs prepared by special 
 students. 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 J. L. PiCKARD, LL.D., President. 
 
 M. B. Cochran, M.D., Vice-President. 
 
 Lyman Parsons, Treasurer. 
 
 M. W. Davis, Secretary. 
 
 H. W. Lathrop, Librarian.
 
 
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 SANTA bAMAilA