Showing posts with label Western. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Western. Show all posts

10/20/2023

Cedar Rapids Horsemen's Club


We have received a large collection of documents and photos concerning the Cedar Rapids Horsemen's Club, which was located in the town of Western for many years. We will be indexing this collection over the next few months.

Click the photos to enlarge them.

The Horsemen's Club in Western (now torn down)

                                             Interior of the club

 

Members celebrating the club's 79th birthday
On the far right is Jim Miller from Ely.
Identities would be appreciated!

 


 

10/22/2021

Early Schools

PIONEER SCHOOLS TO 1878

https://iagenweb.org/linn/schools/communityschools.htm
from: The History of Linn County Iowa, Pub. Chicago, Western Historical Co. 1878. Transcribed by Terry Carlson for IaGenWeb.

WESTERN
"School was first held as a primary department of the College, at which there was an attendance of twenty during the first year.  A district school was then organized and held in a small dwelling now standing vacant in the western part of town.  School was held there until 1861, when the present two-story brick building, about 24x40 feet in size, was constructed west of the business part of town.  There are two rooms, now taught by Stephen I. Harrison and Miss Sadie Bowman." p. 581.

ELY
"The first school house in this vicinity was erected in 1850.  It was a little cabin, made of lynn poles, and school was first taught there by Israel Clark.  Another, one-quarter of a mile east of town, afterward known as the Ely school house, was built in the fall of 1854, and first taught by R. Rowe.  This was moved nearer to the town plat when the latter was laid off.  A new frame school house of one room was built in Ely in the fall of 1876, where school was first taught by Isaac Heller, who was afterward drowned in the Cedar River.  Al Weaver taught the next winter." p.585.


FIRST SCHOOL IN BIG GROVE TOWNSHIP, Johnson County, Iowa
Source: 1883 History Of Johnson County, Iowa


"But Mr. Lingle reports the first school house as built on section 9, by Chauncy Fowler, in 1848 or '44. He says it was about fourteen feet square-built of round logs; but there was one log left out, and the hole was covered with greased paper for a window. There was no floor; and a big fireplace at one end, with huge back-log and forestick, and then plenty of small wood, served to keep it warm in the coldest days.

SCHOOLS NEAR ELY AND SHUEYVILLE IN JOHNSON COUNTY

Big Grove Township
Section 11 -Stone Academy (N. of Solon, highway 1)
Section 3 - Hazel Green
Section 5 - Salubria
Section 7 - Buresh

Jefferson Township
Section 1 - Sulek
Section 3 - Shueyville
Section 5 or 7 - Houston (or Swisher)
Section 19 - Strang
Section 22 - Anderson
Section 24 - Vorel


1/15/2021

Grave Yard Book of Western Cemetery from 1869


 In 2013 the Ely History Society was contacted by Paula Sexton. Her elderly uncle had passed away and she found a number of items relating to the early days of the town of Western, Iowa. One of the items was a "Grave Yard Book" containing early burials in Western Cemetery, as well as burials that had been moved from the "old cemetery" in Western. The dates of the events range from 1869 to 1898.

In checking current lists of the burials in Western Cemetery, I realized that many of these early burials were not recorded. They had been lost through the years.

I felt it was important to publish what was contained in this old book, so I scanned the pages to enable me to magnify them. I then began the long process of transcribing the book page by page. The script as written by G. A. Manasmith, Sexton, was at times very hard to decipher, and the spelling was not the best. However, I tried to transcribe it as written, making corrections as necessary, but preserving the author's original entries. There are some entries I was unable to decipher. In addition there were a few obituaries tucked into the book that I also transcribed.

I hope that this transcription will help people who are looking for their ancestors graves.

Barb Horak,Collections Manager
Ely Community History Society

“The Grave Yard Book.”

The first 2 pages show a plot map of the cemetery with numbered lots. “A Plot of the grave yard of the town of Western” is the heading on the map.

