The 1929 fire that changed Russell's face forever

Many thanks to Frank Meyer, Lucas Countyan Blog

Back in the 1960s, when I was attending school in Russell, there still was a palpable sense of before-the-big-fire and after-the-big-fire on Main (Shaw) Street --- even though the blaze had occurred 40 years earlier --- on Sunday, March 24, 1929. That's 90 years ago now.

Before that date, as the photo above, looking west, suggests, both sides of the street were filled with buildings. The two-story one behind the bandstand was the Hasselquist Building, which survived the fire and was partially rebuilt --- the facade was preserved but the roof sloped back to cover a one-story retail space that I think housed Chester Produce (someone will correct me if I'm wrong about that).

Barely visible at the other end of the block is the other survivor, a two-story brick that in my day housed the Hess Drug Store downstairs and the Russell telephone exchange upstairs. Nothing between the two had been rebuilt, but trees had been planted and a new bandstand constructed and this was where we gathered sometimes as a community. Eventually, the water tower was located here, too.

It's still the Russell City Park, the Hasselquist Building has been replaced with a new structure and the old Hess Drug Store has been taken down. But a new bandstand now is in place and the area continues to serve as a community focal point.

Here's the story, published in The Chariton Leader of March 26, 1929, that describes the fire that changed the face of Russell forever.

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Most of the block on the south side of Shaw street, in the business section of Russell, today is a mass of charred ruins. There are a few chimneys standing like sentinels guarding the debris, and calling attention to the devastation that has been wrought by the consuming flames, a small blaze of which started in a restaurant, gaining momentum from a lack of means at hand to extinguish. It leaped in billows, bursting to the open and, from housetop to housetop, until, leaving only the brick building at the west end of the block and the two story frame Hasselquist building on the east next to the street, which is now a mere shell, the interior being charred and burned out. The amount of the loss is yet merely conjecture, but will mount up to probably $75,000, and the inconvenience to the tradesmen, aside from their losses, is a staggering blow that it will take a long time to grow from under.

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This is the first disastrous fire that Russell has ever had and illustrates what hazards may occur from small causes and temporary defective means to cope with them. It is said a small blaze started in the flue of the Stacy restaurant at about 3:30 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, which could have been extinguished without much damage had their fire apparatus not proven recalcitrant at the moment of hazard and refused to play a stream upon the blaze, owing to some defective bearing or valve, and thus it was rendered impotent, and the fire gained headway with the result as mentioned. The Chariton fire department was appealed to, but before the fire truck, manned with a corps of firemen, could reach Russell the dangers had so increased that it was imminent that all of the frame buildings on the south side of the street would be consumed.

Some little time was consumed in getting located, minutes but it seemed longer, (before) a line of hose was strung from the old mill pond, and almost suddenly three streams of water began to play on the menaced buildings on the north side, which soon would have crumbled and burst into flame. These were brick structures mainly, and were slower to ignite than the frame structures directly to the south. The awnings were swept off by the flames, and the windows were falling out and the smoke and heat were driven to the interior. The damage here was great but repairs and adjustments will be easier. But had the flames spread across the street and to the east there would surely have been a general conflagration, and no telling where it would have stopped, the wind being in the south.

As soon as the menace on the north side was arrested, the work of checking the flames to the east was fully centered on, a stream of water playing in that direction all the time for this purpose, but the frame buildings were too far along in the wreck to save when the firemen reached the scene. Careful watch was kept on the two story Hasselquist building on the corner, and the fire kept down as much as dividing the force would permit, or was wise, because had it taken fire on the roof, owing to its height, the flames would have escaped across to the Turbot building and the oil stations and would have wildly swept down the block to the east. Certainly these were anxious moments.

To the north there was a rain of embers and time and again the roof of the McKinley building was on fire, in which is the Ewald & Brewer general store, and even a half block north of this, flying missiles of flames menaced, and had to receive attention from the force of the pumps. Also, falling electric wires had to be reckoned with.

Soon after the truth dawned that the conflagration would be general, the crowd began to unload the stores and shops of their equipment and merchandise, and for a block or more in various directions the streets looked like a ship's wharf with the cargoes distributed promiscuously for the loading. Of course much of this was damaged by breakage and the disarrangement and in the main was salvage, yet there was some rescue not salvage. Before the sun had set and darkness had closed over the scene the disheartened shop keepers and tradesmen were gathering the fragments of their equipment and wares in trucks, and storing in improvised headquarters and warehouses until they could get their bearings and improvise places of business.

Lloyd LaFavre, who had recently purchased the W.L. Werts grocery store in the Hasselquist building, was ill upstairs when the fire broke out, and with great effort got from the building. And certainly this is disheartening. Asa Price has also had a tragic introduction to business. He recently purchased the Linville hardware stock in the same building, and it was scattered almost to the four winds. These were some of the incidents of the conflagration.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Stacy had worked hard in their restaurant, and Mrs. Stacy was frantic when she saw their holdings thus consumed and the fruits of their efforts fed into the maw of the flames. The restaurant of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McKinley and the shoe and harness establishment of John Thomas represented effort and toil to no purpose in the overwhelming rage of fire, as well as the others in the ill-fated row, who are equally worthy.

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Many years ago, the writer took an excursion through a section of the late confederacy which had been run over by the armies during the Civil War, and in spite of the fact that this was two or more decades after the conflict, many of the evidences of destruction by the flames and sword were still there. Old walls protruded from cellar excavations and chimneys were yet standing, having escaped the shells from the mortars and destroying missiles hurled from the guns of the enemy. So the south side of Russell's business section appeared on Monday morning, with the theatre covered with charred fragments of destruction. And also on the north side of the street there were marked evidences that there had barely been a rescue from the overwhelming fate.

