Mt Hermon Lodge No. 263
A.F. & A.M.


Brief History of Mt Hermon Lodge #263
Taken from "History of Mt. Hermon Lodge No. 263 A.F. and A.M. 1870 - - 1945" by Ernest R. Moore published by the lodge in 1946
   
 As a biography customarily begins with some account of the subject's forebears, it is not out of the way to glance at the antecedents of Mount Hermon Lodge, at the outset of this chronicle. The curious and scholarly reader can discover the story, in some detail, in such works as Sir Alfred Robbins' English-Speaking Freemasonry , but for our present purposes it is enough to sketch the highlights and landmarks of the narrative.
     Speculative and imaginative historians of the craft have projected the origins of freemasonry into the dim "backward and abysm of Time," but the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 on St. John the Baptist's day in the third year of the reign of King George I is a stubborn historical fact and a convenient date to make the beginning of the modern craft. "From that body," one historian remarks, "has sprung, directly or indirectly, every Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, working three degrees in the universe."
     The formation of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, at Dublin, 1728 - 1729, and of Scotland in 1736, laid the foundation for all the thousands of subsequent lodges in the world. From 1738 until 1813, a schismatic Masonic body of English Masons claiming the title of "Ancients" operated alongside and in opposition to the regular Grand Lodge, dubbed the "moderns." Their trivial differences were finally healed and English Masonry was consolidated under the title of "United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of England."
     Before the date of this consolidation, however, Freemasonry had begun to make its appearance in the new world as brethren, raised in the old country settled in America and sought charters which would give them a lodge home on this side of the Ocean.

     Discounting extravagant and romantic claims of traces of freemasonry in pre-Historic America, the earliest authentic accounts of the craft in this country occur some years after the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. A competent Masonic historian, Brother J. Hugo Tatsch, once a member of Crescent Lodge No. 25, cites a reference in the minutes of the Grand Lodge of England, June 5, 1730, recording "a deputation issued to one Daniel Coxe, Esq., to be 'Provincial Grand Master of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pensilvania in America.'"
     Brother Tatsch was of the opinion that Benjamin Franklin (1707 - 1790), an active and zealous Mason, did more to establish Freemasonry in America than any other man of his time. In 1734, Henry Price granted Franklin's petition for a charter. During the next half century many lodges were chartered in America by the four Grand Lodges in Great Britain and Ireland. With the close of the Revolutionary War, these lodges cast loose from the Mother Grand Lodges, Pennsylvania Masons organizing their Grand Lodge in 1786, and Massachusetts in 1792.
     Focusing attention on the main line of our own development, we note establishment of a lodge in North Carolina as early as 1754 by warrant of the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns). By 1787 there were sufficient lodges in North Carolina to organize a Grand Lodge. This in turn mothered lodges in Tennessee, eight of which formed the Grand Lodge of Tennessee in 1813. In 1821, Missouri lodges, chartered by Tennessee, organized a Grand Lodge, which became the progenitor of the first Iowa Lodges.

     The first lodge in Iowa territory was Des Moines Lodge No. 41 (now No.1) Burlington, chartered by the Grand Lodge of Missouri in 1840. Lodges in Muscatine, Dubuque, and Iowa City were chartered shortly thereafter. Representatives of these four met at Iowa City, January 2, 1844, to establish the Grand Lodge of Iowa. Wapello Lodge No. 5 promptly petitioned for dispensation and thus won the honor of being the first lodge authorized by the newly organized Grand Lodge. Wapello's forehandedness robbed Marion Lodge No. 6 of the distinction of being the first.

     For several years the county seat, Marion, had the only Masonic body in Linn County. Then as Masonry prospered and as the neighboring city began to show promise and growth, the need for another lodge to accommodate the brethren residing in Cedar Rapids became apparent. In November, 1850, a dispensation was granted to Judge George Greene and seven other Master Masons, most of them demitting from Marion No. 6, to establish Cedar Rapids Lodge No. 25, whose name was changed to Crescent in 1864.
     The history of Crescent Lodge during its first two decades, until the chartering of Mount Hermon Lodge, need not concern us here. The curious reader will find it set forth in ample detail in Brother Joseph E, Morcombe's History of Crescent Lodge No. 25 (1906). Suffice it to say that the lodge included among its brethren the stalwart founders of the city, men like Judge Greene, N.B. Brown, Isaac Cook, and many others who figure importantly in the early chapters of the city's life.
     By the late 1860's, when the first stirrings for a new lodge in Cedar Rapids began to be felt, Crescent Lodge numbered about eighty-five members and was well-established among the more than 250 lodges which composed the Iowa jurisdiction.
     The impetus to form a new lodge can scarcely have arisen from the fact the Crescent Lodge was growing too big. A cause of difference had arisen among the brethren. Adequate contemporary accounts are lacking, and a this distance it is quite impossible to reconstruct the circumstances fully, but a separation was apparently the only possible solution.