"The first grave was dug by me in the year of AD 1869 when the transfering or removing of the Dead commenced. The Last Removal was made the 3rd day of May AD 1871 from the old Grave yard on A. Perry’s and A. S. Collier’s farm."  - G. A. Manasmith, Sexton 

The final entry in the book was in the year of 1898.

These links take you to uploads to Google Drive. You should be able to use the "+" to enlarge them.

Plot map 1 

Plot map 2

Lot Owners

 As I have time, I will upload each scanned page, but for now, here is the transcription. 

Transcription: Names of Lot Owners

Transcription: Town of Western, Iowa Original Cemetery Book

Transcription:  List of Old Cemetery Transfers & Free Burials

These are the burials I was unable to find in present Western Cemetery listings. 
Missing Burials 

And finally, Obituaries from the Western Grave Yard Book 

1884-Chesley L. Brockman
1888-Irene Stansbury
after 1885 - Rev. J.G. Snyder, (died in Des Moines)
1994-Jane Workman (loose slip of paper)
(unknown year) Isaac Workman (died at West Side)
1885-Mrs. Cinderella Rutt
1878-Jacob Funkhouser
1878-Mary Elizabeth DeMoss
(unknown year) Elizabeth Shuey
1874-Martin Rider

The present Western Cemetery is located on the northeast corner of the intersection of "C" Street and Vista Road, two gravel roads, just east of the small town of Western.

You can find present listings of burials in Western Cemetery at
Iowa Gravestone Photo Project
Find-a-Grave

In searching newspaper archives, I have found a few obituaries that have the term "Western Cemetery" in them. Here are obits for 

William A. Boudinot, more about the family 
John H. Nesmith
(not Nethmeth as the obit states)
Ransom Davis
Mr. Manning, who is probably Daniel M. Manning.
Anna Manasmith

 Click to enlarge the obits, then click AGAIN if they aren't large enough


    
 
 

   





10/21/2020

Schools in 1865

 Here is how schools were back in 1865!  ...........


Cedar Valley Times, March 30, 1865
Schools of College and Putnam Townships

PUTNAM TOWNSHIP has six schools, two of which are well taught, one fair and the other three as poor as need be. They have three males and three female teachers each of whom received $25 per month and after they pay $12 per month for board they would each have $13 left as clear gain for twenty days of work.

There are two frame houses which have been once good ones but are dilapidated and much decayed. There are two log houses, one of which looks as if it had been built before the flood. Its history has almost passed out of memory of the oldest inhabitant. They are still using it; they talk of building a new one sometime. In this neighborhood they have built two very respectable churches which are an honor to the neighborhood. These have been built by a few willing hands and benevolent hearts, with less wealth among either of the church memberships than in the school district.

COLLEGE TOWNSHIP has also six school houses and six schools. They pay the same exorbitant wages. In this township there are three old log houses, one old frame and one good "unfinished" brick in Western. Two of the schools have been good ones, two fairly taught and two poor ones as any place need be afflicted with. These last two teachers were within sight of the smoke of the building in which we held our annual institute, that had been gotten up by the labor of weeks and for no other purpose than to improve our teachers and consequently our schools. One of these teachers represented to me that he was sick at the time of institute. I have evidence that he gathered corn all the week. I was at the other school and think it of no possible account. The people are losing both their school and money. I hope the time will soon come when school officials will learn wisdom and watch such cases and report them. We have nine log school houses in our county and five of them are in these two townships. 

The Western school house will be a good one when finished. It is very evident that it has been neglected in consequence of the attention that has been paid to the College. 

The people of these townships should see to it that these old houses are displaced by good ones. Good teachers look after good surroundings and good houses. These are a sure index to the feelings that sustain good schools. There is a great emigration of Bohemians to those two townships who are fast displacing the English by buying farms. There is some talk of establishing a school in College township where they can teach their own language.

