Charles City Rotary - Our Community

Charles City today sits on the site of what was once a Winnebago Indian village, and over the years has witnessed the birth of one of the first gasoline traction engines for agricultural and industrial use in the United States; the construction of one of the oldest existing suspension Bridges in the state; and a devastating killer tornado in 1968 from which the community has since rebuilt itself.

Joseph Kelly is believed to be the first white settler to the area, arriving in 1851. A hunter and miller by trade, Kelly saw the land that would become Charles City as an ideal setting for a town, with its river crossing (known as the ‘Ford’), availability of water from the Cedar River for power, and an ample supply of timber.

His vision was borne out with the arrival a year later of 25 settler families. Kelly built a saw and grist mill and furnished lumber to the early settlers, including John Blunt, who is credited for building the first house on the east side of the river. Dr. Robert Freeman is credited or the first white development on the west side of the river, operating a store and post office (where McDonald’s restaurant now stands) in what was known for a while as the Village of Freeman.

As it turned out, Charles City was named after Joseph Kelly’s son, Charles. However, it took several name changes before the current one was settled upon. The first name, Charlestown, was changed after it was discovered that there already was a settlement in the state by that name. So it became known as St. Charles, only that too, it was later learned, was a duplication.

So in 1860, the name Charles City was given, and it has remained ever since. Floyd County, meanwhile, was established in January of 1851 and officially organized as of August 1854. The most widely-held belief is that the county was named for Sgt. Charles Floyd, a member of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition, who died in 1804 during the trip and was buried just south of present day Sioux City. His death and burial are the first ever recorded in Iowa.

Others believe that Floyd County was named in honor of William Floyd of Long Island, N.Y., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Still others believed it to have been named after former Virginia governor and Secretary of War, John Buchanan Floyd. Because of that belief, some tried to have the county’s name changed after Floyd joined the Confederate Army as a general during the Civil War. That effort was aborted, though, after Senator John F. Duncombe of Fort Dodge assured people that the county was indeed named after Charles Floyd.

The first election of county officers took place on Aug. 7, 1854, with a total of 85 votes cast. Townships were established later that same year, while the first county court was held in a frame house located on Kelly St. in Charles City where Hy-Vee and Theisen’s now sit.

The county seat was originally established as being St. Charles (Charles City), but was moved five miles west of town to nearby Floyd for a short time following a hotly contested battle in 1857, because Floyd was the geographical center of the county. That decision was ultimately overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court in 1859, and the county seat re-relocated to Charles City.

In 1881, the Floyd County Courthouse in Charles City burned down, and the question of where to have the county seat was revived. Despite a strong effort to move it elsewhere, Charles City weathered the storm and kept its place as the county seat of Floyd County, and has held on to that distinction to this day.

Among the more notable events in the history of Charles City are the establishment of the Hart-Parr Company in 1900-01, at which the first Hart-Parr gasoline traction engine was developed. Sales manager W.H. Williams decided that gasoline traction engine was too big a mouthful, and came up with the name ‘tractor.’

Hart-Parr was bought out by James Oliver, who invented the chilled plow in 1855, and eventually became known as the Oliver Farm Equipment Company, and later as the Oliver Corporation. In 1960, Oliver was bought out by the White Motor Corporation, and following the farm economy crisis and Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, was acquired by Allied Products Corporation and re-named the White-New Idea Equipment Company.

At its peak, the tractor plant employed 2,600 workers in the mid-1970s. That number slowly shrank to around 420 employees in 1992 when Allied announced it would close the plant in the summer of 1993.

Charles City also was home for awhile to one of the leaders in the national women’s rights movement. Suffragist Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, the driving force behind the constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote, moved with her family to a homestead just south of town in 1865 at the age of six. She attended school in Charles City and graduated from high school here in 1877. Her girlhood home is in the process of being restored to its original condition by the National 19th Amendment Society, which is headquartered in Charles City.

Also of note was the construction of the 270-foot suspension foot bridge over the Cedar River in 1906, as ordered by the Floyd County Board of Supervisors to provide access from the east side of the river to the Chautauqua grounds on the west side. The bridge was built at a cost to the County of $1,200, and turned over to the City for ownership and maintenance. Today, it is one of the oldest existing suspension bridges in Iowa, and as of July 2, 1990, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other than its history in connection with the tractor, what Charles City is perhaps best known for is being the target of a devastating tornado that hit in the late afternoon of May 15, 1968. The giant twister was actually two tornadoes that combined into one just southwest of town, then tore through the community, killing 13 and leaving the downtown area and several residential neighborhoods in ruin. The storm destroyed 256 businesses, 1,250 homes, resulted in damage costs in excess of $20 million, and forever changed the landscape and future direction of the city.

Charles City bounced back, though, through the determination and spirit of its citizens. More than 175 families chose to stay and rebuild after being left homeless by the tornado, having decided Charles City was a pretty good place to live and where they wanted to be. Another 500 families repaired their homes, and through the assistance of many dedicated people working together, the town rebuilt itself up from the rubble. What you see today stands as a tribute to their resilience and belief in their community.

Suspension Bridge photo courtesy of Tracy Sweet Photography

(Information courtesy of Marilee Monroe, the Charles City Chamber of Commerce

and the Charles City Press)