The row of buildings, of frame construction, that was destroyed began just east of the Willits wall paper store, a brick structure, and extended to the street line to the east, leaving the two story double room building owned by Senator R. A. Hasselquist a mere shell. He lost a building west of this, having two in the burned district. He had no insurance, nor probably had any of the others who owned buildings, as this was a frame row, and the rate was practically prohibitory.

Other buildings in the row destroyed were that belonging to E.J. Pyle, occupied by the Stacy restaurant; another by the Lockridge estate and others by John Thomas, R.A. Plotts, and maybe one other.

Lloyd LaFavre had a grocery store in the east room of the big Hasselquist building and the family resided above. He was pretty well protected by insurance.

In the next room, Asa Price conducted a hardware store, and he had reasonable insurance. The Stacys lost pretty nearly everything with partial insurance. They will open a restaurant in the brick building belonging to Eugene Smith, just across the street.

The shoe and harness store of John Thomas was practically consumed with the building. He probably had some insurance, but the inconvenience of getting established in business again is a big loss within itself. Thomas McKinley's restaurant went up in smoke, and just what he will do is not yet known. Granville Carpenter, the barber, also suffered his share of loss, as well as others.

On the other side of the street the hardware and furniture house belonging to the Woodman estate suffered considerable damage, both inside and out, and a new front will have to be put in the Smith building. The building of Miss Emma Ewald was badly menaced and the Citizens bank, as well as the other north side buildings, ran narrow risks. For a time it seemed as though the market of Kells & Wright would be ill fated and Rex Moore's barber shop had a "close shave."

There were probably others who suffered direct loss, but this is a loss for the entire town. Monday the rooms and sheds about town were full of the bric-a-brac of what the fire did not get, and it is hoped that everybody in business will soon get squared away and into the game again. Mr. Hasselquist was looking over his building Monday, and probably will soon begin reconstruction. There are a few vacant rooms in town and these, no doubt, will be filled at once.

Does anyone know anything about this picture?

A picture of a Russell School Play was given to the museum.  We can find nothing about it.

Would someone have some information about it , year , name of play and actors names.  I do know it was  held at the Russell High School and that only men participated in the play.  Our email address is

rihs106@yahoomail.com   We would appreciate the help.  Thank you

 

Russell Historical Items - New Article- Thank you Frank Meyers , writer of Lucas Countyan

 Please check out Frank's article about Rev. James Chase, father of Jonathan and Robert Chase , history of Russell on the Russell Historical Items.

Russell men earn Lucas County's first Purple Hearts

The Purple Heart Medal, awarded to servicemembers wounded or killed in action, is among the most familiar of military awards in the 21st century. Based upon a 1782 Badge of Military Merit established by George Washington but awarded only three times, it was not revived officially, however, until 1932 --- on the 200th anniversary of Washington's birth, Feb. 22.

So the first Purple Hearts awarded as a result of combat during World War I were not authorized until after that date and even then it was necessary to apply for the honor, applications based upon a variety of other awards given for service after World War I commenced, including the Meritorious Service Citation Certificate, Army Wound Ribbon and wound chevrons.

Four of Lucas County's first Purple Heart recipients were Russell men, as reported under the headline "Four Local Veterans Receive Decorations" in The Russell Union-Tribune of Dec. 8, 1932, as follows:

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Four Russell World War veterans are receiving the honor of decoration by the War Department of the Order of Purple Heart, given to soldiers wounded in action and commended for valor.

Atlee Winsor received the first decoration Nov. 11th. He was wounded in action Sept. 26 in the battle of Argonne Forest in the last drive before the Armistice was signed. He was taken to base hospital at Vichy where he remained until Dec. 24, then returned to his regiment, Co. D, 132nd Infantry, then stationed in Germany in the Army of Occupation.

Warren Lodge received his decoration of the Order of Purple Heart Nov. 30th, with special commendation by the Department for bravery in the battle of the Argonne Forest. He with five men swam the Meuse river carrying a rope to fasten a pontoon bridge. They were under heay fire and Lieut. Lodge was the only one to reach the far shore alive. He secured the rope and his buddies were soon by his side driving the Germans toward the Rhine. Warren was a first lieutenant in the 199th battalion and was both wounded and gassed during the war. He was confined in a hospital in Paris with his wounds.

Guy Force and C.M. Hawk also are eligible for the decoration of Purple Heart and should receive their decorations in the near future. Guy was wounded on the front lines while acting as a signal corps dispatch operator. A German shell shattered his leg and foot, complicated with gas gangrene.

Hawk, known to his friends as "Sonny," was a private in Battery B, 149th Field Artillery. He was wounded in action in the Chateau Thierry drive by a piece of high explosive shell casing, which struck him in the side of his face and causing partial loss of hearing and sight. He was cared for at Field Hospital 13, then transferred to Base Hospital 26. Sonny still has the piece of shell casing which caused his  wound, his only trophy of the war.

Russell has cause to be very proud of these lads who have served the country to the extent of sacrificing their health. they still have their lives but the great war took a toll that nothing can repay May we again add our commendation to the others they are receiving and congratulate them on the recognition which is being shown them.

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Atlee Winsor married Florence Willets during 1920 and they lived their entire married life in Russell. Their son was Wilford "Bill" Winsor. Atlee probably is best remembered as the long-time cashier of Russell's First State Bank. He died Aug. 19, 1970, at the age of 76.