WESTERN COLLEGE Western is a village situated in College township 8 miles south of Cedar Rapids and has perhaps 300 or 400 inhabitants. Eight years ago it was a broad, wild and unbroken prairie. Some of the leading men in the United Brethren church determined to locate a school house somewhere in Iowa. They advertised for donations promising that the locality which offered the mnost should have the school. A liberal man in the vicinity offered several hundred acres of land and they located a college upon it. The college grounds cover an area of near ten acres. The enclosure contains the college building and two large boarding halls. The college and one of the other buildings are finished. The other will be finished during the summer. The enclosure has a bordering of several rows of trees with rows planted in several directions from the college buildings. A part of the college grounds is occupied by a nursery. The college with its grounds show taste and culture. All that it wants is a good stream of water to make it like the old pioneer preachers description of the Good world, "a Kentucky of a place." The school has three professors with an average attendance of about 70 students. There have been only two graduates. This is probably owing to the heavy calls of men to enter the country's service. The denomination is intensely Union in its sympathies, and has furnished a large per cent of its students for the war.

... F.W. Reeder, County Superintendent


From the 1875 Iowa Atlas, page 343

7/11/2019

Is this your family marriage?

LOOKING FOR FAMILY who may want this certificate. Marriage of Albert Jansa of Western, Iowa and Josie Krivanek of Shueyville, Iowa. married 24 April 1906 at Iowa City, Johnson County, IA by Justice of Peace F.J. Horak.

Please email us at the email address on the right column.


3/28/2019

The new town of Western

This is an account of the new town of "Western College", later known as the town of Western, in College Township, Linn County. It is interesting to find out that less than a half mile from the new town there was once a prairie, known as Grand Ridge Prairie.

From:  The Massachusetts Teacher and Journal of Home and School Education, Volume 9, 1856 (Google eBook)

1856
We have received the three first numbers of the Western College Advocate and Miscellaneous Magazine, a neat little monthly, printed at Cedar Rapids, but hailing from the town of Western, Linn County, Iowa. Western, as we learn from the magazine itself, is a town four months old last August, and then containing sixteen houses and a population of one hundred souls. It has been fixed upon as the site of a College by the Conference of the " Church of United Brethren" of Iowa — a sect we never heard of, but surely they have a good name, and we rejoice to see that they are open opponents of that deadly enemy of all that is good in Christian education, chattel slavery. The situation is thus described :

Western College — Western College is situated near the south line of Linn County. From the town of Cedar Rapids it is 7 ½ miles south and 1 mile east to the town plat of the College, and from Iowa City it is 13 miles north and 5 miles west. Its exact location is 200 acres in the south-east corner of section 34, township 82, north of range 7, west of the fifth principal meridian. Less than a half mile from the town are 160 acres of fine prairie, intended for the College farm, and in the large grove on the south are 120 acres of fine timber, also belonging to the College.

This prairie is known as Grand Ridge Prairie, and it is certainly one of the most beautiful in Iowa. The soil is rich and productive; the land is gently rolling, giving a beautiful variety to the scenery, and freeing the country from those swamps and marshes, so productive of disease.

The location is such as to give a commanding view of the surrounding country. On the west can be seen Benton county, with her numerous groves of timber; on the north, far beyond Cedar Rapids, the meanderings of that beautiful crystal stream, the Red Cedar, are plainly marked in the horizon by the woodland along its margin; on the north-east and east Hoosier Grove and Fackler's Grove intervene; but in the south east, away across the beautiful farms of Johnson and Cedar counties, the meandering outlines of the river are again seen slipping against the sky. For many miles on the south and south-west, the view of the Iowa timber is uninterrupted.

The village of Western is improving rapidly. Scarcely a week passes but that one or more houses are reared up. The citizens have recently organized a fine and flourishing Sunday School. The interest which is taken to secure a library and the efforts made upon the part of the teachers to improve their minds in the art of teaching and the science of music, warrant us in believing that the school will prove a great blessing to the village and neighborhood.

Some of the citizens have also organized a club, called " he Western Literary Society," for the purpose of mutual improvement in debate, declamation, and composition.

Our religious meetings are kept up regularly twice or three times a week. They are generally well attended.
A large sum has already been subscribed, and we should judge that the prospects of the undertaking were very flattering.

