Country School Celebration

The Johnson County Historical Society will host a five-day, county-wide celebration of rural education August 10 – 14, 2011. For information visit their website at www.jchsiowa.org.

Tiffin blog on hold

We’ve suspended Tiffin history updates while we finish the draft “from mid-1800s settlement to the 1950s” and write grants to fund publication layout/design and printing.

Family histories will be accepted through March 31, 2011. Contact the Springmier Community Library for additional details.

Early Tiffin businesses

Tiffin Brick & Tile Co. first appears in the 1884-1885 H.R. Page & Co. Business Directory for the state of Iowa. E. L. Chamberlain, A. D. Finley and E. E. Dennis are listed as owners. The factory operated until 1925 when it was destroyed in a fire of an unknown origin. Fifteen men were employed and three kilns turned out a carload of tile each day. The Tiffin Savings Bank, now Slim’s Tavern, is constructed of brick from the Tiffin Brick & Tile Co.

In 1860, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad service came to Clear Creek Township. In 1935, the Tiffin Depot was destroyed when the train jumped tracks. Agent George R. Seigle, who was new to the area, was asleep on a cot in the station when the accident occurred. The accident was caused by a broken archbar on a railcar containing cement. The accident involved a second locomotive and 16 loaded freight cars including one filled with California navel oranges.  Others contained produce, livestock, cement and tractors. Residents recall buying bushels of oranges for $1.

The Don Brant Store on Main Street was the site of Tiffin’s first grocery store, owned by the Hamilton Bros. The two-story store included a community hall on the second floor. Brant occupied his store on the same site until Robert and Jessie Madden bought the store in 1946. Later, Perry & Judy Becker operated the grocery. Local artist and Tiffin council member Rusty Brotherton acquired the store for a residence and studio. Today, a duplex stands on the lot.

In the 1930s Jay Baldwin operated a grocery store along Marengo Road, Highway 32 (now Highway 6). In December 1933, the Tiffin Post Office located to the grocery and Jay served as postmaster. Clifford Reynolds was a mail carrier. In 1962, following Baldwin’s retirement, Ned Langenberg became postmaster of the post office in the same location.  Since then the post office has moved twice, each time to a new building. Currently, the post office is located at 424 State Street.

Joseph M. Douglass owned the first sawmill along Clear Creek in an area known as Copi (now a ghost town), according to the 1865 Iowa Gazetteer. The Iowa State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1881 lists Tiffin among the state’s cities, villages and post offices. This Gazetter identifies Plymisser & Douglass as owners of grain, coal and lumber enterprise. The Tiffin Lumberyard pictured was located south of Railroad Street in Tiffin.

Oak Hill Cemetery

Township history documented in tombstones

The final resting place for most Tiffin residents is on a hillside just west of the city limits in section 29. However Oak Hill wasn’t the first or the only cemetery to be located in the township.

In early days, pioneers chose hilltops for cemeteries. The hilltop symbolism represented closeness to God as well as a safe haven from lowland flooding. The cemetery that measures 4.83 acres in size is adjacent to U. S. Highway 6, which previously was a westward trail and later a stagecoach route.

In 1842, the Clear Creek Township Cemetery Association organized and made a deed for the first cemetery located on the Stage Farm occupied by the Keeler family; however the deed was never recorded. When the farm was sold, the new owner, Paster, notified people to remove their deceased family members. The following spring he plowed the land and planted grain.

With no record of who may have been removed, “The History of Johnson County 1836-1882” reports the following were buried in the Stage Farm Cemetery (located in Section 26): wife and two children of J. R. Trillis, Lyman Frost, Dr. Frost, Jackson Frost, Jaravis Frost, wife of Samuel Heuston (also spelled Huston), Henry Headly, Thos. King, Mr. Keeler, Mrs. Clapp and Wm. Clark.

According to the 1985 Iowa Genealogical Society report on Johnson County cemeteries the Summerhays family also had a cemetery located on their property (Section 32). However no records were kept.

In its early years, the Oak Hill Township Cemetery was declared such by common consent. It was first used by the Dowd family, on whose claim it was located, to bury two of his children. In 1863, a deed was presented to the association by J. C. Hamilton, son of Yale Hamilton who bought and entered the Dowd claim and lived on the land until he died. Yale Hamilton became the first recorded burial in the cemetery. There was an effort to plat the ground, but early graves were placed irregularly and Hamilton heirs opposed the plan.