Warren Lodge married Lillian Margaret Dodson at Sioux City during 1919 and they had a family of seven children while living in various places, including Russell. They settled finally at Alton, Illinois, where he died at the age of 85 on April 15, 1981. 

Guy Force married Nora Ethel Hanks in 1919 and their married life was spent in Russell where they had five children. Handicapped by his wounds, he went to work as a rural mail carrier in 1920 and continued in that line of work until shortly before his death at the age of 59 on Feb. 6, 1949.

Sonny (Clell Milton) Hawk, partially disabled by his wounds, married Ruhma Ruth Russell in 1927 and farmed for much of his life, then moved with his wife into an apartment on the Chariton square. The couple had six children. He was struck and killed by a Burlington passenger train at the Braden Avenue crossing on June 11, 1960, age 65.

 Please see Russell Obituaries for William "Bill" Adcock, Jr. who passed away in July 2021   He attended Russell High School.

Dwight Mason's long journey home to Russell

 Many thanks to Frank Meyers- Lucascountyan blog

The trip from place of death to grave has been, as a rule, relatively straightforward for a majority of those buried in Lucas County's cemeteries. But 90 years ago this month, nearly a month and several phases were needed to return Dwight Mason's remains from his place of death in a remote area of Alaska to their final resting place in the Russell Cemetery.

The young man's death was reported as follows in The Russell Union-Tribune of Jan. 7, 1932, under the headline, "Dwight Mason Fatally Injured in Alaska."

Residents of this community were deeply grieved last Thursday morning to learn of the tragic death of Dwight D. Mason, son of Mr. and Mrs. C.V. Mason, of near Russell, which occurred the previous day at Kanakanak, Alaska.

Dwight, who was employed by the United States government in the schools at Kanakanak, was assisting in repairing an airplane which had crashed near his school early in the afternoon of Wednesday, December 30th. The plane was mounted on a tripod, when one of the steel supports fell and struck Dwight  on the head, causing a hemorrhage which resulted in his death about 11 o'clock that night.

Dwight was well known in this community, as he received his high school education of the Russell schools, graduating with the class of 1924. Following his graduation he attended Parsons College, at Fairfield, Iowa, and later taught in the rural schools of Lucas county. For the past three and a half years he had been teaching in the schools of Alaska. At the time of his death he was teaching the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and was manual training instructor in the Kanakanak schools. He was 29 years and 1 month at the time of the fatal accident.

Dwight spent a month or so during the summer of 1930 here with his parents and friends, and his pictures and tales of the far north country were of great interest to homefolks. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, having his membership with the Russell Order.

Due to weather conditions in Alaska, the first lap of the homeword journey of the remains was made by airplane. The plane bearing the body left Kanakanak Friday morning and arrived at Anchorage, Alaska, Sunday, where the journey was delayed to await certain restrictions before the trek could be resumed. From Anchorage to Seward, the body will be conveyed by rail, and thence by water to Seattle, Wash. Seward is located on the south coast of Kenai Peninsula. The remains are expected to arrive here about the 20th of this month for burial. The Masonic Lodge is keeping relatives here in touch with the progress of the corpse on its homeward journey.

Dwight is  survived by his parents and four brothers, Clifford, of near Chariton;   Paul, of Crystal Lake, Minn.; Kenneth,  of Chicago; and Warren at home.

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It took nearly a month for the remains to reach home, where funeral services were held at the Russell Methodist Church on Jan. 25. His obituary appeared in The Union-Tribune of Jan. 28:

The body of Dwight D. Mason, a Russell young man who was fatally injured on December 30, 1931, at Kanakanak, Alaska, where he was teaching in the government schools, arrived here Sunday night.

Largely attended funeral services were held from the Russell Methodist Church on Monday afternoon, Jan. 25, at 2:30 o'clock, conducted by Rev. J. E. Clark, who preached an impressive sermon. A male quartet, composed of Homer Jeffries, Claude Bower, Herbert Boyd and Earl Roberts sang "My Eternal Home," "No Night There," a favorite hymn of the deceased, and "Nearer My God To Thee." Mrs. Ira D. Johnston accompanied at the piano.

Pall bearers were Dave Wright, Herbert Ewald, Ted Smith, Vogel Smith, Lee Cottingham and Richard Werts.

Floral tributes, in abundance, bore testimony of the high esteem in which the deceased was held in this community and in Alaska, where he made many friends during his sojourn there.

Interment was made in the Russell cemetery, with the Masonic Lodge, of which he was a member, conducting the services at the grave.

The following obituary was read at the services:

Dwight Davis Mason, son of Mr. and Mrs. C. V. Mason, was born November 20, 1902, near Melrose.

With his parents, he moved to the present home near Russell in the spring of 1920. He attended the Russell school and graduated with the class of 1924. He was converted at a Union meeting held in Russell by Rev. Loose, and united with the Methodist Church on February 5, 1922.

After his graduation he attended Parsons College at Fairfield, Iowa and later taught in the rural schools of Lucas county. In the autumn of 1928 he went to Alaska, and since that time he had taught in the government Indian schools, being engaged in teaching at Kanakanak, where he met with the accident which caused his death on December 30, 1931, at the age of 29 years and one month.

He is survived by his parents and four brothers: Clifford, of near Chariton, Iowa; Paul, of Chrystal Lake, Minn.; Kenneth, of Chicago, Ill.; and Warren, at home; also a number of other relatives and many friends.

Word comes from the faculty of the school in Kanakanak, also the government employer, expressing the high esteem in which he was held and it would not be easy to find one who could fill his place.

