[CHAPTER XLV]
Odds and Ends of History and Reminiscence
In this chapter we give some odds and ends of history and reminiscence that could not well be inserted elsewhere or that came into our possession after the foregoing chapters were written:
The result of the vote in Linn county in 1860 showed 2,227 for Lincoln electors, 1,220 for Douglas, 24 for Breckinridge, and 84 for Bell. In Rapids township Lincoln had 397, Douglas 201, Breckinridge 3, and Bell 26.
The first telegraph line reached Cedar Rapids February 24, 1860.
On the evening of Sunday, June 3, 1860, a destructive storm occurred, since known as "The Great Tornado." It was most destructive about five miles north of Cedar Rapids, and passed southward, leaving the county in the vicinity of Western. Some lives were lost and many buildings destroyed.
THE TOWN OF WESTERN
Western was laid out in March, 1856, under the auspices of the United Brethren church, with the design of forming proper surroundings for the college. Ground was first broken in June of that year. By August, 1857, there were forty-three dwelling houses and three hundred inhabitants. One college building had been completed. This was of brick, three stories in height, 36 by 62 feet. This was placed upon a campus of seventeen acres. Rev. S. Weaver was first president of this institution. The plan was to operate a large farm in connection with the college, that students might earn their way. In this new town there were already two stores, one hotel built and one building, a blacksmith shop, two physicians, and fourteen busy carpenters. Land in the vicinity was worth from $10 to $20 per acre. Its quality was proven when the college president, on his own farm, raised 1,800 bushels of wheat. There was a railroad coming there, of course, as there was one prospected to nearly every cross-roads in the state. This particular line was the Iowa Union, to run from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City.
Western was above all things a moral town. One Daniel Quin having opened a grog shop near the place, where the college authorities could not interfere, the people took up the matter. Sentiment was aroused and a mass meeting was held. At this meeting resolutions were adopted, which provided that a committee should wait upon the dram seller and urge him to desist. In case of his refusal the committee was to try legal methods for his suppression. If these proved ineffective the meeting was to be again called, to devise further measures. A very significant addendum was that the meeting would support the committee in any plan which might be considered necessary to eradicate the obnoxious business. It was further resolved to use the boycott—though the Irish captain had not yet given his name to the scheme. In other words they were not to employ or trade with any man engaged in the liquor business or who might in any way support the traffic. It is perhaps needless to say that Quin surrendered at discretion without forcing the committee and the people to extremities hinted at.