The metal sign at the top of the Oak Hill Cemetery states the cemetery was established in 1845. The sign was moved to its present location on higher ground to avoid contact with cars whose drivers didn’t make the curve that runs along Buffalo Creek west of the cemetery. Currently, the Oak Hill Cemetery entrance heralds a new brick sign constructed by Ralph Keupker.

Clear Creek Township Clerk Patricia “Pat” Pirkl says it’s likely the cemetery was located on the hillside near Copi, which was established in 1844. The Copi Post Office, located at the Bond place in February 1847, served area residents. This post office officially closed in 1877.

In 2002, Pirkl assumed the township duties from longtime clerk Adelyn (Siegling) Campbell when her health was failing. Campbell served as township clerk for 18 years before her retirement. Both women maintained a three-ring binder containing newspaper clippings of obituaries and funeral memorials of the deceased buried in the township cemetery. The notebook contains many lessons in Tiffin’s history.

When she started her duties, Pirkl spent three and a half weeks cataloging and recording cemetery burials. Her minute book of township meetings dates back to 1940s. Each year the township clerk prepares and presents a report to the Johnson County Auditor’s office detailing income and expenses associated with the cemetery’s care and upkeep.

Pirkl, who is bonded, says the township assesses a small tax to help with cemetery maintenance such as mowing and snow removal for a wintertime funeral. The cost to mow the cemetery has increased through the years to $300 (reported in 2008).

Typically, the three township trustees set aside a day each spring to clean the cemetery’s more than 500 graves and landscape. The elected officials remove winter decorations and prepare for the summer mowing season.

“Old headstones are special,” Pirkl says. A four-sided metal sculpture is among her favorites. “Modern headstones are very personal.”

A headstone commemorating Wayne Forman includes a picture of the deceased holding a guitar. Kenny Brant’s headstone includes a picture of a school bus. Brant was a longtime bus driver for the Clear Creek Community School District. Lowell Vogt’s headstone displays a UPS truck, farm and hogs one of the newer ones . . . .

Pirkl says, “My husband Don thinks caring for the cemetery is a lot of work, but I love it. There’s a lot of history in cemeteries. We love walking through it.”

Noted Oak Hill Cemetery burials

Honorable Robert Walker was born in Schenectady County, New York, on October 1802. In 1838, he moved to Johnson County and was the first justice of the peace in the new Iowa Territory. In his official capacity he administered the oath of office to the Capital Commissioners who located the territorial capital in Iowa City. In 1853, he married Hon. Le Grand Byington’s sister. In 1860, he moved to his farm near Tiffin, where he died on October 28, 1879. During his life and Johnson County residence, Judge Walker filled an influential position and earned the respect bestowed him. His home and property was listed in the 1870 Thompson & Evert Atlas.

A former Indiana resident, Yale Hamilton was persuaded to move to the Iowa Territory along with several others by a close friend Judge Harris. Hamilton lived for a time in Lucas Township before settling in Clear Creek. Hamilton’s name appears on the 1838 Johnson County Tax List. His household and merchandise was valued at $50. He also owned 8 cattle valued at $200; two cows and 40 cattle more than three years old; and three head of cattle under three years old. At the time he reportedly paid $1.33 for property valued at $265.50.

Hamilton was a member of Claim Association of Johnson County, which represented a number of settlers who lived on land that had not been surveyed. The group adopted a constitution or code of laws that each one pledged to observe to defend their land claims.

Hamilton’s son J. C. Hamilton married Mary A. Hamilton (March 2, 1862) and lived on the Clear Creek farm near Tiffin. Together they had eight children. Her husband had two children with his first wife. Though Mary A. Hamilton received little formal education she passed examinations to teach school at age 15. She also wrote under the signature of “Kitty Carroll” for leading newspapers in Iowa including the Muscatine Journal, Dubuque Herald, Burlington Hawkeye, Keokuk Post and Tipton Advertiser. She also wrote a series of local letters from Tiffin which was said to be the genesis of “country correspondence” in the state.