Thanks to Doris Christensen and Find a Grave for the tombstone images used here.

Alfred Goodwin's Russell

 Iowa’s surviving pioneers, acutely aware of their mortality as the 19th century ended and the 20th began, drew together in increasing numbers to celebrate themselves and their accomplishments --- uncharacteristic in a way for men and women for the most part of great modesty. Old settlers’ associations sprang up in every corner of the state, including Lucas County.

The prime mover here was Col. Warren S. Dungan, a universally admired Chariton attorney, former lieutenant governor and genuine pioneer. For several years, the Lucas County Old Settlers Association sponsored annual get-togethers, usually day-long events featuring picnics, shared memories, oratory and displays of artifacts. As a rule, at least one pioneer was invited to write down his or her memories of the old days, then read the result to his assembled contemporaries during these annual celebrations. Dungan collected these accounts for his files.

In 1903, the Washington Township Auxiliary of the Lucas County Old Settlers Association was formed and its first meeting held in Russell on Oct. 18. Alfred Goodwin, then 70 and cashier of S.H. Mallory & Co.’s Russell Bank, was invited to be the principal speaker.

Goodwin, born during December of 1832 in Maine, had arrived in Russell in 1869, two years after it had been platted along the new Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line by Henry S. Russell, trustee for B&MR land interests --- and named for himself.

A jack of many trades, Goodwin had mined in California and Colorado, taught school and served in the Civil War (Co. D, 17th Illinois Infantry) before making a fresh start in Russell at age 36. He was the community’s second postmaster (reappointed later for two additional terms), its first mayor after incorporation in 1887 and a justice of the peace. He also was the husband of Ellen (Sweet) Goodwin and the father of several children.

Col. Dungan, as would be expected, attended that October 1903 meeting and brought home from it Goodwin’s hand-written script --- on sheets of Russell Bank stationery --- which he duly filed away.

As a rule, these old settler memoirs also were published in Lucas County newspapers of the day, and it seems likely Goodwin’s account of Russell history was published in the Russell newspaper that fall, but a 1922 fire destroyed all but scattered copies of its back files and we can’t be sure of that.

Not long thereafter, Dungan was instrumental in merging the Old Settlers Association, its Washington Township Auxiliary, an old soldiers association and other groups into the Lucas County Historical Society, one of the first Iowa county societies to be formally organized and incorporated.

The society did not last, however. Sons and daughters of the pioneers were not sufficiently interested to allow the organization to build momentum and it faded way. It would take 60 years, three (going on four) wars and the Great Depression for history to reassert itself and the current Lucas County Historical Society to rise in the 1960s.

After Col. Dungan’s death in 1913 at 90, his files were passed on to the Chariton Public Library for safekeeping and for many years maintained in filing cabinets in the library’s periodicals room. Upon organization of the new Lucas County Historical Society, these files were deaccessioned by the library to it, where they remain.

So here again, after more than a century, are Alfred Goodwins recollections of Russell as it was when he arrived there:

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In February 1869 Henry C. Goodwin, R.R. Fogg and Alfred Goodwin arrived in Russell. That event though unimportant is the first to be noticed. They found the town in the first stage of settlement. The dead prairie grass of the previous summer lay where it grew on the ground now covered by the business part of the town. The streets were known only by the stakes driven by the surveyor. Cattle and hogs run at large day and night to the disgust of fastidious people. Houses were few and scarcely sufficient to accommodate those already living here; and it was even more difficult then than it is now for strangers to find room to lodge in. Those who had houses were generous in sharing their scanty accommodations with the new comers and thus the difficulty was overcome.

The railroad accommodations were such as might be expected in those days when it was built only as far west as Afton. There were four trains a day, two going west and two east. N.B. Douglas was station agent. This railroad was then the B. & M.

In speaking of houses it is worth while to mention those that were in the limits of the town. On the north side of the railroad there was only one house, and that was occupied by Michael Kahoa. There were two railroad buildings, the depot and a warehouse, which about that time was occupied by temporary residents and sometimes for public meetings. It afterwards became the grain warehouse of Boggs & Plotts.

South of the railroad along Lowell Street were located the blacksmith shop of A. G. Tremaine, a dwelling house occupied by F.S. Morgan and H.W. Elliott’s store. On the north side of Short Street at the western extremity was the residence of F.M. Wimberly, and on the south side at the eastern extremity that of Levi Olmstead. Dr. J. R. Hatton’s residence was a little beyond in Smith’s Addition.

There were three dwelling houses on the south side of Shaw Street, namely Mrs. N.E. Van Dyke’s, Thomas Lynch’s and Denis Foley’s.

On the north side of Ames Street stood the Presbyterian and the Episcopalian churches, both unfinished, and the residence of M.L. Plotts, which was at the east end. East of Ames Street in Smith’s Addition was the Labagh House, the only two story building then in Russell. It was built by Rev. Mr. Labagh, an Episcopal minister. In that house lived the family of William N. Colegrove and three others. This included all the houses in Russell. The Labagh House was the principal resort of strangers and transient people. It stands now where it was then with very little alteration in the premises.

The Episcopal church bilding was afterwards moved a number of times and used for a variety of purposes. It now stands on the east side of Prairie Street between Shaw and Ames.

The Presbyterian church building was also moved away, and was finally converted into a dwelling house, the same in which Thomas O’Donnell is now living.

During the remainder of 1869 a number of other buildings were built, among them a dwelling house by A. G. Tremaine, one of D. F. Comstock, and one by Geo. C. Boggs, the Mill by West Fry, a small hotel by Alonzo N. Goodwin, and the two story building where the post office is now by Henry C. Goodwin.

