History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Clayton
CLAYTON COUNTY is the first west of the Mississippi River in the second tier south of Minnesota and contains twenty-four townships making an area of seven hundred ninety-two square miles. It was first created in December, 1837, and then contained a portion of the present county of Allamakee. The county was named for John M. Clayton a United States Senator from Delaware.
The first settlement (after the Spanish grant to Basil Giard in 1795) was made by Robert Hetfield, William D. Grant and William W. Wyman and families in the spring of 1832. They made claims on the north side of the Turkey River about four miles from its mouth. In 1836 other settlers came, among whom was Dr. Frederick Andros, who took a claim about a mile southeast of where Granavillo stands. John W. Gillett and a Mr. Loomis took claims in the same vicinity and opened farms. The same year Elisha Boardman settled upon the land where Elkader has been built. Prairie La Porte was laid out in 1837 and in 1847 the name was changed to Guttenburg. It was the first county-seat where the first term of court was held in a log cabin occupied by Herman Graybill and family. It convened in May, 1838, and was presided over by Judge Charles Dunn. At this time a portion of Minnesota was embraced in Wisconsin Territory and in the county of Clayton.
The county was fully organized in the fall of 1838. In 1843 the county-seat was removed to the new town of Jacksonville and in 1846 the name was changed to Garnavillo. In 1847 the town of Elkader was platted by Thompson, Davis and Sage who built a mill on the
ISLANDS IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER NEAR McGREGOR
As Seen from Summit of Pikes Peak. Photograph.
Turkey River at that place. The first houses were built by Elisha Boardman and H. D. Bronson in 1836 on the land where the new town was located. Elkader first became the county-seat in 1856, lost it for a time but permanently regained it in 1860. In 1855 Elias H. Williams was elected first county judge.
The first newspaper published between Dubuque and St. Paul on the west side of the Mississippi River was the Clayton County Herald. It was established in January, 1853, by H. S. Granger at Garnavillo and two years later sold to A. W. Dripps who changed the name to the Journal. Dripps was Captain of Company A, in the ninth Iowa Infantry in the Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Pea Ridge.
McGregor, the largest town in the county, was laid out in 1847 by Alexander McGregor. In 1836 he established a ferry across the Mississippi River at this place opposite the old French town of Prairie du Chien. Soon after he made a claim where the town of McGregor stands and built a log cabin at the foot of Main street. In 1847 he moved his family into it and a store and public house were soon opened. For many years the village which grew up was called McGregor’s Landing. The ravine where the town was located was named by the early French traders “Coolie de Sioux.” The bluffs here rise to the height of nearly four hundred feet and overlook the mouth of the Wisconsin River and the adjacent country for a great distance.
The first newspaper in McGregor was established by Colonel A. P. Richardson in October, 1856. The first railroad constructed in the county was the McGregor Western which was built west in 1857. This company secured a large land grant but failing to comply with the requirements the lands were given to the Milwaukee and St. Paul Company which completed the road west to Sheldon in 1878.