A NEW CENTURY STEAMBOAT ROCK PILOT & STAR Although the exact date is not known, it is believed that the Steamboat Rock Pilot News was established in 1904. The plant was owned by Fred W. Eilers and finally leased to Sidney McCourty of Eldora.   The Pilot passed through a […]

A NEW CENTURY LUMBER AND GRAIN BUSINESS In 1901, Dan Turner, sold his elevator to Henry Potgeter for $1600 and took a note for the full amount.   In 1903 Henry bought one of the first one-cylinder gas engines from the Lennox company at Marshalltown for power for the elevator […]

A NEW CENTURY THE GENERAL STORE   Two views of the Johnson Brothers Stores   There were a large number of general and dry-goods stores that came on the scene after 1900. Some changed hands and others simply changed with the times.    One general merchandise store owned by Elda […]

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 […]