The new arrival(s) that year besides those already named included Wm. G. Stearns and Granville A. Goodwin.

Dr. L. Sprague came in 1870; E. Powell, Dr. C.B. Powell, James H. Cook, Newton Howell and J.F. Sprague in 1871; J.B. Ferguson and Dr. W.A. Palmer in 1872; A.J. Woodman and Levi Wilson in 1873. Some of the earliest residents came from the neighboring country. Among them were John S. Blue, Elijah Allen, William Fulkerson, John Bentley and James Grayson.

Six persons are now living in Russell who were here in February 1869. They are Geo. W. Plotts, Mr. and Mrs. Kahoa, H.W. Elliott, J.D. Van Dyke and Alfred Goodwin.

N.B. Douglass, besides being station agent, was postmaster and justice of the peace. H.W. Elliott kept the only store, the first in Russell.

The first school was taught in the Presbyterian church building by Miss Julia Scott, now Mrs. G.F. Carpenter, commencing in April 1869 and ending about the first of July. The first preacher, Rev. Mr. Labagh.

In the winter of 1870 the citizens of Russell held their first public social gathering in the old railroad warehouse. It was in the nature of a picnic.

The Russell District Fair was held in the Fall of the same year. Mr. Elijah Allen was the promoter and President.

In December 1870 the depot was broken open and robbed. Mr. Douglas, the agent, had been there late at night, and on going to his home had taken with him all the money on hand belonging to the railroad company and post office, which he said amounted to about fifteen hundred dollars, and was taken from under his pillow while he was asleep. Although havoc was made of the papers in the depot, nothing of value was taken away except some postage stamps. Some of the citizens went out in search of the robbers, but no trace could be found. Mr. Douglas had been the most trusted of the company’s agents, and enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the community. After an investigation by the company, which was never made public, he left their employ.

In the beginning of 1871 Russell had assumed the appearance and dignity of a town. Hogs were restrained, but cattle run at large for years afterwards.

Goodwin Brothers had a store, there was a hotel, and also a place where beer and native wine were sold. The native wine seemed to have been made of corn and rye. The name of the firm of Young & Holman is probably remembered by only a few people.

In 1873 A.J. Woodman built his hardware store, which fronted on Lowell Street. Newton Howell commenced the business of harness making in 1871, and continued it as long as he lived, enjoying the exclusive trade of Russell in that line.

H.W. Elliott built his brick store in 1875, it being the first brick building in Russell.

The first Methodist church building and the first school house were built in 1872. There is no recollection of any further public improvements until about 1875 when some sidewalks were built, and a brass band was organized. The sidewalks have been succeeded by better ones; but not so with the band. It is to be regretted that the platters of the town or the early settlers failed to provide a piece of ground for the use of the public. A refined and cultured community cannot help feeling the want.

Washington Township had many settlers before 1869, but there were still large tracts of uncultivated prairie; and the woodlands bordering Chariton River could be traversed from east to west without the vexation of wire fences. They afforded a pleasant resort for hunters, and those people living in towns who felt the need of recreation.

Most of the settlers were found along the route leading from the south east through the central part of the township towards Chariton.

To the east of Russell the prairie was unoccupied for three miles, the nearest house in that direction being W. Y. Cowings. Along the prairie was seen an old road called the Mormon Trace, which was said to have been one of the roads traveled by the Mormons in their migration west.

To the south there were three houses within two miles, Isaac Van Gilder’s, John Jackley’s and Henry Wiltsey’s, and to the west that of William Nelson. Thus in a territory two miles wide and four miles long there were only four houses outside of Russell.

This completes all that is worth recording of the recollections of one who by force of circumstances remained here until he learned that there is no better place thatn Russell and Washington Township, where the people possess the best qualities of citizenship.

Iowa’s surviving pioneers, acutely aware of their mortality as the 19th century ended and the 20th began, drew together in increasing numbers to celebrate themselves and their accomplishments --- uncharacteristic in a way for men and women for the most part of great modesty. Old settlers’ associations sprang up in every corner of the state, including Lucas County.

The prime mover here was Col. Warren S. Dungan, a universally admired Chariton attorney, former lieutenant governor and genuine pioneer. For several years, the Lucas County Old Settlers Association sponsored annual get-togethers, usually day-long events featuring picnics, shared memories, oratory and displays of artifacts. As a rule, at least one pioneer was invited to write down his or her memories of the old days, then read the result to his assembled contemporaries during these annual celebrations. Dungan collected these accounts for his files.

In 1903, the Washington Township Auxiliary of the Lucas County Old Settlers Association was formed and its first meeting held in Russell on Oct. 18. Alfred Goodwin, then 70 and cashier of S.H. Mallory & Co.’s Russell Bank, was invited to be the principal speaker.

Goodwin, born during December of 1832 in Maine, had arrived in Russell in 1869, two years after it had been platted along the new Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line by Henry S. Russell, trustee for B&MR land interests --- and named for himself.

A jack of many trades, Goodwin had mined in California and Colorado, taught school and served in the Civil War (Co. D, 17th Illinois Infantry) before making a fresh start in Russell at age 36. He was the community’s second postmaster (reappointed later for two additional terms), its first mayor after incorporation in 1887 and a justice of the peace. He also was the husband of Ellen (Sweet) Goodwin and the father of several children.

Col. Dungan, as would be expected, attended that October 1903 meeting and brought home from it Goodwin’s hand-written script --- on sheets of Russell Bank stationery --- which he duly filed away.

