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The following is an excerpt from
The History of Stacyville, Iowa: 1856-2006*.
No part may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission
of the author. Contact her at
cherylmu@netins.net
For anyone who grew up in or around Stacyville
it’s not difficult to imagine the sights, sounds and smells of a June
morning in a farm field just a little north of town. It may not be as easy
to imagine the same scene as it appeared on the first day of June 1855 when
Stacyville’s earliest settlers of European descent broke the first ground.
In May of 1855 when Nicholas Hemann and Adam
Blake arrived in the area that became Stacyville, they couldn’t have known
the impact their move from McHenry County, Illinois would have on future
generations. The two men had purchased their land from the government and
their hard work would lay the foundation for a community that has survived
150 years.
Not long after the Hemanns and Blakes arrived,
H.I. (Homer) Stacy and his brother, Fitch B. Stacy, purchased 600 acres of
land in the area that later bore their name. In the summer of 1855 Chicago
resident Fitch B. Stacy, along with a couple of friends, had set out to
purchase “wild” land in Iowa. On the way they stopped in Bureau County,
Illinois, to invite Homer I. Stacy to join the group. Homer’s horse became
lame and he returned home while the other three continued up the Mississippi
River to Dubuque where they hoped to buy land at the government land
offices. When they arrived in Dubuque the offices were closed and they
returned without accomplishing their task.
In December of 1855 H.I. Stacy persuaded his
brother to enter into a joint effort to purchase 4,000 acres of Iowa land.
The land was purchased from the government and from private individuals.
Stacyville Township was formed in 1856 and at that time included part of the
territory later known as Liberty and Union Townships.
In February 1856 Homer and Amelia (Donaldson)
Stacy moved with their family to Mitchell County, Iowa. By June Homer
had built a house and store and had platted the village of Stacyville. In
August of the same year a post office and sawmill had been established. The
sawmill was a joint venture by the Stacy brothers and the Rolfe brothers,
Dr. B. F. Rolfe and Charles G. Rolfe. The earliest postal records identify
Oran Orcutt as post master. (It’s unclear if he was the first to serve in
the post. It is documented that he served from July 1, 1878 to February
1882—when it appears his wife took over the position upon his death).
The 1883 History of Mitchell County Iowa
provides a little more detail about the acquisition of land by Homer Stacy.
In that account Homer came to Iowa on a “prospecting tour” and after “a
careful examination of the claims in different portions of the state,” he
bought 600 acres on the Little Cedar River from a man named John McIntire.
Homer bought the land for his brother and himself and paid $3,000 for the
tract. Mr. McIntire had purchased the land only a short time prior from the
government and paid $1.25 per acre. Homer then selected and located for
himself and his brother 1,500 additional acres, including the “present site
of Stacyville.”
The population grew between 1855-57 with the
arrival of new settlers including: G.S. Johnson, C.L. Gibeaut, J.P. Emery,
Philip Blake, W.H. Dyer, Stephen Heimer, John Schumacher, Jacob Schumacher,
Mathew Schumacher, Simon Wiengert (or Weingert), J.C. Pelton, E.H.
Donaldson, John Parlin, Dr. B.F. Rolfe, Charles Rolfe, Charles Fitch, Marcus
McCall, Daniel Hill, A.E. Donaldson, and Martin Decker. Births among
the settlers also helped to increase the population of the little community.
In 1856 W.H. and Catherine (Berger) Dyer became the parents of Lucy, the
first white child born in Stacyville.
Those early years saw steady growth and
development. In June 1856 Daniel Hill ran the first hotel in a building
built by Homer Stacy. It was a stopping place for stagecoaches. Henry Scheu
(Schieu) established a drug store. By fall 1857 Homer Stacy recounted
in a document found among his papers that there were over 20 frame buildings
in the village. There were “two surveyors—one practical engineer,
eight carpenters and joiners, two wheelwrights, two cabinetmakers, one
blacksmith and one millwright.” He wrote there was “need for a tinsmith and
a harness maker.” There were no lawyers living in Stacyville in 1857,
“although there is no objection to the profession.” By 1857 “seventy or
eighty families settled along the banks of the river” in and near
Stacyville.
By 1857 residents witnessed growth in the
village in terms of square miles when 20 acres were added as “Townsley and
Dyers addition.” About the same time the Stacys donated a small addition.
This may be what led to the story that has been passed down about the
rivalry between the Stacys and the Dyers. According to the legend, both
families hoped to have the village named after them. When the Stacys donated
a plot of land to be used as a park, the settlers decided to name the town
after them. The accuracy of this story may be questionable; however, the
1883 History of Mitchell County Iowa explains that “at the earnest
request of many friends,” Homer Stacy named the town after himself.
