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Polk County, Iowa

Books

  1. Dixon, J. M.. Centennial History of Polk County, Iowa / Des Moines: State Register, print., 1876, 362 pgs. (Surname list and Table of Contents)

  2. Porter, Will,. Annals of Polk County, Iowa : and city of Des Moines / Des Moines, Iowa: G.A. Miller Print. Co., 1898, 1066 pgs. (Surname list and Table of Contents)

  3. Portrait and Biographical Album of Polk County, Iowa : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States and governors of the state. / Chicago: Lake City Pub. Co., 1890, 848 pgs. (Table of Contents)
  4. R.L. Polk & Co.'s Des Moines City and Valley Junction directory for the year commencing December 1st, 1915 : containing a miscellaneous directory of state, county and city governments, educational institutions, churches, secret and benevolent societies, etc., a street guide and householders' directory, an alphabetically arranged list of business houses and private citizens, giving their full names, occupation or pursuit, and address, also a complete classified business directory, "The buyer's guide" / Des Moines, Iowa: R.L. Polk & Co., c1915, 1859 pgs.
  5. R.L. Polk & Co.'s Des Moines City and Valley Junction directory for the year commencing December 1, 1912 : containing an alphabetical list of business firms and private citizens, a directory of the city and county officers, terms of courts, churches, colleges, public and private schools, benevolent, literary and other associations, buildings, banks, etc., and a complete classified business directory of Des Moines, and an improved street and avenue guide and directory of householders of the city / Des Moines, Iowa: R.L. Polk & Co., c1912, 1628 pgs.

Periodicals

Hawkeye Heritage

Palimpsest:
  • Des Moines - Iowa State Capital / May 1970
  • Portias of the Prairie: Early Women Graduates of the University Law Department (January/February 1986)
  • Second Fort Des Moines (May 1943) (Text Only)
  • A Girl Reporter At Camp Dodge (June 1966)
  • Des Moines - Iowa State Capital (May 1970)
  • The Reluctant Candidate: Edwin T. Meredith and the 1924 Democratic National Convention (September/October 1976)
  • The Italian Heritage in Des Moines: Photographs (March/April 1983)
  • The Greatest American Living Machine (Fall 1987)
  • So We Stayed Together': The Tai Dam Immigrate to Iowa (Winter 1988)
  • Capitol Kaleidoscope: Victorian Stenciling in Iowa's Statehouse (Winter 1988)
  • Cora Bussey Hillis: Woman of Vision (November/December 1979)
  • A Treasury of Ding (J. N. "Ding" Darling) (March 1972)
  • John M. Work: Iowa Socialist (July/August 1983)

Annals of Iowa History:

  • Polk County Beginnings (July 1952) TEXT Only
  • Polk County Court House (January 1959) TEXT Only

POLK COUNTY was established from the territory of the original county of Keokuk in January, 1846, and named for President James K. Polk. When first created it embraced a part of Jasper and Dallas but in 1853 the boundaries were fixed as they now are. It lies in the sixth tier east of the Missouri River and in the fourth north of Missouri. The Des Moines River flows through it from north to south and the Raccoon entering from the west unites with the Des Moines.
     An account of its earliest settlements and the establishment of Fort Des Moines will be found elsewhere. Thomas Mitchell settled at Apple Grove in April, 1844, and in 1845 John Saylor located in a grove on the east side of the Des Moines River about six miles north of the fort. In 1846 Eli Trullinger settled in Franklin township at a grove which bears his name. Walker Corey and John Fisher with their families located in Elkhart township in 1846 near Corey's Grove; Riley Thornton settled in Delaware township, the same year, on Little Four Mile Creek and George Bebee located in Madison township. James N. Stewart settled in Camp and James Smith in Douglass township in 1847. Dr. T. K. Brooks, in 1845, bought a claim on the east side of the Des Moines River and was the first postmaster of Fort Des Moines. A town was laid out on the east side and named Brooklyn which aspired to become the county-seat but failing disappeared from the map. James C. Jordon took a claim several miles west of the fort in 1846 on a creek which flows into the Raccoon River.
     The first election in the county was held April 2, 1846, at which the following officers were chosen; John Saylor, probate judge; W. T. Ayres, treasurer; Thomas Mitchell, sheriff; Thomas McMullen, recorder; Benjamin Saylor, W. H. Meacham and E. W. Fouts, commissioners. On the 25th of May of the same year the county-seat was established at Fort Des Moines and the first term of court was held that spring by Judge Joseph Williams, one of the log houses of the garrison serving as a court-house.
     The town of Fort Des Moines was platted by A. D. Jones, county surveyor, in July, 1846. In July, 1849, Barlow Granger established the first newspaper in the county which was a weekly named the Iowa Star. In 1847 Miss Davis opened a school in one of the government buildings, room No. 26. The Capital of the State was located at Des Moines in 1857 and the first railroad, the Des Moines Valley, reached the city on the 29th of August, 1866. This road was built up the Des Moines valley from Keokuk. The Rock Island Railroad reached the Capital a year later.

Source: History of Iowa: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century by Benjamin F. Gue. New York: The Century History Co. 1903 #

The items on this page are not for sale, but are available to me to research your family tree
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