As a rule, these old settler memoirs also were published in Lucas County newspapers of the day, and it seems likely Goodwin’s account of Russell history was published in the Russell newspaper that fall, but a 1922 fire destroyed all but scattered copies of its back files and we can’t be sure of that.

Not long thereafter, Dungan was instrumental in merging the Old Settlers Association, its Washington Township Auxiliary, an old soldiers association and other groups into the Lucas County Historical Society, one of the first Iowa county societies to be formally organized and incorporated.

The society did not last, however. Sons and daughters of the pioneers were not sufficiently interested to allow the organization to build momentum and it faded way. It would take 60 years, three (going on four) wars and the Great Depression for history to reassert itself and the current Lucas County Historical Society to rise in the 1960s.

After Col. Dungan’s death in 1913 at 90, his files were passed on to the Chariton Public Library for safekeeping and for many years maintained in filing cabinets in the library’s periodicals room. Upon organization of the new Lucas County Historical Society, these files were deaccessioned by the library to it, where they remain.

So here again, after more than a century, are Alfred Goodwins recollections of Russell as it was when he arrived there:

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In February 1869 Henry C. Goodwin, R.R. Fogg and Alfred Goodwin arrived in Russell. That event though unimportant is the first to be noticed. They found the town in the first stage of settlement. The dead prairie grass of the previous summer lay where it grew on the ground now covered by the business part of the town. The streets were known only by the stakes driven by the surveyor. Cattle and hogs run at large day and night to the disgust of fastidious people. Houses were few and scarcely sufficient to accommodate those already living here; and it was even more difficult then than it is now for strangers to find room to lodge in. Those who had houses were generous in sharing their scanty accommodations with the new comers and thus the difficulty was overcome.

The railroad accommodations were such as might be expected in those days when it was built only as far west as Afton. There were four trains a day, two going west and two east. N.B. Douglas was station agent. This railroad was then the B. & M.

In speaking of houses it is worth while to mention those that were in the limits of the town. On the north side of the railroad there was only one house, and that was occupied by Michael Kahoa. There were two railroad buildings, the depot and a warehouse, which about that time was occupied by temporary residents and sometimes for public meetings. It afterwards became the grain warehouse of Boggs & Plotts.

South of the railroad along Lowell Street were located the blacksmith shop of A. G. Tremaine, a dwelling house occupied by F.S. Morgan and H.W. Elliott’s store. On the north side of Short Street at the western extremity was the residence of F.M. Wimberly, and on the south side at the eastern extremity that of Levi Olmstead. Dr. J. R. Hatton’s residence was a little beyond in Smith’s Addition.

There were three dwelling houses on the south side of Shaw Street, namely Mrs. N.E. Van Dyke’s, Thomas Lynch’s and Denis Foley’s.

On the north side of Ames Street stood the Presbyterian and the Episcopalian churches, both unfinished, and the residence of M.L. Plotts, which was at the east end. East of Ames Street in Smith’s Addition was the Labagh House, the only two story building then in Russell. It was built by Rev. Mr. Labagh, an Episcopal minister. In that house lived the family of William N. Colegrove and three others. This included all the houses in Russell. The Labagh House was the principal resort of strangers and transient people. It stands now where it was then with very little alteration in the premises.

The Episcopal church bilding was afterwards moved a number of times and used for a variety of purposes. It now stands on the east side of Prairie Street between Shaw and Ames.

The Presbyterian church building was also moved away, and was finally converted into a dwelling house, the same in which Thomas O’Donnell is now living.

During the remainder of 1869 a number of other buildings were built, among them a dwelling house by A. G. Tremaine, one of D. F. Comstock, and one by Geo. C. Boggs, the Mill by West Fry, a small hotel by Alonzo N. Goodwin, and the two story building where the post office is now by Henry C. Goodwin.

The new arrival(s) that year besides those already named included Wm. G. Stearns and Granville A. Goodwin.

Dr. L. Sprague came in 1870; E. Powell, Dr. C.B. Powell, James H. Cook, Newton Howell and J.F. Sprague in 1871; J.B. Ferguson and Dr. W.A. Palmer in 1872; A.J. Woodman and Levi Wilson in 1873. Some of the earliest residents came from the neighboring country. Among them were John S. Blue, Elijah Allen, William Fulkerson, John Bentley and James Grayson.

Six persons are now living in Russell who were here in February 1869. They are Geo. W. Plotts, Mr. and Mrs. Kahoa, H.W. Elliott, J.D. Van Dyke and Alfred Goodwin.

N.B. Douglass, besides being station agent, was postmaster and justice of the peace. H.W. Elliott kept the only store, the first in Russell.

The first school was taught in the Presbyterian church building by Miss Julia Scott, now Mrs. G.F. Carpenter, commencing in April 1869 and ending about the first of July. The first preacher, Rev. Mr. Labagh.

In the winter of 1870 the citizens of Russell held their first public social gathering in the old railroad warehouse. It was in the nature of a picnic.

The Russell District Fair was held in the Fall of the same year. Mr. Elijah Allen was the promoter and President.

In December 1870 the depot was broken open and robbed. Mr. Douglas, the agent, had been there late at night, and on going to his home had taken with him all the money on hand belonging to the railroad company and post office, which he said amounted to about fifteen hundred dollars, and was taken from under his pillow while he was asleep. Although havoc was made of the papers in the depot, nothing of value was taken away except some postage stamps. Some of the citizens went out in search of the robbers, but no trace could be found. Mr. Douglas had been the most trusted of the company’s agents, and enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the community. After an investigation by the company, which was never made public, he left their employ.

