History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Warren
WARREN COUNTY lies in the third tier north of Missouri, in the fifth east of the Missouri River and contains five hundred sixty-nine square miles. It was created in January, 1846, and named for General Joseph Warren who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1848 the northern tier of townships was attached to Polk County. In 1853 these townships, with the exception of a fraction lying north of the Des Moines River were restored to Warren. Three rivers, North, Middle and South River flow in an easterly direction through the county and are bordered by fine timber.
The first settler in the county was John D. Parmelee who built a log cabin and erected a sawmill on Middle River in 1853, where lumber was manufactured for building the fort at Raccoon Forks. William Mason took a claim near Palmyra in the spring of 1845 before the Indians removed from the region. Among the earliest pioneers were Henry James, Robert Rees, P. P. Henderson, Samuel Hayworth, D. Booker, Alexander Grindler and Alfred D. Jones. Early in 1849 P. P. Henderson was appointed sheriff to organize the county and the first commissioners were Samuel Hayworth, Alexander Grindler and D. Booker. During this year the commissioners chosen to select a site for the county-seat met at the house of Alexander Grindler and decided upon a place near the geographical center of the county a mile north of South River where a town was laid out and named Indianola. Among the first to build houses and settle at the new county-seat was Zebulon Hackett, P. P. Henderson and Amos Booker.
The first election was held on the 1st of January, 1849, at which the following officers were chosen: judge of probate, Thomas Feagans; sheriff, P. P. Henderson; clerk, Jonathan Dillon; recorder, William Ginder; surveyor, Henry Hays; commissioners, Samuel Haworth, Alexander Grindler and Daniel Barker. In September of the same year the first court was held in a log school-house by Judge McKay at which Barlow Granger was district attorney. A log court-house was built at Indianola in 1851 which for several years was used also for church services, public meetings, political conventions and schools. A newspaper was established at Indianola by John W. Murphy who issued the first number of the Republican on the 24th of August, 1855. It survived less than a year and was succeeded by the Indianola Visitor, published by J. H. Knox. The Methodists organized the first church in Indianola in 1850. At the annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held at Indianola, in August, 1860, steps were taken to establish a seminary under the auspices of that denomination, which in 1867 became “Simpson Centenary College.”
Carlisle was laid out in the northern part of the county by Jerry Church and Daniel Moore in 1851. Norwalk was laid out by George M. Swan the same year near the northwest corner of the county. The first railroad built was a branch of the Rock Island running from Des Moines to Indianola which was completed to that place in October, 1871. The first movement of the citizens of Warren County to secure a railroad was made as early as 1853. Efforts continued for nearly eighteen years before the county-seat became connected with the railroad lines of the country.