Wilson Brewer/Jackson Groves Cabin
Wilson Brewer, Webster City’s first resident in 1850, built his cabin on the banks of Brewer Creek near the Boone River. The cabin was home to three more generations of the Brewer family before his grandchildren – Frank Bonebright and Harriet Bonebright Closz Carmichael – donated the restored cabin and surrounding land to the city in 1932.
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The Jackson Groves cabin was built in 1856 about three miles south of Webster City and the cabin logs were added to the Brewer cabin by Frank Bonebright as a lean-to.
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Wilson Brewer’s pioneer cabin, which had been sold many years before, ended up as a granary on the Peter Frohling farm northeast of Webster City. The Frohling family gave the original settler’s cabin to Frank Bonebright in 1931.
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Frank Bonebright, a grandson of Wilson Brewer, was always a collector of old and unique items. He began his quest to preserve Webster City’s history and his family’s heritage in the early Twentieth century.With the acquisition of the two cabins, Bonebright began his mission to build a memorial to his grandfather.
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After reconstructing the Brewer cabin and adding the Groves cabin as a lean-to in 1931-1932, Frank Bonebright stocked the structure with his massive collections of pioneer history. The Brewer-Groves cabin displays period household goods, antlers, horns, tools and farm implements collected by Brewer’s descendants to honor the City’s original settler. This is the original Bonebright Museum collection.
Jameson Cabin
Brothers Charles M. Jameson (1830 -1864) and Jacob B. Jameson (1839 -1863) came to the Brushy Creek area in Webster County about 1857.
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They lived with their parents, Alexander and Mary Ann Moore Jameson, until building this cabin in 1860.
Alexander and Mary Ann Jameson sent three sons – Charles, Jacob and Samuel – off to enlist in the Civil War in April 1863. All three joined the 7th Iowa Cavalry. Only one son came home.
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Jacob B. Jameson died of meningitis May 6, 1863 while waiting to be mustered into the 7th Iowa Cavalry. He is buried in Rock Island National Cemetery.
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Charles M. Jameson died of yellow fever May 24, 1864 while stationed with his company at Fort Riley, Kansas. He is buried in the National Cemetery there.
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Samuel A. Jameson was discharged for disability for a fractured hip in October 1863 at Omaha, Nebraska and was pensioned in 1866. He married Elizabeth Jane Groves, daughter of Jackson Groves, whose cabin is also located in Wilson Brewer Park.
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Various Jameson family members lived in this cabin until 1913. The cabin sat empty until acquired by Frank Bonebright, grandson of Wilson Brewer, and moved to the Bonebright home-stead, now Wilson Brewer Park, in the early 1930’s.
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The Jameson Cabin was disassembled and the logs moved to the Park from its site near Homer by Frank Bonebright in 1931. A collection of trunks used by the pioneers to transport their belongings, along with meager and simple furniture used to furnish their sparse cabins is now on display.
Harmony Center School
Harmony Center School House was built in the summer of 1914 to replace an older rural school building
New Hamilton County country school buildings continued to be erected up to the early 1940’s with the last one closing at the end of the spring term in 1958.
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Located in Section 24, Webster Township, the school was about a half-mile south of the Tunnel Mill. In the early days, children rowed across the Boone River in the community row-boat kept near the Mill as a shortcut to school.
Schools were generally located so that no child had to walk more than two miles to school. There were fall, winter and spring terms with breaks to accommodate spring and fall farm operations. Teachers lived with nearby farm families during the term.
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Donated and moved to Wilson Brewer Park in 1977 by the Bernard Demoratsky Family with restoration assistance and artifact collection by Phi Kappa Delta educational sorority. School desks were refinished by Mark Hollingshead and Boy
Scout Troop 22 as part of his Eagle Scout project. The Harmony Center school bell, which called the students to school, is not on display due to its large size and weight. The bell that is located on the side of the building is not the original bell, but was provided by an unknown source.