     The events leading to the granting of dispensation to form Mount Hermon Lodge comprised a somewhat tangled and not altogether pleasant chapter in local Masonic history. But since, however bitter the struggle may have been, the outcome proved happy, it may not be amiss to include an objective summary of such details of the story as may still be pieced together from extant records, keeping speculation to a minimum.
     The root of the difficulty appears to have been in opposing attitudes toward the Civil War. The patriotic impulse was strong in the young community, and many of the younger men of Crescent Lodge went into the Union Army. When the conflict closed, some seeds of discord long planted germinated.
     During the war, in parts of the North, and here, also, there was a non-co-operative element, the adherents to the old "states rights" theory. Aid to the South was not open, but sympathy was manifested in covert ways. In Crescent Lodge, the few of this semi-disloyal type were in control. When the young soldier patriots came home, their dislike of these defeatists was but natural. They showed it in word and action.
     This half-concealed feeling came into the open in 1868. A member of Crescent Lodge was charged with a Masonic offense. What that was, is of no importance. He was tried. In the trial the war-passion prejudice came to the surface and lines were drawn. He was found guilty, but his friends prevented the fixing of a penalty.
     At this juncture one of the friends of the convicted member appealed to the Grand Lodge for clarification. In the Grand Lodge Proceedings for 1868 the following paragraph occurs in the Report of the Committee on Appeals and Grievances:

     "Crescent Lodge No. 25 vs G.W. Westlake. In this case the accused was found guilty but the lodge by its Vote refused to inflict any penalty, and from this refusal Brother A.V. Eastman, a member of the lodge, appeals. That the lodge may have an opportunity of making its record consistent, the committee recommend that the cause be remanded to the lodge with directions to the Worshipful Master to convoke the lodge in special communication and cause a ballot to be taken upon the degree of punishment to be inflicted; and that, previous to taking such ballot, he cause the testimony heretofore taken to be read to the lodge and that no other be received; and that the action of the lodge be communicated to the Grand Lodge at its next Annual Communication. The original papers have been filed with the Grand Secretary. It is recommended that the Worshipful Master of the lodge be permitted to withdraw the same."

     This order was duly obeyed. Worshipful Master A.R. West took home the papers and turned them over to Worshipful Master G.F. Benett, whose term of office lasted from June 1868 to June 1869. He convoked the lodge in special communication and caused Secretary M.P. Mills to read the papers as the Grand Lodge had directed. In the ballot on the nature of the punishment, the vote was negative upon expulsion and suspension, which left the lowest punishment that could be inflicted, a reprimand.
     Brother Westlake, however, was not present, and it seemed evident that he and those who sided with him did not intend that he should ever give his opponents in the lodge the satisfaction of having him reprimanded. Accordingly, his opponents dispatched a query to Grand Master Reuben Mickel asking to be advised on procedure in event the brother failed to appear on the evening appointed for the infliction of the penalty. The Grand Master's opinion on the supposititious case appeared to pave the way for Westlake's opponents to insure his humiliation by a reprimand or to subject him to even sterner punishment.
     The friends of Westlake, however, were equally resourceful and determined. On August 3, 1868, Westlake and twenty-three other members of Crescent Lodge took their demits with a view to forming a new lodge. A glance at the list of demitting brethren shows that their number included many men of high standing in the lodge and in the city.
     At the next regular meeting, in September 1868, Brother J.C. Adams, who had been selected for master of the new lodge, and several of the demitting brethren appeared at the hall of Crescent Lodge to ask for a recommendation and to request that Brother Adams be allowed to exemplify the work in the three degrees, if that was deemed a necessary preliminary to the granting such recommendation.
     They were met, however, with a violent rebuff from the old sea captain, George F. Benett, who presided in the EAST. One memoir colorfully recounts the dramatic scene in the following words:    "With a voice such as he had used upon the quarter-deck of his ship years before, with his blue eyes blazing and his arm outstretched toward the door of the lodge, the old salt, the master of the lodge, G.F. Benett ordered them to be gone and never to appear at the door of Crescent Lodge again."
     Whether the petitioning brethren were as rudely dismissed as the quoted memoir suggests, it is clear that they failed in their mission and were given to understand that further appeals would be hopeless. Accordingly they determined to ask the Grand Master for a dispensation even without the recommendation of Crescent Lodge. Together with the unsigned petition, they addressed the following explanatory petition to the Grand Master:

