Roxanna Moritz Scott County Auditor
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GOVERNMENT GUIDEBOOK ♦ Local History ♦ Boards & Commissions ♦ County Departments & Agencies ♦ Local, State & Federal Elected Officials Roxanna Moritz Scott County Auditor Revised January, 2010- for most recent online version go to www.scottcountyiowa.com/auditor CCOONNTTEENNTTSS THE EARLY HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY ....................... 1 SCOTT COUNTY MAP ..................................................... 5 POPULATION INFORMATION .......................................... 7 NATIONAL OFFICIALS ..................................................... 8 IOWA CONGRESSIONAL & STATE OFFICIALS ....................12 JUDICIAL INFORMATION .................................................31 COUNTY OFFICIALS & DEPARTMENT HEADS ...................34 BOARDS & COMMISSIONS ...............................................45 CITY & TOWN OFFICERS .................................................68 TOWNSHIP OFFICERS ......................................................95 SCHOOL BOARDS ......................................................... .109 FIRE DISTRICT TRUSTEES ............................................... 113 TAX INFORMATION ....................................................... 115 LICENSES & PERMITS ..................................................... 117 FUNDED SERVICE AGENCIES ......................................... .119 THE EARLY HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY (Taken from the 1902 Scott County Atlas) Scott County was organized by an act of the territorial legislature of Wisconsin, which convened at Burlington, Iowa in December 1837. It was named in honor of General Winfield Scott who, in September 1832, held a treaty with the Indians upon its soil. By that treaty the territory embraced in the county of Scott, together with all the rest of the Black Hawk Purchase, was ceded to the United States and on June 1st, 1833, was opened for settlement. The treaty was held in what is now the city of Davenport. The signing of the treaty was originally scheduled to take place in Ft. Armstrong, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, but due to an outbreak of cholera, the ceremony was moved to the western side of the Mississippi. The treaty provided that a strip of land 50 miles wide, from Ft. Madison to a point just north of the Yellow River (now Alamakee County), be sold to the United States government. The Indians requested that…”Antoine LeClaire, in consideration of this service, be granted one section of land opposite Rock Island and one section of land at the head of the first rapids, north of the Island.” This request was granted and LeClaire’s two sections of the land eventually became a large part of what are now Davenport and LeClaire. By the terms of the treaty no white man had a legal right to settle in the ceded territory until June 1, 1833, when the Indian title would expire, but because Col. Davenport, was a favorite among the Indians, an exception was made in his favor. He had lived among the Indians since early boyhood and had been adopted as a member of the Fox tribe. He made no settlement upon his claim at that time. Col. Davenport established a flat boat ferry at this point in 1827, running between the island and the western shore of the river. Col. George L. Davenport, after whom the city was named, was a native of England. He came to the United States in 1804, and the next year joined the army and continued in the service until 1815. He was in the first expedition up the river in 1805 to pacify hostile Indians, and assisted in founding Fort Armstrong, on the point of the Government Island opposite Davenport. At a time he was a partner in the American Fur Company, but later carried on a trade alone with the Indians. He settled upon the island where he built himself a home, but on July 4, 1845, he was murdered by a band of robbers. The first non-native settler in Scott County was Capt. Benjamin W. Clark, a native of Virginia, in 1833. He had been in command of a company of mounted rangers under Gen. A. Dodge in the Blackhawk War. He located on the site of the village of Buffalo, which he platted in 1836 and which was the first regularly laid out town in the county. Capt. Clark built the first cabin, broke the first sod and planted and raised the first crop 1 in Scott County. Buffalo in time became a flourishing town, the most important between Burlington and Dubuque. In 1836 he built the first sawmill in the county. He died at the town he founded on October 25, 1839. Soon after a start had been made at Buffalo, Rockingham and Davenport were laid out. Settlement began at Rockingham in the fall of 1835 by Colonel John Sullivan, James Davenport, Adrian H. Davenport, Henry W. Higgins, and others. A year later Rockingham had grown to a population of one hundred and it contained thirteen houses. Dr. E.S. Burrows, the first physician to locate west of the Mississippi between Burlington and Dubuque, located here. In 1837 Colonel Sullivan erected the first