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The building contains artifacts from early day rural country schools.
Through the years, local teachers have brought their classes to the school to hold day-long school sessions to enable the students to experience school as it was one hundred years ago.
Mulberry Center Church
Early settlers, Mr. and Mrs. Phil Morris arrived from Wisconsin, where fruits and flowers grew in abundance. Despondent, because the prairie was so barren, the Morris family sent to their home state for “Mulberry” trees. The “Mulberry or Morris Farm” was the “center” of all kinds of social activity, including strawberry festivals, and quilting bees. It was only natural to name the community, church, and school house……Mulberry Center.
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In 1889, a Building Committee was formed and it was decided to build a new church on the J.C. Miller Farm close to what would later be called the Stonega blacktop. Money was solicited, and two carpenters were to oversee the work done by members and friends; as they completed a one-room frame construction for $950, including labor.
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The Mulberry Center of the United Brethren in Christ Church was dedicated July 13th, 1890.
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Other denominational changes were in 1946, Mulberry Center Evangelical United Brethren Church and the finally in 1968 when the church became known as Mulberry Center United Methodist Church. In 1989, the Mulberry Center and Grace United Methodist Church congregations voted to merge. A new church was built in 1991 on the newly purchased property at 2020 Superior Street and this church was to be called Faith United Methodist Church. The last service at the Mulberry Center Church was December 29th, 1991.
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On January 23, 1995 (after a $25,000 fundraiser that had to be raised in six months or the church would be torn down) the church was moved to the Wilson Brewer Park. August 25, 2012, a renovation of the interior of the church was completed. The sanctuary and foyer were painted, new draperies, carpet, foyer flooring and candle light fixtures were installed.
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The church now features history programs and is ideal for small intimate weddings.
First Hamilton County Courthouse
After the Civil War, Hamilton County was financially able to build its first Courthouse, a modest two-story wooden structure, on Webster City’s Public Square. The building was used from 1866 to 1876 until a more elaborate structure was built.
Costing $1,934, the building included three downstairs public offices with a second floor court room accessed by an outside stairway. News reports indicate the offices were not connected and could only be accessed through their front doors. A Diebold Safe vault at the rear of the building housed public records.
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There was no jail, but the middle ground floor room was used in the Spring of 1869 to hold twenty or so railroad workers arrested after a wild spree in Webster City. Their bosses bailed them out and took them back to finish laying the track which soon brought the railroad to town.
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Also in 1869, the County held its first murder trial in the second floor courtroom. John Ross was accused of murdering his uncle John S. Ross, owner of Ross’ Mill which was located on the Boone River, six miles south of Webster City. He was acquitted and the case remains unsolved.
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After a more prestigious courthouse was built on Des Moines Street in 1876, this wooden structure was sold and moved to the corner of Union and Bank Streets to be converted into private housing.
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Ada E. Butler Kearns and her husband Civil War Veteran John V. Kearns purchased the building in July 1904. Their youngest daughter, Margaret M. Kearns Arbogast donated the building to the Hamilton County Historical Society.
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The Hamilton County Historical Society raised the funds to move the building to Wilson Brewer Park in 1985, where it is being refurbished for use as a museum.
Illinois Central Railroad Depot and Caboose
When the first train crossed the Boone River to reach Webster City on April 6, 1869 city residents thought it had taken much too long to arrive.
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Despite the enthusiasm for the railroad’s arrival, there was immense controversy on the location of the depot. Businesses were located mainly along Seneca and Bank Streets and those merchants wanted the depot located at the north end of Seneca Street. The fledgling Second and Des Moines Street businesses wanted the depot closer to them.
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The Illinois Central railroad rejected the Seneca street location for being too close to the river, choosing instead to build their first depot, a brick and mortar structure, along the tracks on Des Moines Street. The Willson brothers immediately erected the Willson Hotel and business started moving into the Second street business district. Neither side forgot the controversy, which simmered for many years, until the Second street merchants prevailed to become the hub of the city business district.
