The first term of the Woodbury County Court was held at Sioux City in March, 1855, John K. Cook acting as Judge. The first term of District Court began September 3d, of that year, with Samuel H. Riddle as Judge. In the early days of the city, court was held in the now dilapidated brick building,yet standing on lower Fourth street, near Virginia. Afterwards, the county built the house now called "the old jail," on Virginia street, near Seventh.This was used as a jail, and occasionally for court purposes, until the fall of 1876, when the commodious and imposing edifice, which had been begun the previous spring, was completed. Woodbury County points with pride to this Court House. No other county in the State has one of more architectural beauty,

-204-

and few are larger and more convenient. The contractors were Sioux City men, C.E. & D.T. Hedges, and the building cost (complete) $100,000. The present Judiciary are: C.E. Lewis, of Cherokee, District Judge, and J.R. Zuver, of Sioux City, Circuit Judge. S.M. Marsh is District Attorney. A bill has been introduced in Congress, which, if it becomes a law, as now seems likely, will give Sioux City terms of the United States Court.

THE BUTTON FACTORY.

The Siuox City Button Manufacturing Company was incorporated October 15th, 1881, with a paid-up capital of $10,000. Its manufactory is located on the West Side, and is a substantial three-story brick building, well supplied with all necessary machinery. The works were set in operation in January, 1882, and the first finished buttons were turned out on the 26th of the same month. The factory, at present, is exclusively devoted to the manufacturing of buttons from horn, and when run to its full capacity, will afford employment for seventy operatives. The advantages enjoyed by the company in obtaining the raw material for its products, enable them to successfully compete with eastern manufacturers for trade in the East, while the freights that the latter have to pay, on the raw material and manufactured articles, will preclude the possibility of their entering western markets as competitors of this home manufactory. All grades of buttons will be made, and it is the intention of the company to handle their goods through jobbers only. The company is composed entirely of Sioux City men, and the machinery, excepting the lathes and presses, are nearly all of Sioux City make.

THE CHURCHES

The moral and religious wants of the community are well supplied in this city. The church records run back as far as 1856. In 1857, Rev. Mr. Chessington, a Presbyterian missionary, organized a congregation of his denomination in the then frontier village, and the first church edifice built was by that society, the building being still standing on lower Fourth street, and now does duty as a grocer store. The churches now in this city are:
First Presbyterian,—Established 1857; membership 193; church, corner Sixth and Nebraska streets.
First Methodist Episcopal.—Established 1857; membership, 184; church, on Douglas street, corner of Sixth and Pierce streets.
First Baptist.—Established in 1860; membership, 155; church, corner of Fifth and Nebraska streets.

-205-

St. Mary's (Catholic).—Established in 1856; membership, 130 families; church, corner Sixth and Pierce streets.
German Lutheran.—Established in 1877; membership thirty-three; church, on Jackson street, above Sixth street.
Norwegian Lutheran.—Established in 1875; membership, seventy-three; church on Third street between Jones and Jennings streets.
Trefoldighedskirken.—Established in 1875; membership, forty-three; church on Sixth street, West Side.
Norwegian Methodist.—Established 1880; membership, sixty-two; church on Court street near Sixth street.
Swedish Baptis.—Established in 1881; membership, fifty-seven; church, on Wall street near Sixth street.

In connection with all these churches, flourishing Sunday Schools are maintained; the scholars in nearly every church out-numbering the membership. It shows a satisfactory growth in religious matters, that during 1881, three new churches, the Baptist, Swedish Baptist and Norwegian Methodist, Have been built or begun, and that a fourth, the First Methodist, took the preliminary steps for re-building and enlarging their place of worship.