By 1875, just 20 years after the Blakes and
Hemanns arrived in Stacyville, the community was well established and
populated by a group of enterprising pioneers. The 1875 Illustrated
Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa listed these “patrons” of
Stacyville Township: J.R. Delaney, farmer; Sanford Fuller, farmer; Emery
Fuller, farmer; James M. Fonda, farmer; Geo. M Johnson, civil engineer;
Dexter Kelley, hotel; H.F. Mackey, carpenter; D.H. Phillips, farmer; John
Penney, merchant; H.C. Parlin, farmer; Jennie Rands, teacher; H.I. Stacy,
farmer; Fitch B. Stacy, farmer and fine stock breeder; Conrad Springman,
farmer; H. Scheu & Bro., real estate & insurance; Ira Wheelock, tinsmith;
Wm. Warner, mason.
A man named J.H.C. Huxhold operated a brewery in
Stacyville between 1878 and 1882. Along with the brewery he had a saloon for
at least one year in 1881. The state of Iowa was ahead of the rest of the
country when the legislature passed a strict prohibition law in 1882.
(National Prohibition began in 1919). That’s likely why any evidence of Mr.
Huxhold’s brewery and saloon disappeared in 1882. But not all towns and
cities enforced the law. Maybe Stacyville did.
By 1883 Stacyville boasted 400 inhabitants and
these businesses: “A large roller flouring mill run by water power, one
hotel, one drug store, two general stores, two hardware stores, a tin shop,
a harness and shoe shop and a millinery store.” Three churches continued to
flourish: Congregational, Methodist and Catholic.
In 1890 the population had hit 480, and there
was plenty of activity in town. During the 1890s the first creamery,
privately owned by George Westlake, was in operation along the river. It
stood on the southeast corner of School and Water Streets. Joseph Bawek
started his harness shop on Broad Street in 1890. The Stacyville Opera
House, an early community center, was built in 1898 on Broad Street. The
Opera House was to play a prominent role in the community for a number of
years. In 1899 one of Stacyville’s oldest organizations, the Catholic
Order of Foresters, was formed.
A man by the name of Fred E. Zwickey published
the first issue of a weekly newspaper called the Stacyville Sentinel
on November 18, 1897. The following businesses advertised in that
issue: L.W. Baldwin, groceries; Weyland & Falk, general merchandise; H.W.
Schultz, furniture and jewelry; Fischer & Gerbig, hardware; C.B. Smith,
general merchandise; C.R. Potter, meats and groceries; Burnham & Frudden,
lumber and coal; Otto Felder, meat market; John Halbach, photo gallery;
Warren G. Brown, physician and surgeon; Frank Small, barber; George Wall,
Stacyville roller mill; Paul P. French, physician and surgeon; Joseph
Heimer, billiard hall; Joseph Hoerter, blacksmith; S.B. French, hotel; J.S.
Detwiler, real estate.
Stage coach lines had operated between the towns
of Mitchell County beginning in 1854, but in 1858 the Cedar Falls and
Minnesota Railroad (C.F. & M.) had been incorporated to construct a line
from Cedar Falls to the Minnesota state line. In 1867 the C.F. & M. was
leased to the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad. On May 1, 1870, the C.F. & M.
was opened from St. Ansgar to the Minnesota state line.
Because the railroad didn’t run through
Stacyville, the stage coach line continued to run between Osage and
Stacyville via Brownville and Burr Oak. However, on October 14, 1897 the
Stacyville Railroad, running between Stacyville Junction and Stacyville
(7.93 miles) was incorporated. (Stacyville Junction was the point on the map
where the main rail line intersected with the new line going to Stacyville).
Construction of the Stacyville Railroad was started in the fall of 1897.
On November 28, 1897 the Stacyville Railroad was leased to the Illinois
Central Railroad (I.C.R.R). The road was opened for operation November 29,
1897. Cost to build the Stacyville line was $66,500. In 1897-98 all
the outstanding stock and all the bonds of the Stacyville Railroad were
purchased in the interest of the I.C.R.R. (On April 6, 1903 the Stacyville
Railroad was sold to the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad).
Stacyville has earned a place in the history
books for events that occurred during the latter part of the 19th
century. In 1869 a Stacyville resident, Julia C. Addington, became the first
woman in the United States to be elected to the post of county
superintendent of schools. She held the office of Superintendent of Schools
in Mitchell County from 1870-71.
Most residents of 19th-century
Stacyville were simply hard-working, ordinary people who built houses,
operated businesses, tilled the soil, attended church and socialized with
family and neighbors. By 1900 Stacyville’s founder, Homer I. Stacy had
died,** and Fitch B. Stacy had moved to Washington State. But the work begun
by this pioneer family, along with the determination and dedication of other
early Stacyville families, set the stage for the next 100 years.
**Homer died March 1, 1887. He and Amelia had
spent the winter with their son, Fitch, who was a businessman in
Chamberlain, South Dakota. When Homer got sick, he and Amelia started for
home. When they got as far as Lyle, Minnesota, Homer became very ill and
they didn’t think he would live to see Stacyville. He did make it to
Stacyville, where he died three weeks later. Amelia moved with her
daughters, Delia and Frances to Osage.
*Read more about the
history of Stacyville by ordering your copy of
The History of Stacyville, Iowa:
1856-2006.
Click
here for order form.
http://www.stacyville.com/order_form.htm |