In the beginning of 1871 Russell had assumed the appearance and dignity of a town. Hogs were restrained, but cattle run at large for years afterwards.

Goodwin Brothers had a store, there was a hotel, and also a place where beer and native wine were sold. The native wine seemed to have been made of corn and rye. The name of the firm of Young & Holman is probably remembered by only a few people.

In 1873 A.J. Woodman built his hardware store, which fronted on Lowell Street. Newton Howell commenced the business of harness making in 1871, and continued it as long as he lived, enjoying the exclusive trade of Russell in that line.

H.W. Elliott built his brick store in 1875, it being the first brick building in Russell.

The first Methodist church building and the first school house were built in 1872. There is no recollection of any further public improvements until about 1875 when some sidewalks were built, and a brass band was organized. The sidewalks have been succeeded by better ones; but not so with the band. It is to be regretted that the platters of the town or the early settlers failed to provide a piece of ground for the use of the public. A refined and cultured community cannot help feeling the want.

Washington Township had many settlers before 1869, but there were still large tracts of uncultivated prairie; and the woodlands bordering Chariton River could be traversed from east to west without the vexation of wire fences. They afforded a pleasant resort for hunters, and those people living in towns who felt the need of recreation.

Most of the settlers were found along the route leading from the south east through the central part of the township towards Chariton.

To the east of Russell the prairie was unoccupied for three miles, the nearest house in that direction being W. Y. Cowings. Along the prairie was seen an old road called the Mormon Trace, which was said to have been one of the roads traveled by the Mormons in their migration west.

To the south there were three houses within two miles, Isaac Van Gilder’s, John Jackley’s and Henry Wiltsey’s, and to the west that of William Nelson. Thus in a territory two miles wide and four miles long there were only four houses outside of Russell.

This completes all that is worth recording of the recollections of one who by force of circumstances remained here until he learned that there is no better place thatn Russell and Washington Township, where the people possess the best qualities of citizenship.

Iowa’s surviving pioneers, acutely aware of their mortality as the 19th century ended and the 20th began, drew together in increasing numbers to celebrate themselves and their accomplishments --- uncharacteristic in a way for men and women for the most part of great modesty. Old settlers’ associations sprang up in every corner of the state, including Lucas County.

The prime mover here was Col. Warren S. Dungan, a universally admired Chariton attorney, former lieutenant governor and genuine pioneer. For several years, the Lucas County Old Settlers Association sponsored annual get-togethers, usually day-long events featuring picnics, shared memories, oratory and displays of artifacts. As a rule, at least one pioneer was invited to write down his or her memories of the old days, then read the result to his assembled contemporaries during these annual celebrations. Dungan collected these accounts for his files.

In 1903, the Washington Township Auxiliary of the Lucas County Old Settlers Association was formed and its first meeting held in Russell on Oct. 18. Alfred Goodwin, then 70 and cashier of S.H. Mallory & Co.’s Russell Bank, was invited to be the principal speaker.

Goodwin, born during December of 1832 in Maine, had arrived in Russell in 1869, two years after it had been platted along the new Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line by Henry S. Russell, trustee for B&MR land interests --- and named for himself.

A jack of many trades, Goodwin had mined in California and Colorado, taught school and served in the Civil War (Co. D, 17th Illinois Infantry) before making a fresh start in Russell at age 36. He was the community’s second postmaster (reappointed later for two additional terms), its first mayor after incorporation in 1887 and a justice of the peace. He also was the husband of Ellen (Sweet) Goodwin and the father of several children.

Col. Dungan, as would be expected, attended that October 1903 meeting and brought home from it Goodwin’s hand-written script --- on sheets of Russell Bank stationery --- which he duly filed away.

As a rule, these old settler memoirs also were published in Lucas County newspapers of the day, and it seems likely Goodwin’s account of Russell history was published in the Russell newspaper that fall, but a 1922 fire destroyed all but scattered copies of its back files and we can’t be sure of that.

Not long thereafter, Dungan was instrumental in merging the Old Settlers Association, its Washington Township Auxiliary, an old soldiers association and other groups into the Lucas County Historical Society, one of the first Iowa county societies to be formally organized and incorporated.

The society did not last, however. Sons and daughters of the pioneers were not sufficiently interested to allow the organization to build momentum and it faded way. It would take 60 years, three (going on four) wars and the Great Depression for history to reassert itself and the current Lucas County Historical Society to rise in the 1960s.

After Col. Dungan’s death in 1913 at 90, his files were passed on to the Chariton Public Library for safekeeping and for many years maintained in filing cabinets in the library’s periodicals room. Upon organization of the new Lucas County Historical Society, these files were deaccessioned by the library to it, where they remain.

So here again, after more than a century, are Alfred Goodwins recollections of Russell as it was when he arrived there:

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In February 1869 Henry C. Goodwin, R.R. Fogg and Alfred Goodwin arrived in Russell. That event though unimportant is the first to be noticed. They found the town in the first stage of settlement. The dead prairie grass of the previous summer lay where it grew on the ground now covered by the business part of the town. The streets were known only by the stakes driven by the surveyor. Cattle and hogs run at large day and night to the disgust of fastidious people. Houses were few and scarcely sufficient to accommodate those already living here; and it was even more difficult then than it is now for strangers to find room to lodge in. Those who had houses were generous in sharing their scanty accommodations with the new comers and thus the difficulty was overcome.

The railroad accommodations were such as might be expected in those days when it was built only as far west as Afton. There were four trains a day, two going west and two east. N.B. Douglas was station agent. This railroad was then the B. & M.