Tiffin Timeline

1803    U.S. acquires Louisiana  Purchase (including Iowa)

1804    Lewis & Clark Expedition

1805    Johnson County established

1806    David & Joshua Switzer establish gristmill on Clear Creek

1807    Iowa admitted to Union

1808    State University of Iowa established

1861-1865  Civil War

1867    Tiffin platted

1868    Tiffin Post Office opens

1869    Frank Shay operates General Store

1871    Charles Darwin writes “The Descent of Man”

1872    Methodists build church in Tiffin

1903    Tiffin Savings Bank opens @ Summerhays and Third streets

1906    Tiffin incorporates town; P. R. Ford serves as mayor

1908    Henry Ford invents auto

1917    U.S. joins Allies in World War I; Panama Canal opens

1918    Iowa Primary Road Law  enacted

1919    All U.S. states require elementary education

1919     First Christian Church burns

1920    19th Amendment ratified granting women the right to vote

1926   Tiffin Brick & Tile burns

1920    Tiffin M.E. Church burns

1927    Charles Lindberg flies across the Atlantic Ocean

1928    Tiffin school burns – classes held at Clarence and Tote Haman’s house

1929    Stock market crash

1932    Tiffin Savings Bank closes

1933    Franklin D. Roosevelt elected President

1935  Train wreck demolished the Tiffin Depot

1935    Social Security Act provides retirement insurance for American workers

1935    First NIFFIT Fall Festival  celebration

1937    Construction begins on an indoor gymnasium for the high school

1938    Congress passes Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protecting workers by mandating a minimum wage, maximum working hours and imposing limits on child labor

1939    Germany invades Poland; France and England declare war beginning WWII in Europe

1941 – 1945 Japan bombs U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters WWII

1943  Tiff-Inn burns

1946  Iowa celebrates 100th anniversary

1950    U.S. becomes involved in police action to protect South Korea from invasion by North Korea

Sen. McCarthy begins anti-Communist hearings

1951    U.S. presidency restricted to eight years

1952   Tiffin establishes first Fire Station

1953    Tiffin receives dial phones; closes switchboard

1954    U.S. Supreme Court issues decision in Brown vs. Board of Education Topeka, KS

1955    Transcontinental cable telephone services established; Fidel Castro overthrows the Batista regime in Cuba

1958    Space probe reveals Van Allen radiation belts around the earth

1958    Hawaii named 50th state

1961    President Kennedy establishes Peace Corps

1961    Clear Creek Community School formed from Oxford, Tiffin, Cosgrove and Madison Township districts

1962    Clear Creek High School built in Tiffin

1965  Tiffin installed town sewer system

1965    Hoover National Historic site established

1968    Tiffin installed street signs

1969    Tiffin began city water service

1976    Tiffin began refuse collection

1976   Iowa caucuses change national presidential election process

1985  Tiffin replaced 40,000 stand/pipe with 100,000 gallon tower from UI

1986    Iowa discontinues state-owned liquor stores

1995    Clear Creek and Amana school districts merge to become Clear Creek-Amana School District

2000   The Lark Supper Club burns

2001    Springmier Community Library established at Clear Creek High School (now CCA Middle School)

2006    CCA voters pass $25 million school bond to build a new high school in Tiffin and elementary school in North Liberty

2006    Tiffin Veterans’ Memorial Project erected

2006    Tiffin Centennial Anniversary held

2009    CCA opens new Clear Creek-Amana High School and moves Clear Creek-Amana Middle School from Amana to Tiffin

Tiffin, Iowa, history

Tiffin (pronounced Tif ■ IN) was one of state’s fastest growing cities in the state of Iowa during the 2000 – 2008 period. The town, in western Johnson County, grew from 1,103 to 1,814 representing 711 new residents for a whopping 64.5 percent increase.

The city lies on the north bank of Clear Creek, 10 miles (32 km) west of Iowa City and 100 miles (160 km) east of Des Moines, the largest city and state’s capital. The estimated Metropolitan Statistical Area which includes Johnson and Washington counties was 149,437 in 2008. In 2006, the Cedar Rapids / Iowa City Corridor had an estimated population of 423,353.

Tiffin City Hall and the fire station are located at Main and Second streets.

The town is home to Clear Creek-Amana Middle and High Schools, the Grace United Methodist Church and numerous small businesses.

Tiffin was the home of G.M. (George McKinley) Ludwig, former Tiffin superintendent of schools (1930-1946), a KXIC-AM broadcaster, Press-Citizen columnist and two-term state representative – 1950 and 1952. Ashton Kutcher is a graduate of CCA High School.