WOODBURY COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

The Woodbury County Agricultural Society was organized in 1870, and the present handsome fair grounds, located one and a half miles northwest of the city, were laid out soon after. Though the organization has met with many discouraging reverses, it has done much to advance the interests of farming, and created a laudable ambition to excel among the agriculturists of the county. Exhibitions have been held annually, with the exception of one or two seasons, when bad weather made it inexpedient to attempt it. Within the past two years unusual interest has been taken in the Society by the farming and stock-raising community, and the organization has been placed in a prosperous condition and on a solid financial footing. Men, identified with the pursuits, whose interests are represented by an association of this kind, have assumed the management, and made the Society in every way creditable to the county. The benefits arising from these annual exhibitions of the agricultural, mechanical, and manufacturing products of the country, are being recognized, and the hearty cooperation of all classes is accorded them. The grounds belonging to the Society have recently been improved by the planting of shade trees, and new buildings erected for the convenience of exhibitors. The officers of the association are: G.W. Kingsnorth, President; Craig L. Wright, Vice-President; J.M. Cleland, Secretary; G.W. Wakefield, Treasurer; R. Hall, W.B. Tredway, R.A. Broadbent, J.M. Cleland, G.H. Wright, G.W. Wakefield,

-206-

G.W. Kingsnorth, C.L. Wright, W.P. Holman, B.P. Yeomans, Directors. The fair for 1882 is to be held September 12th, 13th and 14th.

MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTORIES.

Among the manufacturing interests of the city, which can only be mentioned without giving any detailed account are: C.F. Hoyt's Vinegar Works, employing five men; John Beck's planing mill, fifteen men; A.J. Millard's wood working shop, four men; Barker & Petty, barrel and butter tub factory, fourteen men; R. Selzer's brewery, eleven men; Franz & Co.'s brewery, thirteen men; City flouring mills steam, ten men; the Floyd flouring mills, water power, eight men; the brick yards of J. Rochele, Thomas Green and C.B. Woodley, the two latter having steam power, and altogether employing ninety men during the season; John Griffin's candy factory, three men; and the wagon shops of Trudell Bros., Dineen Bros., and Reeve & Trudell, and Brown Bros., together employing forty-three men; and the cigar factories of Amsler & Radcliff, George Mauer, and A.M. Ashley, which furnish employment to twenty-four workmen. The following table, showing the business of these, and numerous smaller manufactories, during 1881, will give the reader some idea of the importance of these industries:

	No. Employees.	Wages paid.	Amount sales.
Iron and wood articles	106	$44,950	$167,400
Eatables	79	37,780	457,350
Cigars	24	10,300	69,000
Beer	24	21,000	110.000
Leather	34	13,500	79,200
Clothing and other items	124	46,280	167,200
Brick	90	18,000	43,400
Printing	66	41,100	81,500
Marble	8	4,500	14,000
Totals	555	237,410	$1,189,050

This table does not include the output of the pork house, nor of the St. Paul shops. Owing, mostly, to the active exertions of the Board of Trade, several other manufacturing enterprises are either assured or in prospects. Among these are chemical works, for which part of the apparatus has arrived at this writing; a pump foundry, for which ground has been leased; clay pipe works, a

-207-

large distillery, a flax mill, and numerous others yet too vague to take position as historical facts.

THE SCHOOLS OF SIOUX CITY

Rapid and substantial as we have seen the growth of Sioux city to have been, in population and commercial importance, intellectual progress has been maintained in a degree fully equal to its material progress; and, to-day, it is the acknowledged educational center of the great Northwest. Fortunately, from the birth of the city to the present time, her school interests have been confided to earnest, active, representative men, with broad and liberal views of education, brought with them from their New England homes, where the advantages of common schools had been tested by experience, and under whose administration and fostering care a system of graded schools has been established which affords educational advantages unsurpassed by any city in the State. Her citizens have been liberal—even lavish—in the expenditure of money for the erection of elegant and commodious school buildings, and their equipments, with all the modern improvements calculated to facilitate the acquisition of a common school education.