steam sawmill and flourmill in the county. Between this date and 1840 the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians all organized churches, services being held by turns in a small building otherwise used as a school house. A ferry was established in Rockingham 1837, connecting with a state road on the south side of the Rock River in Illinois and brought considerable travel to and through Rockingham. The claim on which the city of Davenport was laid out was made in the summer of 1833 by R.H. Spencer and a man named McCloud. A quarrel arose between these two respecting the claim, whereupon it was purchased from them for one hundred dollars by Antoine LeClaire. Antoine LeClaire was of French and Indian descent, his father being a French Canadian and his mother the daughter of a Pottawattamie chief. When twenty-one years of age he became an interpreter to Col. George Davenport at Fort Armstrong on Rock Island. In 1820, when twenty-three years of age, he married the granddaughter of a Sac chief. In the fall of 1835 a movement was made to lay out a town on the claim Mr. LeClaire had bought from Spencer and McCloud. A company was formed consisting of Antoine LeClaire, Maj. Thomas Smith, Maj. William Gordon, Phillip Hambaugh, Alexander W. McGregor, Levi Colton, Capt. James May and Col. George Davenport, and this company purchased from Antoine LeClaire for $2,000 that part of his claim now bounded by Harrison Street on the east, Warren Street on the west and running from the bluffs to the river. The town of Davenport was laid out in the spring of 1836 and named after Colonel George Davenport. (By 1832 George Davenport had been awarded the honorary title of Colonel by the State of Illinois for serving as Quarter Master in the Blackhawk War.) The survey and planning was done by Major William Gordon. Antoine LeClaire still owned 640 acres of land that at later periods was platted in the form of additions to the city. At the close of the year 1836 the town had six or seven houses. The same year Mr. LeClaire was appointed Post Master. In 1837 he sold his ferry to Capt. John 2 Wilson, who ran it with oars until 1841, when he supplied it with horsepower, and in 1843 equipped it with steam power. The first male child born of pioneer parents in Davenport was a son of Levi S. Colton, born in the fall of 1836. The first female child born of pioneer parents was a daughter of D.C. Eldridge. Alex W. McGregor opened the first law office in 1836. The first sermon was by Rev. A.M. Gavit, a Methodist minister, in the home of D.C. Eldridge. The first marriage ceremony was in the spring of 1837, the parties being William B. Watts and a niece of Antoine LeClaire. The first death was that of Mrs. Tennyhills in 1836. In 1838 the legislature passed an act incorporating the town of Davenport. At the first election R. Bennett was chosen Mayor, Frazer Wilson, Recorder, and Dr. A.C. Donaldson, D.C. Eldridge, John Forest, Thomas Dillon, and Capt. John Litch, trustees. J.M. Bowling was appointed treasurer, M. Nichols, Street Commissioner, and W.H. Patton, Marshall. The act of the territorial legislature creating the county of Scott provided for an election to locate the County Seat. The election was to be held on the third Monday in February 1838. The towns of Rockingham and Davenport were the competitors. Three voting precincts were established with polling places at Rockingham, Davenport, and LeClaire (then called Parkhurst). The election returns were to be made to Governor Dodge of the Wisconsin Territory. Davenport pulled a majority of the votes, but the residents of Rockingham raised a cry of fraud and a contest resulted without decision until the legislature again convened, resulting in a new election. This time the returns were to be made to the sheriff of Dubuque County who was authorized to count the votes in the presence of the Commissioners or Supervisors of that County. The second election was held in August of the same year and Rockingham carried the day. This time Davenport residents raised the cry of fraud and a recount was called for, but again the legislature passed an act providing for the third election. This time there were other competitors for the county seat besides Rockingham and Davenport. Sloperville, near the geographical center, and Winfield, at the mouth of Duck Creek, entered the lists. But Sloperville dropped out before Election Day, leaving the other three in the race. Then a strange sort of race took place. Winfield announced it would donate the land for the county buildings if it were chosen as the county seat. Rockingham and Davenport immediately countered with offers of land and, eventually, buildings and cash donations. By far and away the heaviest contributors were Antoine LeClaire and Colonel Davenport…and since the city of Davenport was prepared to offer much more than anyone else, the others withdrew from the race and Davenport won the contest by default. 3 Under the act of the territorial legislature, the first election of the county officers was held on the third Monday in February 1838.