What a picture of American enterprise! A town not twelve months old, in a State not yet twelve years old, and schools, churches, and colleges rising up in the midst of the forests and the prairie! One cannot doubt of the future character of a population growing up under such auspices. We bid our friends a hearty God-speed, and advise all emigrants to look on the map for Western, Linn county, Iowa.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 NOTE: The college at Western did not last, and after it closed and moved to Toledo, Iowa, in 1881, the town of Western no longer thrived, especially since the railroad, for which they had fought to come to Western, went through Ely instead.

FROM: United Brethren Historical Center - History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ
Chapter V, Colleges and Academies, By Daniel Berger

The removal of the college from its original location to its present most desirable situation was an event of the greatest importance to the institution. The first location had long been felt to be an unfortunate one, and a desire was widely entertained to secure for it a more favorable position. But the removal of a college from one place to another is always a difficult undertaking, and is seldom attempted. The step was, however, at last fully resolved upon, and in the year 1881, a quarter of a century from the time of the founding, the transfer was made to the beautiful city of Toledo, in the same State. Preparatory to this suitable grounds were secured and the necessary buildings erected.

From Wikipedia:  Leander Clark College, originally named Western College, was a college in [Western and Toledo] Iowa, United States. It operated from 1857 to 1919, when it was absorbed into Coe College.   See more.

 

 

1/21/2014

Update on Western Building


Does Western College Still Stand?  Read this article by Michael S. Cash as an update to the video he created (see "A Building in Western).  He shows various views of the building through the years and reveals new information in his quest to find out if the building is, in fact, one of the buildings left when Western College moved to Toledo. (Click the arrow on the right to view full-size.)

1/10/2014

Western Hall and early band

Click the picture to enlarge it.

This 1891 photo was donated to the ECHS archives by the late Leo Modracek, who lived very near or on the original grounds of the old Western College that was once in Western.  It shows an early band standing in front of a wooden building with wide steps.  It is labeled "Western Hall (Dance)."  

The man in white standing by the door is Joseph Witousek, who owned the College Square at the time this picture was taken. 

Some of the men in the band are identified: 
(l to r) Frank Buresh(?);  Frank Netolicky, Sr;  Unknown; Unknown; Unknown; Frank Andrle (drum);  John Krejca; Unknown; Joe (or Frank?) Hronik, Sr.; Unknown; Wes Bys; Unknown.

If you recognize any of the band members, please let us know.  Our email address is in the right column.


11/18/2013

Help Identify

The below photo donated by Adeline (Jansa) Volesky is of the L. J. Palda C.S.P.S. Lodge organized about 1890 in the town of Western, Iowa.  The lodge moved to Swisher, Iowa in 1916. 

If you recognize an ancestor in the photo, please let us know.  The only identity we have is Frank Jansa, who is in the second row, third from the right, with his hands in his lap.

C.S.P.S. stands for "Česko-Slovenský Podporující Spolek" (Czech-Slovak Protective Society)

Please click on the photo to enlarge it.


July, 2022 - Ed Vavra found an old photo of the CSPS Lodge in Western. (Photo circa 1940)

 


 


11/16/2013

Western College Building



An auction was held in the above building in the fall of 2013. It is said to be the only remnant of the Western College buildings that once stood in the town of Western, Iowa.

Western College was established in 1856 by the United Brethren in Christ in southern College Township, Linn County, Iowa. It was named "Western" because it was the denomination's first college west of the Mississippi River, and was, significantly, a co-educational college. Classes started in January, 1857. A small town grew up around the college and remains today as an unincorporated town called Western, just north of Shueyville, Iowa.

After Western College moved to Toledo, Iowa in 1881, the building was said to be used as a meeting place for a lodge. The exact history of the building is unknown, although the owner's son told me it was built in the 1870s, when the college still existed in Western. Later the building was a clubhouse for the Cedar Rapids Boat Club. 

July, 2022 - This building was used as the L.J. Palda C.S.P.S. Lodge organized about 1890 in the town of Western, Iowa.  The organization moved to Swisher, Iowa in 1916.

 - B. Horak, Collections Manager, Ely Community History Society.