     "To the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the State of Iowa:

     Your petitioners would respectfully represent that they are each Master Masons; that, with other Master Masons, they have petitioned you as Most Worshipful Grand Master aforesaid, praying for a Dispensation empowering said petitioners to meet as a regular lodge at Cedar Rapids, Iowa (which said petition is herewith forwarded); that your petitioners in forwarding said petition for a Dispensation without a recommendation from Crescent Lodge, located in this place; that in support thereof and explanatory thereto they beg leave to offer the following (amongst other reasons); that your petitioners, as they believe, ought to have said Dispensation granted, and for your consideration in the premises:

     1st:    That each and all of the petitioners to the said petition are regular M.M.s and residing at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and late members of said Crescent Lodge.

     2nd:    That we have presented the said petition to the said Crescent Lodge, together with a petition in writing to the same, requesting said lodge to recommend petitioners to said petition to have their prayer for a dispensation granted.

     3rd:    That both of said petitions were presented to the said lodge at the last regular meeting thereof, to wit, on the evening of the 7th day of September, 1868. That at the same time a large majority of said petitioners were there present, and amongst them P.M. Bro. J.C. Adams, W.M. Select; which said Brethren were there for the purpose of answering any questions that said Crescent Lodge or any member thereof might wish to ask, and to make any necessary explanation in a proper Masonic spirit in support of said petition and request.

     4th:     That the W.M. of said lodge well knew when each and all of said petitioners went to said lodge for what purpose they came there, to-wit:    for the purpose last aforesaid.

     5th:     That said Crescent Lodge, by the Master thereof, refused to allow the said brethren present to explain, or answer any question that might arise and ordered said brethren to leave the lodge room, which as good Masons, having the good of the order at heart, they all did at once.

     6th:    That said lodge refused to grant petitioners' request and would not give them recommendation for a dispensation, though they were perfectly satisfied with and knew that Brother J.C. Adams as W.M. Select could fully exemplify the work.

     7th:    That said Crescent Lodge have about 60 to 70 members with about 12 F.C.s and E.A.s, also about six present petitioners to become members thereof; that said lodge room is small, and not large enough on ordinary occasions to seat the members; that the population in the jurisdiction is about 8 to 10,000.

     8th:    That we are informed by the W.M. of Crescent Lodge that he has fully posted you as to the facts in the premises and that he has decision from you which we are fully satisfied you would not have made had you investigated the whole facts of the case.

     9th:    That we can never affiliate with Crescent Lodge again and we are not satisfied to remain demitted Masons. That there are matters of difference which have risen here which will prevent us again from joining said lodge; and, with only one lodge here, we must forever remain out of the order.

     10th:    That we assure you, that in the course we have taken and are now taking, we have to good and prosperity of our order at heart and sincerely believe it is for the good of the order to grant our prayer.

     11th:    That we can fully satisfy you that we are capable of organizing and successfully maintaining a lodge here; that amongst us are Past Masters Geo. Greene and J.C. Adams, the said Geo. Greene and N.B. Brown (another petitioner) being charters members of Crescent Lodge, late Cedar Rapids Lodge.

     12th:    That for the sincerity of our intentions and motives we would respectfully refer you to the worthy Grand Officer residing here (Grand Secretary T.S. Parvin), who is fully cognizant of all the facts in the premises as hereinbefore stated and referred to.

