was platted had been taken in 1846 by Elijah T. Miller of which he conveyed a part to the county. S. K. Scovell, the clerk of the county, built the first house for an office and Benjamin Green opened the first store. The first term of court was held by Judge Carlton in September, 1847. In 1849 the name of the town was changed to Adel. The first newspaper was established in 1856 by Rippey and Reed and named the Ship of State. The Des Moines Valley Railroad was constructed through the county from the southeast during 1869-70 and several towns were laid out on its line. Among them were Dallas Center and Perry, the latter the largest town in the county. Redfield, laid out on the Raccoon River, was established by Colonel James Redfield who was killed in the Civil War.
Upon the organization of Dallas County the following offices were chosen: Samuel Miller, clerk; L. A. Davis, recorder and treasurer; J. K. Miller, sheriff, and W. W. Miller, surveyor.
DAVIS COUNTY is in the third tier west of the Mississippi River on the south line of the State and embraces an area of five hundred three square miles, as the southern tier of townships is divided by the State line. It was formerly included in the original county of Demoine and afterwards in Van Buren but was created with its present boundaries in 1844 and named for Garret Davis a Kentucky statesman.
As early as 1837 hunters and trappers built cabins in the southern part of the county long before the Sac and Fox Indians had been removed. In 1837 James H. Jordon established a trading post among these Indians on the banks of the Des Moines River in the northeast corner of the county, Van Caldwell and others located near him in 1839-40. In 1842 a post-office was established in the county on the extreme western limits of the Black Hawk Purchase, at a point called Fox, with S. A. Evans as postmaster.