In speaking of houses it is worth while to mention those that were in the limits of the town. On the north side of the railroad there was only one house, and that was occupied by Michael Kahoa. There were two railroad buildings, the depot and a warehouse, which about that time was occupied by temporary residents and sometimes for public meetings. It afterwards became the grain warehouse of Boggs & Plotts.

South of the railroad along Lowell Street were located the blacksmith shop of A. G. Tremaine, a dwelling house occupied by F.S. Morgan and H.W. Elliott’s store. On the north side of Short Street at the western extremity was the residence of F.M. Wimberly, and on the south side at the eastern extremity that of Levi Olmstead. Dr. J. R. Hatton’s residence was a little beyond in Smith’s Addition.

There were three dwelling houses on the south side of Shaw Street, namely Mrs. N.E. Van Dyke’s, Thomas Lynch’s and Denis Foley’s.

On the north side of Ames Street stood the Presbyterian and the Episcopalian churches, both unfinished, and the residence of M.L. Plotts, which was at the east end. East of Ames Street in Smith’s Addition was the Labagh House, the only two story building then in Russell. It was built by Rev. Mr. Labagh, an Episcopal minister. In that house lived the family of William N. Colegrove and three others. This included all the houses in Russell. The Labagh House was the principal resort of strangers and transient people. It stands now where it was then with very little alteration in the premises.

The Episcopal church bilding was afterwards moved a number of times and used for a variety of purposes. It now stands on the east side of Prairie Street between Shaw and Ames.

The Presbyterian church building was also moved away, and was finally converted into a dwelling house, the same in which Thomas O’Donnell is now living.

During the remainder of 1869 a number of other buildings were built, among them a dwelling house by A. G. Tremaine, one of D. F. Comstock, and one by Geo. C. Boggs, the Mill by West Fry, a small hotel by Alonzo N. Goodwin, and the two story building where the post office is now by Henry C. Goodwin.

The new arrival(s) that year besides those already named included Wm. G. Stearns and Granville A. Goodwin.

Dr. L. Sprague came in 1870; E. Powell, Dr. C.B. Powell, James H. Cook, Newton Howell and J.F. Sprague in 1871; J.B. Ferguson and Dr. W.A. Palmer in 1872; A.J. Woodman and Levi Wilson in 1873. Some of the earliest residents came from the neighboring country. Among them were John S. Blue, Elijah Allen, William Fulkerson, John Bentley and James Grayson.

Six persons are now living in Russell who were here in February 1869. They are Geo. W. Plotts, Mr. and Mrs. Kahoa, H.W. Elliott, J.D. Van Dyke and Alfred Goodwin.

N.B. Douglass, besides being station agent, was postmaster and justice of the peace. H.W. Elliott kept the only store, the first in Russell.

The first school was taught in the Presbyterian church building by Miss Julia Scott, now Mrs. G.F. Carpenter, commencing in April 1869 and ending about the first of July. The first preacher, Rev. Mr. Labagh.

In the winter of 1870 the citizens of Russell held their first public social gathering in the old railroad warehouse. It was in the nature of a picnic.

The Russell District Fair was held in the Fall of the same year. Mr. Elijah Allen was the promoter and President.

In December 1870 the depot was broken open and robbed. Mr. Douglas, the agent, had been there late at night, and on going to his home had taken with him all the money on hand belonging to the railroad company and post office, which he said amounted to about fifteen hundred dollars, and was taken from under his pillow while he was asleep. Although havoc was made of the papers in the depot, nothing of value was taken away except some postage stamps. Some of the citizens went out in search of the robbers, but no trace could be found. Mr. Douglas had been the most trusted of the company’s agents, and enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the community. After an investigation by the company, which was never made public, he left their employ.

In the beginning of 1871 Russell had assumed the appearance and dignity of a town. Hogs were restrained, but cattle run at large for years afterwards.

Goodwin Brothers had a store, there was a hotel, and also a place where beer and native wine were sold. The native wine seemed to have been made of corn and rye. The name of the firm of Young & Holman is probably remembered by only a few people.

In 1873 A.J. Woodman built his hardware store, which fronted on Lowell Street. Newton Howell commenced the business of harness making in 1871, and continued it as long as he lived, enjoying the exclusive trade of Russell in that line.

H.W. Elliott built his brick store in 1875, it being the first brick building in Russell.

The first Methodist church building and the first school house were built in 1872. There is no recollection of any further public improvements until about 1875 when some sidewalks were built, and a brass band was organized. The sidewalks have been succeeded by better ones; but not so with the band. It is to be regretted that the platters of the town or the early settlers failed to provide a piece of ground for the use of the public. A refined and cultured community cannot help feeling the want.

Washington Township had many settlers before 1869, but there were still large tracts of uncultivated prairie; and the woodlands bordering Chariton River could be traversed from east to west without the vexation of wire fences. They afforded a pleasant resort for hunters, and those people living in towns who felt the need of recreation.

Most of the settlers were found along the route leading from the south east through the central part of the township towards Chariton.

To the east of Russell the prairie was unoccupied for three miles, the nearest house in that direction being W. Y. Cowings. Along the prairie was seen an old road called the Mormon Trace, which was said to have been one of the roads traveled by the Mormons in their migration west.

To the south there were three houses within two miles, Isaac Van Gilder’s, John Jackley’s and Henry Wiltsey’s, and to the west that of William Nelson. Thus in a territory two miles wide and four miles long there were only four houses outside of Russell.

This completes all that is worth recording of the recollections of one who by force of circumstances remained here until he learned that there is no better place thatn Russell and Washington Township, where the people possess the best qualities of citizenship.

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