A NEW CENTURY THE FARMERS SAVINGS BANK Harry Turner, who was only 16 at the time he was taken into his father’s bank, and soon became cashier continued in this position until 1911 when, the Turners and Dan Moser, purchased an interest in the Hardin County National Bank and the […]

A NEW CENTURY THE MILL CLOSES One of the first casualties of modernization was the highly successful flour mill that S. F. Lathrop and had bought and rebuilt on the river in 1857. It continued even after Mr. Lathrop’s passing in 1896. In 1910 it had been the longest running […]

A NEW CENTURY THE CREAMERY Steamboat Rock’s first creamery had been started by Thomas Neessen during the 1870’s and continued in business into the 1880’s when it closed seemingly for good.    On April 13, 1901, the Steamboat Rock Creamery Company was organized. Capital in the amount of $4,000 was […]

A NEW CENTURY SIDEWALKS In 1905 the town required everyone to put in a sidewalk or the town would put one in and bill the property owner for it. Will F. Asher hauled in sand to make his sidewalk, and was then called away to his store in Abbott. When […]

A NEW CENTURY HARNESSES AND HARDWARE As mentioned in the last section John Cramer came to Steamboat Rock in 1898 and opened a harness shop on Market Street. This was the beginning of a 75 year hardware business operated by one family.  In 1914, John and Henry Cramer built a […]

A NEW CENTURY THE TELEPHONE The date of the arrival of telephone service in Steamboat Rock, is not known. It is known that the phone system was in operation prior to 1905. It is also obvious that the telephone office had been located in a number of places around the […]

A NEW CENTURY SCHOOL STILL IN ONE ROOM The style of the day was a one room country schoolhouse. The teachers day started very early in the morning. The teacher started a fire in the stove with cobs and coal from the shed that was usually kept supplied by nearby […]

A NEW CENTURY STRANGE BUT TRUE In 1906 Steamboat Rock had a Chinese laundry. The laundry was operated by Fong Gaw.    His advertising boasted, “Fong Gaw, laundry man, asks for your patronage. Work neatly and promptly done.”    How long he remained in town is not known. 

A NEW CENTURY The year 1900 was the dawn of the twentieth century. Never in the history of mankind have so many changes been made in business, industry, communications, labor, transportation, and lifestyle as were made in this short one hundred year period.    In the second half of the […]

A CENTURY DRAWS TO A CLOSE RURAL MAIL DELIVERY The last event of the 19th Century found of any substance, was the beginning of the first rural mail route.    The route was established on December 4, 1899 at an annual salary of $400 for the carrier. The first rural […]