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Old Jail

A Brief History of Hampton

The First Franklin county settlers arrived here in 1852. Job Garner built the first cabin and the first house in Hampton was the built on the Hotel Coonley block in 1856. The first courthouse for the county was erected in 1857. Benjamin became the first county seat but the name was later changed to Hampton. The first post office was also constructed that year.

One of the oldest traditions in the county, our Franklin county Fair, was started in 1859. It was held at the Courthouse.

In 1864, William Beed bought the grist mill at the site of Beed's Lake State park and the second courthouse was built for a cost of $12,500. In 1870, Hampton became an official town with a courthouse, newspaper, stores and churches, with First Congregational United Church of Christ (as we know it today) being the first.

Although dirt roads were still the norm with hitching posts and boardwalks, many new buildings were constructed in the 1880's and 90's. Harriman's Opera House, Memorial Hall, and Post Office were constructed, as well as a telegraph office, railroad depot, candy factory, ice cream factory and pop factory, along with the Beed's Mill. The GAR Memorial hall was build in 1890 to commemorate those who gave their lives in the Civil War. The third courthouse was built for $60,000.

Significant events in the early 1900's included the building of the Windsor Theater in 1913, street lights in 1913, sidewalks, paved roads, city park and fountain, public library in 1905, and 3 three schools. A gas plant as well as an electric plant came to town in 1905. The first "chamber" or Commercial Association was started in 1904.

The Harriman family gave Walnut park on the north edge of town to the city in 1910. The first hospital, Lutheran hospital, was built in 1915 for $50,000.00. Beed's Lake was drained in 1917 for farmland but in 1930, during the depression, it was filled and the Civilian Conservation Corps built the 135 foot spillway. They also constructed the bath house and pathway that divides the lake. 

Recreation continued to flourish in Hampton when a dam at Spring creek built in 1921 creating a swimming area at Harriman park. A new post office was dedicated in 1935, at its present location. June 15, 1940 saw the first day of fishing at the park. 

After World War II, the red flashers were placed at the intersection of state highways 3 & 65, Northwestern Bell installed dialers in 1958, the band shell was built, and the community got their first swimming pool.

Franklin County Historical Society

Museum Hours: Mon 2-4:00, Tue 9-12:00 & 1-4:00, Wed - Fri 1-4:00
Phone: 641-456-5777

The Franklin County Historical Society (FCHS) began when an interested group began to realize that many mementoes associated with our early area were rapidly disappearing, especially early agricultural equipment.  After several meetings of various groups, an organization was formed which became to be called the FCHS, February 29, 1968.

A board was appointed, consisting of one member from each of the 16 townships in the county and one or more members from each town.  This set-up gave us a countywide interest.

We had no home, but lots of enthusiasm.  Several things sparked interest.  In 1970, the county decided to renovate the Court House.  Many records were microfilmed and many of the original books and records were given to the society.  A general house cleaning yielded more historical records and mementoes.  We received some of the original furniture:  tables, a desk, bookcases, etc. 

Dr. Donald Benge gave a building to the Society.  The inside was renovated, display cases and shelves added, and we moved in October 5, 1976.  People and families gave us things of historical significance because they were displayed and preserved.  Soon we were bulging at the seams.

An Open House was held on Sunday, November 7, 1976 from 1:00 to 6:00 P.M.  A new sign was put up in front of the Society Museum on November 9, 1976.  At the Annual Meeting a Treasurer’s Report was given and 2 antique chairs dating back to 1859 were donated and are still on display at the present Museum.

May 1981 a permit was issued to the Franklin County Historical Society for $32,000 to construct a metal pole building.  The Historical Society accepted a bid from Henning Construction for $70,596.00 and construction was underway.  At the same time the Society began selling annual and lifetime memberships.

In 1982, a steel building was built at the Fairgrounds on land leased to us by the Franklin County Fair Association.  We received a $50,000 grant and the County Supervisors allowed us a small mileage levy.  We sold our first building.  We now had a large display room, office, library and reference room, cleaning room and toilets, air conditioning and heating.  The rear of the building was used for machinery.  It was unheated, but closed to the weather.  Moving day, was in April 1982.  The building was officially opened Saturday, May 29, 1982.  On September 14, 1982, a tornado hit the Fairgrounds on a Saturday evening.  The new Historical Building was severely damaged; a wall and the roof were ripped apart.

A big project was taken on in 1979 when it was decided to restore the Old Stone House on the Geneva black top.  A committee was named and a fund drive was held.  Jackson Tuck Pointing was contracted to restore the exterior. With additional local volunteer help, the building was put on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1979.  Built in the 1850’s, the Leander Reeve house began to assume its original appearance.  June 9, 1985 was a jubilant day as a formal opening and program was held.  Friends and neighbors viewed the results with pride and affection.

In 1985 Rock Island’s dilapidated depot was sold to us for a dollar.  It was moved across the street to the Franklin County Fairgrounds and a major renovation was needed.  Again. An enthused group of members labored.  In 1987 the Fair Association leased to the Historical Society a place south of the museum to place the depot.  Using old brick, a paved walkway and platform were laid in front of the depot.  A Semaphore Tower was erected, rails laid, crossing signals erected, the interior redecorated and restored and a caboose was added.  It is a place for railroad artifacts.  The caboose was received from Dean Martin of Waterloo; many volunteer hours were given to restore it. 

