William Stone, Osgood Shepherd, Thomas Gainer, David King, H. G. Angle, and others of the early settlers did not know what a mine they possessed had they only hung on long enough. Stone settled on the Iowa river and later left for Wisconsin, and Shepherd soon followed, all thinking he had made a good thing by selling his squatter rights to Brown and his friends.
Dr. E. L. Mansfield arrived in Cedar Rapids in 1847, going overland to California in 1850. He traded the west one-half of the block between Third and Second avenues west, and between First and Second streets for a rifle, which was considered a high price in those days. On this lot Dr. Mansfield erected a large dwelling house and lived there for many years. He purchased the lot on which the Whelihan drug store now stands for $600, and the lot adjoining many years later for $10,000, at what was then considered a very high price. Thus the property of 140 feet fronting on Second street and 120 feet fronting on Second avenue were purchased for less than $12,000, property which is now some of the most valuable in Cedar Rapids. Dr. Mansfield also held part of the property which was later purchased by the Cedar Rapids Savings Bank, and was held by him up to the time of his death. This had been purchased at an early day at low prices, when it was nothing but the cheapest kind of renting property.
A. C. Taylor, holder of much valuable real estate in Cedar Rapids, first owned the property where the First Christian church now stands. He also purchased the property on First avenue near the Union block. Mr. Taylor is the second oldest merchant in Cedar Rapids, and has not moved more than a block from the time he came here to locate in part of the postoffice on the alley where the Masonic Temple now stands. In speaking of rents, Mr. Taylor says that he has been surprised at the way rents have gone up year by year.
Osgood Shepherd, of whom it is said that he jumped Wilbert Stone's claim, held this claim till 1847, when he disposed of his squatter interest in what became Cedar Rapids to N. B. Brown, George Greene, H. W. Gray, A. L. Roach, and S. H. Tryon for the sum of $3,000.
FIRST DECORATION DAY CELEBRATION IN CEDAR RAPIDS
FROM THE CEDAR RAPIDS REPUBLICAN, SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 1906
When was the first Decoration Day celebration in Cedar Rapids? That is a question which many might find it hard to answer, and the story of the preparations for that day and of the day itself is so interesting that it is well worth a place here. There were comparatively few graves to decorate on that occasion. Not many of those who fought in the war had passed over the great divide in the year 1873, more than thirty years ago. Men whose heads are silvered and their steps trembling were then young and they marched firmly to the cemetery to take part in the exercises on that first Decoration Day. Since that time many of them have been laid beneath the sod and their comrades have done for them what they helped to do for others.
The day was made memorable by an eloquent and beautiful address by the late Judge Hubbard, a man who always loved the flag and the men who fought for it. Patriotism was one of the subjects that always lay nearest his heart.