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The original depot served the city well, but as the town grew and prospered, the Illinois Central did nothing to improve the 1869 building.
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In the late 1800s, newspaper editors were never reluctant to vigorously state their opinions. So began the Webster City newspapers’ campaign – through print – to shame the Illinois Central into building a new depot, one that reflected well on the growing town.
By the mid-1890s it appears that there was give and take between the city and the railroad. The railroad would promise a new depot and then delay the building. Editors poked fun of the hollow promises and reported weekly on the large profits made by the railroad companies.
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In the June 7, 1901 edition of the Webster City Freeman-Tribune, the editor wrote “That depot that the Illinois Central railroad company was going to commence to build in Webster City ‘in the early spring’ is still an invisible quantity. The old shack now used for a depot here is a disgrace to the company and an eyesore to the town and the Central folks are not making anything by their obstinate refusal to build a new one."
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In late September of 1901 the railroad officially announced that construction would begin on the new depot. Company officials denied that the decision to erect the new building was influenced by the announcement from several Webster City businessmen that “they absolutely refuse to ship another dollar’s worth of freight over the line unless a new station was forthcoming at once”.
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The Illinois Central proposed to erect a new passenger station with modern improvements and new style architecture similar to those at Denison and Fort Dodge, at a cost of $5,000, south of the main track and west of Des Moines Street. They proposed to purchase the B. L. Willis lumber yards and to “grade up and fill in” the grounds. The company also proposed to spend $1,100 to remodel the 1869 depot as a freight house and $500 for a pretty park to surround the building.
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Construction crews began work in late October of 1901. As the building neared completion in January of 1902, the company decided to sell the old depot building for salvage and to construct a 40 by 120 feet long freight building just south of the old depot site.
On Monday, February 3, 1902 the Illinois Central employees moved into the new depot. News articles reported that the structure was steam heated and “lighted with electricity and everything about the place was very pleasant and conveniently located”. The papers also reported that “the ladies and gentlemens waiting rooms were large with plenty of windows”.
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It wasn’t until late April of 1902 that the company was able to start working to landscape the grounds and lay new sidewalks. However, the sidewalk work was stopped by the city as the railroad crews attempted to lay wooden walks instead of the cement, stone or brick walks as required by city ordinances. Some two months later, after agreements with the city, the company began laying the required cement sidewalks.
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In August of 1902 the railroad began construction of the new freight depot designed as a one-story frame 24 by 96 foot structure. One month later, John C. Smith tore down the 1869 Illinois Central depot intending to utilize the material to construct a warehouse. He kept the roof intact as it was built of hewn hardwood timbers and was considered in perfect condition.
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In early 1971, with all passenger service discontinued, the Illinois Central railroad opted to close the depot building, erecting a small steel shed to house the automated controls. Before its planned demolition, the company offered the building with original equipment and supplies at no cost to any group that would move it elsewhere.
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The Boone River Art Guild, the Hamilton County Historical Society, the Webster City Park Board and many other civic organizations began a “Save The Depot” campaigns to raise funds to move the building to the Wilson Brewer park area.
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In December of 1971, with more than $4,500 in raised funds, the building was sliced in the middle and the first half made the journey to the park. The second half followed soon after.
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Many local businesses donated labor, equipment and manpower to disassemble the depot for moving, to blast out a basement from the bedrock and to lay foundations for its permanent home.
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Volunteers and civic groups contributed hundreds of hours of labor to aid in preserving and restoring the building. Their efforts were showcased in June of 1976 when the Depot formally opened as a museum.
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Today, the 124-year-old depot museum in Wilson Brewer Historic Park continues to welcome visitors and friends from its Superior street location. Inside, the history of the community and the railroad is displayed as the building continues its tradition by being a portal to the story of our town.