     We therefore pray that, as we believe the ancient usages of our order will give us justice, that by yourself or deputy (you preferred) you will give the matter a fair and candid investigation; and that, for reasons given above, and other reasons which can and will be cheerfully given at any time, grant us a Dispensation as before prayed for in our said petition.
     The accompanying petition for dispensation read as follows:
     To the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Iowa,
     Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons:
     We, the undersigned Master Masons of good standing and having the prosperity of the craft at heart, are anxious to exert our best endeavours to promote and diffuse the general principles of freemasonry, and for the convenience of our respective dwellings, and for other good reasons, we are desirous of forming a new lodge to be named Mount Moriah.
     We, therefore, with the approbation of the lodge nearest our location (hereunto appended) respectfully pray for a dispensation, empowering us to meet in regular lodge in Cedar Rapids in the county of Linn on the ______________ full moon, and there to discharge the duties of ancient York Masonry, in a constitutional manner, according to the form of the order and the laws of the Grand Lodge.
     And we have nominated and do recommend brother J.C. Adams to be the first Master, brother C.B. Rowley to be the first Senior Warden, and brother H.B. Stibbs to be the first Junior Warden of the said lodge.
     They prayer of this petition being granted, we promise strict obedience to the commands of the Grand Master, and the laws and regulations of the Grand Lodge and usages and customs of Masonry.

     With a view to getting signers from Crescent Lodge, the demitted brethren had prepared the usual recommendation blank, which read as follows:
     To the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, of ancient, free and accepted Masons:
     The undersigned, Master and Secretary of Crescent Lodge No. 25, do Certify that brother J.C. Adams, named as Master of the new Lodge in the annexed Petition, did appear in open Lodge at a meeting thereof held at our Lodge Room at Cedar Rapids on the _________ day of ____________ A.D. 1868, and exemplified the work in the three degrees of Masonry in a Creditable Manner.
     We also Certify that the brethren signing said petition have provided a suitable and safe lodge room and that each of the petitioners has produced a regular demit from the Lodge of which he was last a member where such is in existence.
     Witness or hands, and the seal of said Lodge, the day and year above written.
_________________________Master
_________________________Secy.

     The blank spaces were not filled in, however, with the names of Worshipful Master G.F. Benett or Secretary Mason P. Mills, nor did the document ever bear the seal of Crescent Lodge. It is now preserved with other petitions, and with the dispensation which finally was granted, in the archives of the Grand Lodge at the Masonic Library.
     It appears that even with the departure of the demitting brethren the disturbance in Crescent Lodge had not quieted down. In the month following the memorable scene referred to above, difficulties broke out anew. Past Master A.R. West received some telling verbal blows which occasioned his taking a demit. This circumstance raised a new problem since Brother West had been honored with office of Junior Warden at the 1868 communication, and the question arose whether Brother West's action in demitting had not in effect created a vacancy in his Grand Lodge chair.
     With affairs in this state of sad deterioration, Grand Master Reuben Mickel dispatched his Senior Grand Warden, Brother W.P. Allen, as special deputy to restore peace and harmony among the brethren. Brother Allen's influence helped greatly to stabilize the situation, but it did not entirely clear the way for the granting of the dispensation to the demitting brethren.
     In his address at the 1869 communication of the Grand Lodge in Davenport, Grand Master Mickel noted that he had refused a number of applications for dispensation:

     Among others, I received a petition for a new lodge in the city of Cedar Rapids, signed by twenty-two Master Masons, among whom, I am informed, were several of the most respected and worthy masons of that flourishing city. The petition, however, was not accompanied with the necessary recommendation of Crescent Lodge No. 25, but on the contrary, I was informed that the said lodge almost unanimously refused to give the required recommendation. I further learned that unfortunately there existed a source of discord among the craft at that place, which, in a measure, destroyed the harmony and good feeling which should ever characterize the intercourse of Masons with each other. I therefore decline to issue the dispensation asked for, but promised to present the matter to the Grand Lodge for its consideration, which I have now done. If, upon an examination into the facts of the case, it shall be considered constitutional and proper that a dispensation shall issue to said brethren, you will give the necessary authority therefore.

     The Grand Master's contention that the lodge "almost unanimously refused to give the required recommendation" is not borne out by the facts, however, for a petition filed with the Grand Lodge the day before his Address carried the names of nearly half the membership of Crescent Lodge in support of a recommendation for granting dispensation. This document read as follows:

         Cedar Rapids, Iowa, May 27th/69
     To the Most Worshipful the Grand Lodge of the State of Iowa

     We the undersigned members of Crescent Lodge No. 25 F. & A.M., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, would respectfully recommend that the petition of Brothers J.C. Adams, C.B. Rowley, H.B. Stibbs, and others, for a new lodge in this City be granted, and that a charter from your worshipful body be given them.