The old ticket office building for the County Fair at the north gate was given to the society. Again, volunteers were on hand to repair and renovate.  The interior is used to display old tools, wrenches and early implements.  Outside, on the drive, more early machinery is displayed and old engines and motors have a place to demonstrate their workings.  A windmill was erected in this area.

May 26, 1988, the Seabee Corporation donated the R.E.C. Generating Plant south of Hampton to the Franklin County Historical Society. 

July 20, 1992 homemade ice cream was being made with gasoline engines powering ice cream freezers.  The Historical Society sold ice cream to raise money for Pleasant Hill, a century town to be built on the Fairgrounds.  The seed was planted for Pleasant Hill Village and in the Village Buildings are many historical artifacts.  The Village is a joint effort of the Historical Society, Village Committee and Fair Board.  It continues to grow every year. 

January 6, 1993 a 1866 Campbell Newspaper Press was given to the Museum.

In 1994 an addition was built on the Museum to make room for a 4-H and FFA room and a Military room.  This addition was sponsored by the 4-H and FFA.

January 1, 2002 the Harriman-Nielsen property became part of the museum holdings.  The Franklin County Historical Society was given the historic Hampton home and acreage.  Nielsene Nielsen, who died in January 2001, left the Harriman-Nielsen Home to the Historical Society.  Dr. Oscar Harriman, a pioneer physician in the area, built the home in 1881.  Nielsen’s father later operated a dairy on the farm.  The property is on the National Register of Historic Places. Restoration ideas include restoring the barn, orchard, adding gardens and using the farmland in interpretive ways.

A History Of The Old Stone House

In the 1880’s news of the fertile soil, excellent timberlands and rivers of the Midwest was sent to eastern United States and across the ocean to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, England and Ireland.  Because of political upheaval, military service, religious persecution, poverty and restlessness, many people began looking for a new life.  In 1833 white easterners and immigrants began pouring across the Mississippi River into Iowa.  Land could be purchased for $1.25 an acre from the Government.

In April 1953, Leander Reeve came by train from Ashtubula County, Ohio, to the end of the line in Rockford, Illinois.  He then traveled by stagecoach to the end of its route at Galena, Illinois.  From then on he walked to Franklin County to find his brother, James, who was living with Mr. and Mrs. John Mayne in a log cabin which was located where the During farm in now, about ½ mile west of the Stone House on the north side of the road.  This was the first and only cabin in Franklin County at the time.

After doing some trapping, he took over the parcel of land where the Stone House sits from Allison Phelps, who had claimed it the previous year.  He broke 10 acres of this prairie sod east of the house.  Prairie sod had thick matted interwoven roots two feet deep that hadn’t been disturbed for 8,000 years.  In Illinois sixteen years earlier, in 1837, John Deere had invented a plow with a steel mould board that was needed to turn this sod.  Strong oxen were better able to pull a plow than horses.  Perhaps Leander had such a plow.  Any provisions and supplies had to be gotten from Cedar Falls or Janesville by foot or by horse and wagon.

Leander then went back to Ohio and the following spring of 1854 he returned and built the Stone House.  The stone surely came from Maynes Creek nearby.  The walnut timbers in the cellar on which axe marks are still visible surely came from Maynes Grove.  This house must have been elegant for this area as most others were log cabins. Soon many came to Maynes Grove, the first settlement of Franklin County.  They conducted church services in cabins, had the first courthouse in James Reeve’s cabin and a sixteen-year-old girl, Octavia Smith, taught the first class of children in the county.

Except for the Mesquakies at Tama, very few Indians or buffalo were seen in Iowa after 1854. Leander brought his family here in 1854 but his wife could never like Iowa, she longed for more civilized life in Ohio.  So they went back for good three years later.  Leander’s wife apparently had household help as Marion Boots of Dumont says her grandmother walked from Four Mile Grove to work in the Reeve home.

Simeon Carter bought the house and farm from the Reeves.  In 1859, four years after the Stone House was built, D. W. Dow, a young lawyer, came to Hampton, which had acquired 75 residents, 20-25 homes and several businesses.  He set up a law office in Hampton House but had only one client that summer, who paid him in watermelons.  So he had to carpenter and then taught school in the Maynes Grove settlement.  Here he met Simeon Carter’s daughter and they were married in the Stone House.  Her wedding dress is in the Franklin County Museum.  They were the third residents in the house, followed by about 13 more families.  The list is on the north wall of the house. None of the house’s contents were ever owned by those who occupied it.

REA Museum

In the early 1930’s only 10% of the farms in the United States used electricity for home and farm purposes.  90% labored the hard way.

May 1935 – President Franklin Roosevelt created and signed the Rural Electrification Act. This money provided money to help farmers build distribution lines only. 

March 1936 – First publicity in Hampton Chronicle:  “Are you interested in Rural Electrification?”