The public schools of the city are embraced in what is known as the Independent School District of Sioux City, which was organized in July, 1869. The first Board of Directors was composed of six members, consisting of A.M. Hunt, President; William L. Joy, W.R. Smith, John Cleghorn, F.J. Lambert, and George Falkenhainer. John P. Allison was Treasurer and F.M. Ziebach, Secretary. The present Board of Directors consists of John P. Allison, President; William L. Joy, J.C.C. Hoskins, L. McCarty, C.R. Marks and A. Groninger, two of whom are elected every two years for a term of three years. During the first year after the organization of the district into an independent one, the first school house of any now in use was built. At present there are eleven school houses in use, of which three are rented, and the others belong to the district. Additional buildings are in contemplation to meet the growing wants of the district. The schools are all graded, as primary, secondary and intermediate, culminating in the High School, which latter, though few in its number of pupils, has attained a high degree of efficiency as a factor in the educational system of the city. The schools are under the management of A. Armstrong, Superintendent, with a corps of thirty-two able teachers. Instructors only of acknowledged ability and ripe experience are employed, who are emulous of attaining the high standard of excellence for which Iowa, as a State, has become justly renowned. Of these, three are males, at an average salary of $90 per month, and twenty-nine females, at an average salary of $40 per month. The Superintendent, has general charge of all the schools, and receives a salary of $1,250 per annum. The last annual report of the County Superintendent gives the number

-208-

of school age in the district, as 2,185, while the actual attendance upon school, as appears by the City Superintendent's report, is 1,329. School is in session ten months of the year, and the average cost per pupil is $1.27. The value of the school buildings is estimated at about $75,000. The grounds in most cases, are surrounded by substantial fences and adorned with shade and ornamental trees.

A CITY OF HOMES

To give some idea, though necessarily and inadequate one, of the rapid growth and present prosperity of the city, the following figures are given, showing the number of new buildings and the cost of improvements made during the past three years:

	No.	Cost.
1879	103	$157,445
1880	146	257,085
1881	411	558,210

While many of these buildings were substantial business blocks, solid manufactories, and palatial residence, by far the greater number were the modest homes of mechanics, small tradesmen, and laborers. Sioux City is emphatically a city of homes. The possibility of securing a home of one's own, owing to the moderate prices at which residence lots have been held, the prosperity of all classes, and the assistance given by loan and building associations, has been improved, and these have combined to make the city the Philadelphia of the West.

LAND INTERESTS.

As well as being a center of wealth and business for a large section of country, Sioux City is the center of a large land interest and business. The location of a government land office at this city, one of the first prizes secured by the founders of the infant metropolis, ha naturally been followed by the centering of a large landed business at the city. The fertile acres in this part of Iowa were open to entry at $1.25 per acre for several years after being surveyed, and during the flush of times of 1856-7 hundreds of thousands of acres were entered by speculators in this part of the State. Then came the era of land grants to railroads, and these lands, as well as those of private speculators, were placed in the hands of Sioux City agents for sale. Among the resident proprietors of large landed estates may be mentioned T.J. Stone, Weare & Allison, D.T. Gilman, G.W. Wakefield, John Pierce and N.A. McFaul. The two latter, beside the lands which they own, are agents for non-resident and railroad lands, the former in selling the lands granted railroads in this part of Iowa, and the latter representing the Burlington and Missouri grant in Nebraska. The sales of these two firms alone amounted to several hundred thousand dollars during 1881.

It would be an error to suppose from the active demand for real estate that the country was becoming crowded. A careful study

-209-

of the plats in the office of any Sioux City land dealer will show that not more than one-sixth of the land in Woodbury County has yet passed into the hands of the actual occupants. The county is capable of sustaining a population equal to that now scattered out over the entire northwest quarter of the State.

AS A DISTRIBUTING POINT

Sioux City, situated as it is, on the convex side of the Missouri River, on its first great bend north of Kansas City, the waters of that great river flow toward it from an almost due westerly course for 150 miles, when they turn southward, while smaller streams flow toward it from the north and east. Its location thus seems to have been designed by nature as the natural spot for the great metropolis of the Upper Missouri, and the commerce of this rapidly growing empire flows as naturally toward this point as the waters have for ages. The natural advantages of this location for a commercial center, were seen and fully appreciated by the enterprising, intelligent men who selected it for a city, and they not only laid it out on a grand scale for substantial business blocks and stately residences, but they worked to bring to the aid of its natural resources all the helps that the artificial arteries of commerce can command.

