Exploring Cedar County & the Cedar Valley Road
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Exploring Cedar County &The Cedar Valley Road with special visits to Kirkwood Community College and Kinze Manufacturing August 3–5, 2014 Motoring with Imagination Rules of the Road • We provide both emergency roadside assistance and vehicle hauling services. Disabled vehicles should report their location via cell phone to John (319.431.0520). No more than two vehicles should stop to provide roadside assistance. • If you encounter problems with your vehicle and must stop, pull as far off the roadway as possible. If you do not need assistance, please give a “Thumbs Up” signal to passing vehicles, so they know you are “OK”. • We try to avoid the busier highways, but that can’t always be the case. Always keep sufficient intervals between vehicles so an overtaking vehicle can blend. • In reality it is the second vehicle that bears the responsibility in passing situations. If you are holding up traffic, please pull over and give faster vehicles the right of way. • Rain, shine or worse… we continue to roll and all vehicles are expected to do the best for themselves under the circumstances. Open top vehicles may need to seek shelter. Individual judgment will be the order for the day. • Get a compass or GPS if you are not always sure of directions. • These route instructions serve as a “guide” only. You are free to deviate and learn about other parts of the territory. • We have purposely refrained from relying on mileage or time references in our directions. • Odometers will vary, so any references that do occur must be treated as approximate. For emergencies call John • 319.431.0520 Cedar County Drive – Sunday, August 3, 2014 From the Hotel lots return to Kirkwood Blvd and turn LEFT headed south Turn LEFT at the T with 76th Ave (aka Wright Bros. Blvd.) Shortly, turn RIGHT onto W54 (aka Club Rd.) Western College Leander Clark College, originally named Western College, operated from 1857 to 1919, when it was absorbed into Coe College. Western College was established in 1857 by the United Brethren in Christ . It was named "Western" because it was the denomination's first college west of the Mississippi River. In 1881, the college, which was facing financial difficulties, moved to Toledo because of a pledge of $20,000 in financial support from that community's residents. Enrollment grew rapidly in Toledo, whose residents' religious values were more compatible with the college's values than had been the case in Linn County. Enrollment grew from 80 students when Western College started operations in Toledo, to 196 students by the end of that school year, and an eventual total of more than 400. In 1906, Western College changed its name to Leander Clark College in honor of a local benefactor, Major Leander Clark, a United Brethren member who donated $50,000. In spite of that assistance, the college went bankrupt and merged with Coe College in 1919, bringing a $200,000 endowment to the merger along with its faculty and students. The Leander Clark campus became a state juvenile home. Continue south thru the village of Western to Shueyville At the stop sign, turn LEFT onto F12 Turn RIGHT onto W6E At the T intersection, turn LEFT onto F16 (may also be marked as 382) In Solon, turn RIGHT onto Hwy 1 heading south In just under 5 miles, at the village of Newport, turn LEFT onto F8W(aka Morse Rd.) Pass thru what remains of Morse Turn RIGHT onto X30 and continue into West Branch (aka Downey St.) Turn LEFT onto Main St. (aka F44) Continue on F44 thru Springdale toward Rochester A Little About Cedar County Cedar County was formed on December 21, 1837 from sections of Dubuque County. It was named for the Red Cedar River, which runs through the county, and is the only Iowa county which shares the name of a tree. Herbert Hoover, the 31st US president, was born in West Branch in 1874. The community of Clarence, Iowa was originally called "Onion Grove" because of the widespread growth of wild onions in the area. The village was moved in order to be close to a railroad line and the name was changed to "Clarence" on the suggestion of Clarence, New York native L. B. Gere. Founded in 1840, the City of Tipton, Iowa is rich with history. A town steeped in rural heritage, Tipton was once named the "agricultural and livestock center of the world". The first large Victorian home in Tipton was built in 1841 for the first Cedar County judge - and the house still stands today. Before the Civil War, areas in and around West Branch, Iowa were stops of the Underground Railroad. Abolitionist John Brown once stayed at the Maxson farm east of West Branch. West Branch West Branch was laid out in 1869 by Joseph Steer. It was incorporated in 1875. The city was first settled chiefly by Quakers from Ohio. Its name is derived from the meeting place of the West Branch Quakers, and the location of the city on the west branch of the Wapsinonoc Creek. Before the American Civil War, areas in and around West Branch were stops of the Underground Railroad. In 2008, archaeologists found evidence of unmarked graves in nearby North Liberty Cemetery while investigating an account of 17 escaped slaves who died before reaching Canada. West Branch experienced rapid growth after the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway was built through it. President Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch in 1874. Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum was dedicated here by Hoover and his close friend, President Harry Truman, in 1962. The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, which includes the Library-Museum, the Hoover Birthplace Cottage and the gravesites of President and Lou Henry Hoover, was authorized by Congress on August 12, 1965. John Brown and the Underground Railroad On a fine October day in 1856 a traveler on mule back, and leading a horse, entered the little Quaker village of West Branch, Cedar County, Iowa, and halted at the tavern "Traveler's Rest". James Townsend, a worthy Quaker, was tavern keeper. He came to the door to welcome the guest. The stranger, instead of giving his name outright, as he stiffly dismounted, said: “Sir, have you heard of John Brown, of Kansas?" Certainly Townsend had. All the Quakers had. Nearly everybody in the country had. Brown had a plan to lead a company of well-drilled men into Kansas against the "border ruffians", and free the Territory from the rule of slavery. Brown enlisted a number of followers, who came from Kansas and after a hard trip across the prairies reached Springdale, Cedar County, the last of December . Springdale was a Quaker settlement not far from West Branch. In 1857 it was a thriving, peaceful little place. It had been recommended to Brown during his previous stop at West Branch. He had intended to stay at Springdale only a few days. Money was scarce. He decided to spend the winter among the Quakers of Iowa. John Brown was housed at the residence of John H. Painter, a kind, hospitable Quaker, and one of the funders of the settlement. The rest of the band had quarters at the dwelling of William Maxon, about three miles north of the village. Maxon was not a Quaker, but it was thought best to avert suspicion, as much as possible, from the sect. The Maxon cellar, it will be remembered, was a hiding place for fugitive slaves. John Brown and his man remained in Springdale until spring. They drilled, indulged in athletic exercises calculated to make them quick and strong, and studied tactics. Evenings they held debates, mock legislatures, and other programs of amusements and instruction. They also made calls. The eldest in the party was only thirty, the youngest was eighteen. They were engaged in a dangerous and romantic life. So it is no wonder that love sprang up between several of the visitors and the pretty Quaker maidens. Springdale people not in the secret thought their guests were preparing to return to the Kansas conflict. With tears and heartfelt farewells the Quakers saw the Brown conspirators depart. Before going the members of the party wrote their names on the white wall of the Maxon parlor. For many years, even after the building was a deserted ruin, the writing could still be deciphered. Two new recruits, George B. Gill and Steward Taylor, of Springdale, accompanied the expedition. Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, sons of one of the oldest Quaker residents, Ann Coppoc, enlisted, but did not at this time take their leave. Thus John Brown went away from Springdale, but he would return. He had been back to Kansas, and at Christmas-time, 1858, a slave by the name of Jim slipped over the Missouri border to Brown's camp, and implored his aid. Jim said himself and some fellow slaves were about to be torn from their families and sold south. They wanted to escape. Following the "Underground Railroad", the company reached Grinnell, February 20. In five days all were at Springdale, with a United States Marshal hot on the scent. Early in March the Negros were hurried across the country to West Liberty and loaded into a rail car. When the passenger train from the west came in, the freight car, with Brown and the Negroes locked inside, was coupled on. Away the slaves were whirled to liberty, for in a short time they had crossed the border at Detroit into Canada. In September, 1859 John Brown was last seen in Iowa. There are reports of a visit by him to his former haunts in Cedar County.