February 10, 1937 – Federated REA (six counties:  Franklin, Hardin, Wright, Butler, Grundy and Hancock) and Central REA (Pocahontas) were each incorporated at Ft. Dodge.

February 15, 1937 – Due to prohibitive power charges by electrical plants, Federated asked for a loan of $222,000 from the REA fund.  This was a new approach for farmers to build their own generating plant.  This loan was granted.

March 1938 – Federated (Reeve) lines were generated.  “First Coop in the nation to put farmer-owned generated electricity out on farmer-owned lines.”  The first diesel engine is still in the plant.  There were a total of four engines when the plant was in full operation (the last engine foundation being poured the day of the infamous November 11, 1941 blizzard).  The other three engines were removed before the plant was given to the Historical Society.

May 1938 – Central (Pocahontas) lines were energized.  They had borrowed power from the Reeve plant from March to May.

1948-1950 – Peak period of operation and Reeve Federated then became one of 14 Coops to create Corn Belt Power at Humboldt.  Reeve was used as a sub-station for several years.

1988 – Don Yadon of Hampton donated the plant to the Franklin County Historical Society.

1989 – The REA Power Plant Committee under the auspices of the Franklin County Historical Society was formed to renovate the Power Plant.  They worked to get it on the National Register of Historic Places, extensively cleaned the structure, and installed new windows, a new roof, painted the interior and opened with an “Open House” in the fall of 1990.  Funds for the restoration were from a REAP Grant, donations from the six counties in the original Federated group, Corn Belt Power, and other interested groups and individuals.  Over 1800 hours of work was donated by individuals from the community.  Since that time the committee has done much work to display what life was like before and after the advent of electricity to rural areas.

2002 – The REA Power Plant Museum was selected as a Point of Interest in the Silos and Smoke Stacks National Heritage Area.

PLEASANT HILL VILLAGE

            The Village is a joint project of the Franklin County Historical Society and the Fair Board.  There is a Village Committee from both the Historical Society and the Fair Board that makes the decisions for projects in the Village.

The prairie village honors the Franklin County Volunteers of Company H 32^nd, Iowa Infantry. On April 9, 1864 eleven men lost their lives at the Civil War Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana.

DEPOT-The Rock Island depot was the last depot to be disposed of in Franklin County.  The Historical Society moved it one block to its present site in the late 1980’s. It is furnished as a working depot with the following equipment:  telegraphers equipment, section hands cars and rail laying tools, mortar board (Semaphore tower), and lanterns for many different uses. The caboose was a gift from Dean H. and Marla Martin in 1989.  The caboose was restored as a Rock Island caboose.

BLACKSMITH SHOP-This was built by the Village Committee to house the blacksmith tools from the historical Society and Village acquisitions.  It is open during the fair with a working blacksmith.

SALOON-This building built in 1895 was moved from Sheffield in 1991.  It has been a doctor’s office, a newspaper office and a restaurant.  The building was repaired with flooring and ceiling from the Implement Store in Geneva.  During the Fair soft drinks are sold here.  The bar came from the café in Alexander and had been refinished after a fire.

PLEASANT HILL COUNTRY CHURCH-The church was built by the Village Committee.  Sukup’s of Sheffield gave the beautiful windows.  They contributed funds for the building.  The altar came from St. John’s Lutheran Church of rural Sheffield.  The organ is from St. Patrick’s Church of Dougherty, Iowa.  This organ was saved from the church as it burned in 1895.  The organ was retired from use in a church in 1995.

PLEASANT HILL ICE CREAM STAND-Here the world’s best home made ice cream is made and sold at fair time.  This favorite spot was also built by the Village Committee and is manned by volunteers.

WOOD SHOP-Here the antique woodworking machines are put to work as wooden items are made for sale.

LIVERY STABLE-The barn on the Paul Sandersfield farm, at Alexander was taken down and the lumber was used to build the livery stable.  It is an active place at fair time as the horses used on Grandpa’s Farm are stabled here.  There are plans for an additional building in the near future.

BARBER SHOP AND POST OFFICE-This building was moved from Sheffield and repaired and painted.  It dates from 1895.  It has served as a doctor’s office, barbershop and TV repair shop. The barber’s bar was stripped of its green paint and refinished.  The Post Office furnishings came from Bradford, Iowa, south of Hampton.

BANK-This building was built by the County Bankers.  The woodwork and cages came from the Dougherty Bank.  The safe is from the Bradford Bank.  Other furnishings are from the Museum collection.

THE GENERAL STORE-This was the Hamilton Township Center School.  Now it is the General Store.  It is open during the Fair.

CRAFT HOUSE (Mercantile)-During the fair a basket maker and chair maker demonstrate and sell their crafts.  Originally canoes were built in this building.

JAIL-Furnishings are from the Franklin County Historical Society Museum.

COUNTRY SCHOOL-The Lovin Country School came from east of Hampton.  The County Teacher’s Association moved it to the Village.  The furnishings are from the Museum collections.

GAZEBO-This is a replica of the original gazebo in the Hampton City Square south of the Franklin County Court House.

FLOWERS-Be sure to take time to see prairie flowers along the west side of the Museum Building.