Clinton Township
(Established 1856; previously part of Lyons and Camanche)
Major Events in Clinton's History
Towns |
||
Beaver Island |
Mississippi River, E 1/2 in city of Clinton, W 1/2 in Camanche Township |
|
Chancy |
25 Jul 1878 - 23 Aug 1894 |
Formerly McClure |
Clinton |
24 Dec 1855 - Current |
Formerly New York. Became County seat 1869. |
Lyons |
06 Dec 1839 - 13 Jan 1913 |
Annexed to Clinton 1894 |
McClure |
14 May 1884 - 24 Jun 1884 |
Renamed Chancy |
New York |
First name of Clinton |
|
Ringwood |
260 acres between Lyons and Clinton |
|
Riverside |
Later called Chancy |
|
Cemeteries |
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43 | St. Boniface | |
44 | St. Irenaeus | |
45 | Oakland | |
46 | Springdale | |
47 | Hess | |
48 | Pine Grove | |
49 | St. Mary's Catholic | |
50 | Clinton Lawn |
Clinton
- Major Events in Clinton's History
- Street Name Changes
- Castle Terrace Historic District
- Clinton County Courthouse
- Catholic Churches
- The Lincoln Highway
- Views of Clinton
- Clinton in 1870
- Mayors of Clinton, Iowa
- Mississippi Valley Spiritualists Association
Clinton Schools
- Public Schools Are To Open On September 7th
- Clinton School History
- Clinton High School Alumni 1878-1896
- 1910 Clintonian (This was the first actual Clintonian)
- 1919 Clintonian Faculty and Seniors
- 1920 Clintonian Faculty and Seniors
- 1921 Clintonian Seniors
- 1923 Seniors as well as Football and Basketball
- Clinton Junior High School Graduates: 1923
- 1925 Clintonian: Sue Miller has transcribed and submitted the info from this wonderful CHS annual.
- 1926 Clintonian: (scroll to bottom of page) Richard L. Carstensen has transcribed and submitted the info from this wonderful CHS annual.
- 1938 Clintonian Seniors
- Be sure to visit the Class of 1954 website too!
- Graduation at St. Patrick's
- Eighth Grade Commencement - 1933 Clinton County Rural Schools
- Whittier School Transformation - 1947 and school board news
- List of Clinton Teachers for '45-'46 School Year
- Clinton High School Class of 1962
Lyons
City of Lyons, circa 1868
This was sent to us by Elysa. It was taken from the Clinton Mirror, Saturday, May 6, 1905. Elysa has also posted some obituaries.
(From the April Boomerano, the Lyons High School Paper.)
About seventy years ago Mr. Elijah Buell came
up the Mississippi river in an old steamboat called the Dubuque. He had been a
pilot on the lower Mississippi, and becoming tired of this life decided to take
up some land in Illinois, which was then in market. Having been on the
river all his life he wanted to locate where he could see steamboats.
At Meredosia he met Mr. John Baker. They decided to
prospect together, and traveling up the river they reached the narrows where
Lyons and Fulton are now. Thinking this would be a good point for a ferry
they decided to locate here, Mr. Baker taking the Illinois side and Mr. Buell
the Iowa side.
Mr. Buell went down to Camanche for supplies and brought back
with him a man by the name of Carron. While they were coming up the river
their boat capsized and all their supplies fell into the river, so they had to
go back for more.
Mr. Buell and Mr. Carron, with the help of the Indians, built
a log cabin sixteen feet square. It contained one room, which was used as
a dining room, sitting room and kitchen combined.
Then Mr. Buell went back to St. Louis for his wife and
child. When they were settled in their cabin Mr. Buell began his work on
the farm. In the fall his vegetables running low he went down to St. Louis
to get supplies to last through the winter. When he was coming home he met
a part of men driving a yoke of oxen, three cows and three calves; he bought the
whole outfit. When they reached the river on the Fulton side the stock
were swum across.
Mr. Buell went through many hardships. Soon after
getting settled in his cabin with his family, Mrs. Buell and her son took
sick. There was no physician within fifty miles of the settlement and
their scanty supply of medicine was of no avail, and finally the boy died.
They made a rude coffin of logs and buried him.
The next year many new settlers began to come. There
were also a number of Indians in the settlement. They often went down the
river where they could get whiskey and came home drunk. Once, when Mr.
Buell had been gone all day, on his return he found his floor covered with
Indians asleep. The next morning, when they awoke, they demanded more whiskey of
Mr. Buell, but he told them he had none. One Indian took up his rifle and
began to load it, and told Mr. Buell that he would kill him. Mr. Buell
took down an iron skillet from a shelf and knocked the Indian senseless on the
floor. His comrades took the Indian out without any interference.
Mr. Buell thought the Indians would revenge him. One day, while he was
chopping wood, he turned around and saw the Indian standing at his back;
he thought his time had come, but the Indian said, "Too much whiskey --
served right."
The next year new settlers kept coming. The nearest
post office was at Monroe. In 1837 Mr. Bentley ran the first ferry across
the river. Mr. Buell traveled over the country and circulated a petition
for the first mail route through the country. School was held in the
different cabins; first one settler kept the teacher and then
another. The teacher's salary was one dollar a week and board. In
1841 the first school house was built. Miss Lucy Boynton was the first
school teacher.
In 1839 the Lyons Congregational Church was established; the
first preaching services were held in Daniel Hess's cabin; they were also held
in the cabin of Elijah Buell. Church was afterwards held in the old Fourth
street brick school house, which was built in 1847. In 1845 A. C. Root
started a bank. The first railroad was started in 1852 and was called the
"Lyons and Iowa Central;" the company owned a store and paid their
help with the goods from the store, for this reason it was nick-named the
"Calico Railroad." The North-Western was the first railroad that
succeeded; it was followed by the Milwaukee.
In April, 1837, Mr. Buell, Dennis Warren and several others
laid out the town in lots as far as Sixth street, and called it Lyons in honor
of Lyons, France. The town grew slowly, many beautiful buildings being
added, the Masonic Temple, Randall House and Central School, which has the first
bell of Lyons in its tower.
Mr. Buell lived to see his property become valuable and Lyons a city of many pretty homes [end of article.]
Photos
Postcards
David Shedlock has allowed IAGenWeb counties to put his postcard collection online. He says he has thousands of postcard photos from all over Iowa from 1900-1920 and after. Here we have some front and back images of his postcards for Clinton. We occationally posted the back of the postcard as they sometimes include information about the front as well as helping to date the postcard, so they're included. Please give David Shedlock credit for allowing his postcard collection to be displayed on our site.
Here are links to some of the Clinton postcards we have so far. I have listed any names so that they would be found by the search engine.
- Eagle Point Park
- Lyons (See bottom of the page)
- The Railroad and Bridges
- Views of the River
- Buildings in Clinton
- 5th Avenue South
- Other Streets in Clinton
- Schools, Hospitals, Courthouse, Fire, Police Postcards
- Misc Postcards
DisBrow Sash and Door Factory 1
DisBrow Sash and Door Factory 2
From Richard L. Carstensen: This was at 250 Main Ave., in Lyons. The picture was featured in one of Everett Streit's Once Upon A Time articles with the caption, "The Becker Wagon and Buggy Worker opened on Main Ave. in 1856, the first such industry in the Clinton area." This business later became the Becker Seed Co. The man on the right in the buggy is August Becker. The man in the doorway was Frederick Becker (b 20 Aug 1835 d. 24 Aug 1909). The next man is unknown and then there is Fred Becker.