History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Shelby
SHELBY COUNTY was embraced in the original county of Keokuk when it extended west to the Missouri River. In 1850 the county was organized with present boundaries and named for General Isaac Shelby, an officer of the Revolutionary War. It lies in the second tier east of the Missouri River and in the fourth north of the Missouri State line, is twenty-four miles square, embracing in its area five hundred ninety square miles. The entire surface is rolling and was originally largely prairie with numerous small groves of native woods scattered over it. The West Nishnabotna and numerous branches of the Missouri and Boyer rivers furnish a water supply.
The first white men known to have made homes in the county were two hunters and trappers, Nicholas Beery and Mr. Bowman, who built a cabin near the Nishnabotna in the fall of 1847 and spent several years at their occupation along the numerous water courses. In 1851 Mr. Beery was attacked by a wandering band of Indians, robbed and beaten so brutally that he died of his injuries. The next settlers were largely Mormons who separated from the main body who, in 1848-9, made settlements in several of the Missouri River counties. Abraham Galland and his son-in-law, William Jordan, made claims at a large grove in the northwest portion of the county in the fall of 1848, built a log cabin and became the first permanent residents of the county. Galland’s Grove contained about a thousand acres of timber land and attracted about it many families. Among the earliest settlers were William Felshaw, Solomon and Joseph Hancock, Joseph Roberts, James M. Butler, Andrew Foutz, Franklin Rudd, Mansel Wicks and John A. McIntosh. The latter was a noted Mormon pioneer preacher.
The county was organized in 1853 by the election of the following officers: William Vanausdall, judge; Andrew Foutz, sheriff; Vinsan G. Perkins, clerk; Alexander McCord, recorder and treasurer, and James Ward, prosecuting attorney. There were but thirteen votes polled at this election. The first court was held in 1853 by Judge Samuel H. Riddle in a building used for a grocery and saloon at Galland’s Grove. A location was chosen for the county-seat in what is now Grove township, where a town was laid out and named Shelbyville. Several buildings were erected and for five years the new town grew into a thriving village. But, on losing the county-seat, the town soon became deserted and finally disappeared by the removal of the buildings to other places. In 1857 the town of Simoda was platted near the center of the county with the expectation that it would become the county-seat. A newspaper was established by Samuel Dewell named the New Idea; the first number was issued early in 1858. This town attained a size of twenty buildings and made a vigorous fight to secure the county-seat but failing, fell into decay, the buildings were for the most part removed to Harlan and the town entirely disappeared. In 1858 the town of Harlan was laid out near the geographical center of the county and named for the first Republican United States Senator in Iowa. The first building was erected by Isaac Plum and in the fall of 1858 William W. Newton built a hotel. In January, 1859, the Shelby County Courier was established at Harlan by J. B. Besack and a determined campaign opened to secure the county-seat which was successful before the end of the year. In 1878 a railroad was built from Avoca, on the line of the Rock Island, to Harlan; in 1881 a branch of the Northwestern was built through the northeastern part of the county; and the next year the Milwaukee road was built through the northwestern portion of the county. Shelby is a flourishing town in the south side of the county on the Rock Island road.