     Acting on the recommendation of the Committee on Chartered Lodges that he "visit Cedar Rapids at his earliest convenience and endeavor to restore peace and harmony among the brethren," Grand Master-Elect John Scott of Nevada made it one of his first official acts to visit Crescent Lodge. He chided the brethren for their lack of the fraternal spirit and advised that the petition for the formation of the new lodge be no longer opposed and delayed. His advice was quickly followed, for at the communication held on June 29,1869, the recommendation was finally approved, bearing the seal of Crescent Lodge, and the signatures of Worshipful Master A.R. West and Secretary G.F. Benett.
     The petition for dispensation closely followed the form and content of the previous unapproved document, but showed that the brethren were still having difficulty in deciding on a name for the new lodge. "St. John" is crossed out, and the other choice "Palestine" is also crossed out. The date set for regular meetings was the second Thursday after each full moon.
     The dispensation bears the Grand Lodge inscription:    "Issued July 3, 1869, Fee $13."
     Thus ended the long struggle to be born. We are told that the Goddess of Wisdom sprang full armed from the brain of Jove, but Mount Hermon issued in pain from the womb of Eris, the Goddess of Discord. Yet, begotten in patriotism, at birth it stood upright, full armed in Masonic spirit and fervor.

     August 5, 1869, was the date of the first regular communication of Mount Hermon Lodge. The destruction of the records covering the first thirteen years of lodge history has blotted out much of our knowledge of these early years. Fortunately, however, we have a transcript of the minutes of the Lodge for the period is was under dispensation, since Grand Lodge regulations required the filing of this record before issuing a charter.
     Buried in the minutes of that first meeting is a slight item which is worth recording for its symbolical significance. We are told that Brother G.F. Benett presented the Lodge with a fine set of books. It is evident that the hand winch had once been extended to show the petitioning brethren the way out of the lodge was now being outstretched in a gesture of Masonic goodwill and brotherhood.
     There are other items in the record of that first meeting which deserve a glance. Four petitions were entertained:    Geo. A. Gault petitioned for initiation into the Mysteries of Masonry; Brothers O.C.L. Jones and C.W. Eaton--both of whom were to figure prominently in later lodge history--petitioned to be admitted from Magnolia Lodge No. 20. Columbus, Ohio; Brother W.C. Brooks of Fairfield Lodge No. 20, Indiana, sought admission--He was first minister of the Universalist Church.

     The Worshipful Master, Brother J.C. Adams, presented the Lodge with a lamb skin leather apron. He also appointed a Finance Committee consisting of Brothers W.D. Watrous, T.Z. Cook, and J.P. Coulter.
Thus was launched the career of Mount Hermon Lodge.
     At the September regular meeting the list of visitors included Crescent's Worshipful Master, A.R. West, and Past Master J.L. Enos, as well as other brethren from that lodge. In the succeeding months these friendly visits continued, indicating that the winds of passion and prejudice which had once sharply divided the brethren had for good and all disappeared. The record of subsequent years is one of increasing mutual fraternal intercourse between lodges.
     At the regular meeting on May 26, 1870, the transcript shows that it was carried on motion of the Senior Warden the "When we surrender our Dispensation to the Grand Lodge we request that a Charter be granted us and that an order be drawn for $20 to pay the fees for the same."
     The following month at the communication of the Grand Lodge in Davenport the Committee on Lodges U.D. reported:
     "Mt. Hermon No. 263, transcript good, and work regular and in conformity with the regulations of Grand Lodge. Charter recommended."
During the year, Grand Master John Scott reported in his Address, twenty-six dispensations had been granted:    "This seems like a large increase in the number of masonic families, and is so, in fact; but when it is considered that, in the same period, our jurisdiction has increased in population in a much greater ratio, and that the building of some six hundred miles of railroad has so rapidly developed localities and built up communities, it will be seen that great hardships would have been forced upon many brethren, else they would have been denied the privilege which all good Masons so highly prize."
On June 6, 1870, in accord with the Committee's recommendation, a charter was issued to Mount Hermon Lodge.

