History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/3/Counties/Webster
WEBSTER COUNTY, as first established in January, 1853, is now Hamilton, but by an act of the same General Assembly, which took place six months later, the counties of Yell and Risley were united under the name of Webster and the original county of Webster was named Hamilton. In July, 1855, the south half of Humboldt was added to Webster. The latter county was named for the famous Massachusetts lawyer, Daniel Webster, and these numerous changes in boundaries were made through the influence of the proprietors of the towns of Webster City and Fort Dodge in order to secure to them the county-seat.
Henry Lott and others went into the Des Moines valley near the mouth of the Boone River in 1847 and soon after Isaac Bell, Jacob Mericle, Tolman Woolsey, D. B. Spaulding, Orsborn Brannon, John Tolman, Thomas Holliday, and William Pierce settled in the southern part of Webster County along the Des Moines River and tributaries. Rev. John Johns was a famous hunter and pioneer preacher in that vicinity. Up to 1853 about one hundred fifty settlers had made homes along the river south of Fort Dodge.
In August, 1853, an election was held and the following county officers were chosen: William Pierce, judge; Tolman Woolsey, recorder and treasurer; Jesse Goodrich, clerk; J. Doty, sheriff, and John Tolman, school fund commissioner. A town was laid out on a beautiful prairie between the Des Moines and Boone rivers in the fall of 1853 named Homer which was made the first county-seat. There the first court was held in the fall of 1854 by Judge McFarland. Granville Berkley was the first postmaster at Homer, which made a rapid growth.
The old fort had been vacated by the soldiers in October, 1853, and Major William Williams had charge of the abandoned Government property. Soon after the land, which had been reserved for the post, was offered for sale and purchased by a syndicate at the head of which was Major Williams. In March, 1854, the survey and plat of the original town of Fort Dodge was completed, the survey having been made by S. C. Wood of Boone County. The syndicate consisted of Colonel Jesse Williams, John Lemp, Bernhart Henn and George Gillaspy and was known as the “Fort Dodge Land Company.” Major William Williams was the resident manager who made the purchase of the lands and caused the town of Fort Dodge to be laid out. A post-office was established and Major Williams was appointed postmaster. In 1855 a United States Land Office was established at Fort Dodge and the town became a competitor to Homer for the county-seat.
Among the earliest settlers at Fort Dodge were John F. Duncombe, John L. Cheyney, H. Beecher, H. A. Cramer, C. H. Vincent, W. O. Ruggles, E. G. Morgan, John Garrahty, Albert Morrison and Ezekiel Hinton. A plan was devised by citizens of Fort Dodge and Newcastle, on the Boone River, to divide the county and make each of these towns the county-seat of the new counties thus created. The first step was calling an election in April, 1856, for the removal of the county-seat from Homer to Fort Dodge. By coöperation of the citizens of Fort Dodge and Newcastle and the entire northern part of the county Fort Dodge was successful. The Legislature of 1857 divided the large county of Webster, creating the county of Hamilton out of the eastern part and the county-seat was established at Webster City, the new name for the town of Newcastle. The division line between the new counties left Homer close to the west side of Hamilton and was a death blow to a town which had made a remarkable growth, and was at one time the most important in northwestern Iowa. Business and citizens deserted it, houses and stores were left without tenants and for years it was a deserted village.
The boundaries of Hamilton were made identical with the original county of Webster the present county containing none of the territory of the original county of that name. On the 26th of February, 1857, the north tier of townships of Webster County was annexed to the new county of Humboldt, leaving Webster with an area of seven hundred twenty square miles.
The first sermon preached in Fort Dodge was by the Rev. J. H. Burleigh in the fall of 1851 in a hospital tent. Williams and Lemp operated the first store in 1855 and C. C. Carpenter, afterwards Governor, taught the first school in the winter of 1855-6. Hoyt Sherman and E. W. Lucas of Des Moines bought the first lots sold in Fort Dodge in March, 1855. John F. Duncombe opened the first law office in April and Dr. S. B. Olney was the first physician. The first hotel was opened in 1854 by W. R. Miller in one of the barracks. In July, 1856, A. S. White established the first newspaper in northwestern Iowa, at Fort Dodge. It was a weekly Democratic journal named the Fort Dodge Sentinel. The first railroad built into the
GYPSUM LEDGES, NEAR PORT DODGE
county was the Iowa Falls and Sioux City which reached Fort Dodge in May, 1869. In Webster County are found extensive deposits of gypsum and its manufacture into stucco is one of the most important industries in the State. A history of the establishment of a military post at Fort Dodge is given elsewhere.