Its commanding geographical position, coupled with its eight lines of railroad and might river, has made it the distributing point for Dakota and Nebraska. All the supplies for the vast territory to the north and westward are necessarily handled by the railroads centering here, and the business thus brought to her very doors has contributed not a little to the upbuilding of the city, as it necessitated the erection of warehouse and the investment of capital in the wholesale and distributing business. The following table, prepared by the Secretary of the Board of Trade, will give some idea of the extent and character of this business during the year 1881:

-210-

These figures can be accepted as being as nearly correct as it is possible to give them, and if they err at all it is in being too small, and that they are too small is clearly indicated by the amount of exchange sold by our three banks during the past year, as per figures furnished, which was $10,256,127.02.

Especially is this true of grain, as one firm, during the period covered by this table, purchased 600,000 bushels of wheat alone, and the shipments of corn and oats to the up-river military posts amounted to 15,000,000 pounds. The general merchandise sales of the city during the same year reached the gratifying total of 4,500,000 of dollars. Of this amount $1,456,000 was sold by the three wholesale dry goods houses, and about $100,000 in round numbers by the two wholesale grocery establishments. Of the other lines of trade engaged in the distribution business, of the magnitude of whose operations no definite figures can be given, may be mentioned:
The Standard Oil Company has put in tanks and a warehouse, whence illuminating and lubricating oil is distributed all over this part of the northwest.
The firms of F.H. Peavey & Co., H.G. Wyckoff, Booge Bros., and Knud Sunde send out coal, lime and plaster by the ton, carload or single barrel.
Two wholesale grocery houses, E.C. Palmer & Co., and Tackaberry, Van Keuren & Floyd, represent their line. One of the firms stated that its business in 1881 amounted to over $500,000, and the other refused to give figures.
The wholesale drug business is carried on by John Hornick and Joseph Marks.
The cracker factory of Goodwin & Mosseau employs seven men, and has a trade extending throughout the Northwest.
In the wholesale saddlery hardware line there are J.M. McConnell & Co. and L. Humbert.
Dry goods and notions are wholesaled by Tootle, Livingston & Co. and by Jandt & Tompkins.
The jobbing of hardware is conducted by Peavey Bros. and Geowey & Co., the former firm selling only at wholesale.
Agricultural implements are sold in lots to dealers by Peavey Bros., W. L. Wilkins and Cottrell, Bruce & Co.
The shipping of grain is the specialty of F.H. Peavey & Co. and Davis & Wann, and is one of the lines of John H. Charles and Jas. E. Booge & Co.
The northwestern distributing point is at Sioux City for the Singer Sewing Machines, for which A.P. Provost is the agent; the American Sewing Machines, represented by W.W. Griggs, and for Kimballl's musical instruments, for which Arthur Hubbard is general agent.

-211-

During 1881, Smith & Farr, built an extensive butter and egg packing establishment, costing $20,000 which the growth of the trade in this produce imperatively demanded.

Oberne, Hosick & Co., of Chicago, have a branch house extablishd here, which makes a specialty of hides and wool, and whose operations extend to the British Possessions.

Pinckney & Co., beside their retail book and stationery business, keep several men on the road selling their wares.

J.K. Prugh, in connection with his retail crockery and queen's-ware trade, devotes some attention to the wholesale line of his business.

Beside these, three banks, two of which are national banks, two express offices and the postoffice handle the currency used in the business of a wide extent of country. Numerous firms and individuals who do not figure before the public as being in the wholesale trade, are, by force of circumstances compelled to sell goods in job lots to out-of-town customers. Thus a number of our clothing merchants supply surrounding country stores, grocers send out shipments to dealers all the way between the city and Deadwood, and lumber dealers ship small lots and entire car lots to small dealers out of the city. By numberless channels the goods brought in bulk to this city are distributed, and the produce of the country collected and forwarded. Much of this business has not been cultivated, but has come to the city unasked. The need of more wholesale houses is the crying need of the city. The field is large, and the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers comparatively few.

Indian Antiquities

Visit our family of homepages and join us.