Aurelia in 1878
The village of Aurelia is located nine miles east of the Sioux River,
near a branch of the Maple, occupying a cheery site in the Maple
Valley. The population of the adjoining township is more dense than
elsewhere in the county. The farms are in a high state of cultivation
and the face of the county wears the aspect of an old settlement, as
compared with the west side of the county. The cause of this part of
the county settling before the west is due to the fact that the
townships of Pitcher and Afton had a great deal of land taken under the
homestead law while the west part around Marcus was held almost solely
by the railway company and by speculators. The homesteads being settled
on naturally facilitated the sale of the railroad land adjoining, and
thus these townships have become largely absorbed.
Aurelia is a
lively, bustling little town. It has this fiscal year shipped about 200
cars of wheat, and very considerable consignments of live stock. The
crops of the Maple Valley were luxuriant in 1877, the corn yield being
altogether unprecedented. There trade has been very lively; and
business received an impulse that will make 1877 a memorable year in
the history of the village. The population will aggregate about 200,
composted very largely of the business class. Aurelia is noted for her
elevators, having three very substantial and commodious ones. R. R.
Whitney, the pioneer of the place, has an elevator that can store away
18,000 bushels. The Miller Brothers have the first elevator built in
the village, and Alex Frazer has a neat little gem of a building, run
by improved machinery. The lumber business is represented by two yards,
the pioneer one being that of the Miller Bros. and the other of T. W.
D. Orswell, both well supplied. It contains a number of find business
houses: dry goods, grocery, clothing, hardware, boots and shoes, shoe
making shops, harness shops, etc. The post master J. W. Miller, has a
large well furnished store. Mr. Enright has a large stock of drugs, Mr.
Hinkle represents the clothing business. Mr. Orswell carries on an
extensive building establishment, Harker & Whorton have a well
selected stock of goods; the Marsh House is a popular resort for
travelers and Ruden & Kenyon have facilities for adjusting the
human barometer. The town has a harness shop, shoe shop, livery stable,
blacksmith shop, and other business places. The health of the town is
in charge of Dr. Quirk, and is in good hands. The people are
enterprising, intelligent and refined. The lumber and coal trade is
heavy; of the latter the Miller Bros. have a large share. It has a good
school house, and three church organizations, viz: Dunkard, Methodist
and Lutheran.
Source: History of Cherokee County published by Cherokee County Historical Society. ( Their source: Cherokee Times, January 1878)
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Originally,
the town of Aurelia, like most of the towns built up in the seventies,
along the Illinois Central lines west from Webster City, was of frame
structures. These buildings in a dry season of the year were playthings
for the angry flames that soon devoured them. One of the first large
conflagrations here was that of April 21, 1883 at 1 o’clock in the
morning. It originated in the basement of a drug store and swept many
business houses on Main street. It was generally thought at the time of
this fire that it was set to secure a $7,000 insurance on the property,
which was really on a $3,000 stock of goods. The company settled with
the owner for $1,500 and he soon left the country. The total loss by
reason of this sweeping fire was about ninety-seven thousand dollars,
and the insurance companies paid out 440,000 to the property owners.
The
next spring, in March, another fire originated in the basement of the
Frisbie building at about the same time in the night that the 1883 fire
originated. This fire destroyed $20,000 worth of business property and
crippled the interests of the business men for some time.
It may be
of interest to those living in Aurelia today to know who conducted the
various lines of business nearly a quarter of a century ago, hence the
following list was compiled during the year 1889.
| Grain dealers – R.R. Whitney, M.N. Dayton, J. C. Green, Dickey & Co. and the Farmers Stock Company. | Stock Dealers – Whitney, Green and Alex Fraser | | Lumber Dealers – Wisconsin Lumber Company, J. P. Dickey & Co. | General Dealers – D. G. Tonges, Hibble & Parker, H. H. Luehrs, J. P. Malison | | Hardware – Henry Bolte, William Natrass, C. S. Phelps | Agricultural implements – Felix O’Neal, J. H. Luehrs | | Groceries – George Wharton, William Dice | Furniture – Coddingham & Grew | | Hotel – “Hotel Green” Green & Woodstock, proprietors | Drugs – B. R. Olds, Miller & Merrill | | Millinery – Mrs. McMillen and Miss Coddingham; also Ellis Sisters | Harness Good – C. R. Kleeberger, Samuel St. John | | Boots & Shoes – Henry Bischel, S. Christiansen | Wagon Shop – D. J. Stockberger, Andy Yeager | Blacksmiths – Stockberger and Martin Colby and Connor
| Physicians – Dr. W. F. Myers, Dr. Milo Avery | | Attorneys – W. O. Striker | Jewelry – G. W. Newcomb | | Meat Markets – Herrick & Lindsay, John Middleton | Newspaper – the Aurelia Sentinel
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(Source: History of Cherokee by Thos. McCulla 1915)
Main Street Aurelia - Looking South
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More About Aurelia
Aurelia
in Pitcher Township is a pleasant place. All through the year it has a
sunny, open-to-new ideas look. Its people are active, and amiable. The
streets are wide and smooth and the buildings substantial. The town,
with its 700 people, lies 50 miles northeast of Sioux City on State
Highway 5, and nine miles east of Cherokee.
Aurelia
was named for a daughter of John I. Blair who promoted the railroads
through the vicinity, established towns, and made money selling town
lots, as fast as a new town had been laid out. He is said to have been
an eccentric and a millionaire and was not very well liked. He came
from Blairstown, New Jersey, and seems to have named several of the
railroad towns of northwest Iowa.
The
town serves an agricultural community and has developed accordingly.
Public utilities include the Peoples Telephone Company, Western Union,
American Railway Express, and Electric light plant and the waterworks.
The
Aurelia consolidated school extends its influence over a wide area. The
standard of education is high, students in dramatics, especially,
making outstanding records in state and district contests. The average
enrollment is 350 students.
(Source: Compiled and written by The Iowa Writers’ Program of the Works Projects Administration For the State of Iowa. 1940)
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Aurelia is in
Pitcher Township
The town was platted on
15 Feb 1873
Aurelia was incorporated as a town in 1880
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World War I
Aurelia Men
Answer The Call
115 men enlisted in the World War from the Aurelia community, 7 of whom lost their lives.
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Town of Aurelia Cemeteries
St.
Paul Lutheran Church Cemetery
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Past & Present Aurelia Churches
Aurelia Congregational Church
Congregational United Church of Aurelia
St. Paul's German Lutheran Church
Aureila Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
Scandinavian Lutheran Church
Swedish Lutheran Church
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Farmers Elevator
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Aurelia Bandstand - 1987
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Source: Library of Congress; Photo credit John Margolies
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