Charter Members of Mount Hermon Lodge #263

JAMES C. ADAMS.     First Master of the Lodge, an operative stone mason doing good work, square work, as a contractor, and beyond this, a reader, student, and thinker.
A. SIDNEY BELT.     Brother-in-law of Brother Calvin Green; lawyer, city attorney, and later judge--a member of the law firm of Hubbard and Belt. He lived in the brick residence that formerly stood at A Avenue and sixth Street and which housed the office of the Iowa Consistory before the present Consistory Building was erected.
NICHOLAS B. BROWN.     Charter member of Crescent Lodge No. 25; by trade a millwright; builder of the first dam and the town's first sawmill; one of original town site proprietors and a progressive city builder.
T.Z. COOK.     Organized Company "K", First Iowa Infantry, immediately after the gun was fired upon Fort Sumpter; later a Colonel of the 18th Iowa Infantry. T.Z. Cook Post of the G.A.R. bears his name.
H.P. COULTER.     A physician; Mayor of Cedar Rapids in 1868, and later county auditor.
EDWARD COULTER.     Son of J.P. Coulter; an express messenger on the old Dubuque and southwestern Railroad.
A.V. EASTMAN.     Junior member of the firm of West and Eastman, insurance and real estate; active, intelligent, resourceful, and likeable. He was secretary of Mount Hermon Lodge for several years. Later he left both the Lodge and the City, taking with him or destroying most of the records of the Lodge.
S.B. FLEEK.     He ran a sporting goods store, the headquarters for hunters and fishermen.
J.G. GRAVES.     A retail merchant handling books, stationery, music and musical instruments.
GEORGE GREEN.     Charter member of Crescent Lodge; father of Brother Calvin Green. During his lifetime Brother Greene was one of the foremost citizens of Cedar Rapids--lawyer, state representative, judge of the Supreme Court, banker, land and property owner, churchman, manufacturer, and railroad builder. A man with a cordial manner and a kind heart, with a smile and kind word and a friendly greeting for great and small alike; a progressive citizen of the early days of Cedar Rapids.
MORTIMER A. HIGLEY.     Associated with his brother in hardware, agricultural implements, and farm machinery; his home was a center of activity.
G.M. HOWLETT.     The town's Postmaster.
WM. B. LEACH      Captain of a Minnesota company in the Civil War; one of the proprietors of a flouring mill and barrel factory; state representative, Mayor, and judge of the Superior Court in Cedar Rapids.
C.D. PETTIBONE.     A grain buyer. In 1868 when the division came in Crescent Lodge over the Westlake controversy, he was its Junior Warden while Brother Leach was its Senior Warden.
C.B. ROWLEY.     A member of the firm of Greene, Rowley and Company, lumber, coal, and forwarding merchants.
WESLEY STEPHENS.     Tollgate keeper at the bridge over the river at Iowa (now First) Avenue.
H.B. STIBBS.     A member of the banking firm of Carpenter, Stibbs, and company, the earliest banking house in Cedar Rapids. Treasurer of Crescent Lodge in 1865.
J.H. STIBBS.     Known as "General Jack" Stibbs. One of the most popular members of the Lodge. It is said that thirty minutes after the news reached Cedar Rapids of the firing on Fort Sumpter he was out on the street with T.Z. Cook drumming up recruits. Orderly Sergeant of Company "K", later Captain of Company "D" 20th Regiment of the Iowa Infantry; then in turn Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, and Brevet-Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers, serving until discharged on June 1, 1866. When Cedar Rapids celebrated her semi-centennial in 1906, General Jack was present as one of the main features of the occasion.
W.D. WATROUS.     Wheelwright, blacksmith, general repair man, steamboat operator, miller and grain merchant; builder of bridges and culverts for the Northwestern Railway between Cedar Rapids and Belle Plaine.
JOHN WEARE.     Once a sawmill operator, but better known as a banker, the active manager of the banking house of Greene and Weare. A Trustee of Parson's Seminary (later Coe College), and Vice-President of Oakhill Cemetary Company.
ISAAC N. WHITTAM.     A lawyer, living in a modern home on the spot now occupied by the Montrose Hotel. First Mayor of Cedar Rapids after it was incorporated as city in 1856; later city attorney for many terms and the Police Judge. A Justice of the Peace for many years in the Nineties.

 


 
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