From a Keosauqua newspaper in 1854
The
Democratic Union is one of the county's
early newspapers, and was printed in Keosauqua. An article from August 26,
1854 paints a portrait of seventeen of the county's villages: Farmington,
Bonaparte, Bentonsport, Vernon, Keosauqua, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,
Portland, Iowaville, Blackhawk, Birmingham, Winchester, Union Corners,
Upton, Lebanon, Milton and Business Corners.
Although no attempt was given to estimate the populations of these villages
and towns, the author said that if the population was all combined into one
city, it would probably be the largest in the state of Iowa--with several
thousand inhabitants! At the time Van Buren County was the third largest
county in population.
Farmington was described as "a city" having a dam and a bridge over the Des
Moines River for westward traffic.
Bonaparte, was an unincorporated place, smaller than Farmington but with a
finished dam, mills and machinery. Bentonsport, 3 miles above Bonaparte, was
an incorporated city of about the same size, that was equal in
manufacturing, offering a large flouring mill, and a paper mill.
Across the river from Bentonsport was Vernon, with an equal advantage of
water power. Here was another large flouring mill, saw and lathe mills, and
carding facility.
Keosauqua had not yet completed its lock and dam but the writer thought it
would happen during the fall (of 1854). It had a steam flour mill and saw
mill, courthouse, school and churches.
Pittsburgh was described as having two stores, mechanics shops, and was
"quite a village." The author used some tongue-in-cheek humor. Four miles
above it, Philadelphia was "not quite as large as a town of that name in
Pennsylvania," but still was a nice gathering with a store and shops.
Portland had a steam saw mill, and a dam under construction. When completed,
the author thought this would jump start this village, which hadn't seemed
to prosper very well.
Iowaville, the former home of the departed race of aborigines (Sauk-Fox
Indians) was a nice business place. Across from it, Black Hawk had newly
been built with the most extensive steam flour mill in the county, a steam
sawmill, and a distillery that made most of the county's whisky and
furnished high wine to Keokuk for the manufacture of brandy, gin, rum and
wine.
Birmingham was a stirring and growing business place with numerous stores,
said to rival Fairfield. Three miles below, was Winchester, not quite as
large as Birmingham, but an excellent business place.
The road must have been winding with many curves, as Union Corners (Mt.
Sterling) was described as being 12 miles south of Keosauqua!. At the time,
it had 4 stores and some shops.
Also on the Missouri border, west of Union Corners, was Upton, with a
grocery store. Further west was Milton, with stores and a steam mill. It was
said to be impressive for a town "just planted."
Finally, Lebanon was a place of business importance with "a store or two" on
the road leading from Keosauqua to Bloomfield. Along the road leading from
Keosauqua to Iowaville was Business Corners. As the name implied, it was a
place of business importance with a couple of stores and shops.
This is a bird's eye view of what was going on in Van Buren County in the
1850s. There were other places that were trying to become villages. Dotted
with small towns and villages, none had clustered enough population to rival
the large Mississippi River towns, such as Keokuk, Burlington, Davenport,
Dubuque and Muscatine.
- -
Contributed to the Van Buren Co. IAGenWeb Project by Andy Reddick
http://iavanburen.org