The town, located in section 28 of township 80 and range 7 of Johnson County, on land owned by Rolla Johnson, was named for Johnson’s hometown of Tiffin, Ohio, indicating early settlers had not forgotten their origins.

In the early days, the Clear Creek settlement extended from the Iowa River west to the Iowa County line in the vicinity of the present town of Homestead. The settlement included parts of several other communities, including Oxford township and Penn township, which was known as Big Bottom or North Bend.

Bryan Dennis was among the first to arrive and played an important part in local affairs. His house was the location of Tiffin’s first election.

Another prominent figure in the early days of Clear Creek township was Archibald Gilleland, who acquired nearly 500 acres of land. He was one of the first regents of the State University, now called the University of Iowa.

Clear Creek Township was established by order of the commissions on February 10, 1846. In 1847, 1852, 1857 and 1857 its borders shifted as the area was settled until the current boundaries were fixed.

Oak Hill Cemetery

Township history documented in tombstones

The final resting place for most Tiffin residents is on a hillside just west of the city limits in section 29. However Oak Hill wasn’t the first or the only cemetery to be located in the township.

In early days, pioneers chose hilltops for cemeteries. The hilltop symbolism represented closeness to God as well as a safe haven from lowland flooding. The cemetery that measures 4.83 acres in size is adjacent to U. S. Highway 6, which previously was a westward trail and later a stagecoach route.

In 1842, the Clear Creek Township Cemetery Association organized and made a deed for the first cemetery located on the Stage Farm occupied by the Keeler family; however the deed was never recorded. When the farm was sold, the new owner, Paster, notified people to remove their deceased family members. The following spring he plowed the land and planted grain.

With no record of who may have been removed, “The History of Johnson County 1836-1882” reports the following were buried in the Stage Farm Cemetery (located in Section 26): wife and two children of J. R. Trillis, Lyman Frost, Dr. Frost, Jackson Frost, Jaravis Frost, wife of Samuel Heuston (also spelled Huston), Henry Headly, Thos. King, Mr. Keeler, Mrs. Clapp and Wm. Clark.

According to the 1985 Iowa Genealogical Society report on Johnson County cemeteries the Summerhays family also had a cemetery located on their property (Section 32). However no records were kept.

In its early years, the Oak Hill Township Cemetery was declared such by common consent. It was first used by the Dowd family, on whose claim it was located, to bury two of his children. In 1863, a deed was presented to the association by J. C. Hamilton, son of Yale Hamilton who bought and entered the Dowd claim and lived on the land until he died. Yale Hamilton became the first recorded burial in the cemetery. There was an effort to plat the ground, but early graves were placed irregularly and Hamilton heirs opposed the plan.

The metal sign at the top of the Oak Hill Cemetery indicates the cemetery was established in 1845. The sign was moved to its present location on higher ground to avoid contact with cars whose drivers didn’t make the curve that runs along Buffalo Creek west of the cemetery. Currently, the Oak Hill Cemetery entrance heralds a new brick sign constructed by Ralph Keupker.

Clear Creek Township Clerk Patricia “Pat” Pirkl says it’s likely the cemetery was located on the hillside near Copi, a town established in 1844. The Copi Post Office, located at the Bond place in February 1847, served area residents. This post office officially closed in 1877.

In 2002, Pirkl assumed the township duties from longtime clerk Adelyn (Siegling) Campbell when her health was failing. Campbell served as township clerk for 18 years before her retirement. Both clerks maintained a three-ring binder containing newspaper clippings of obituaries and funeral memorials of the deceased buried in the township cemetery. The notebook contains many lessons in Tiffin’s history.

When she started her duties, Pirkl spent three-and-a-half weeks cataloging and recording cemetery burials. Her minute book of township meetings dates back to 1940s. Each year the township clerk prepares and presents a report to the Johnson County Auditor’s office detailing income and expenses associated with the cemetery’s care and upkeep.

Pirkl, who is bonded, says the township assesses a small tax to pay for cemetery maintenance such as mowing and snow removal for a wintertime funeral. The cost to mow the cemetery has increased through the years to $300 (reported in 2008).

Typically, the three township trustees set aside a day each spring to clean the cemetery’s more than 500 graves and landscape. The elected officials remove winter decorations and prepare for the summer mowing season.

“Old headstones are special,” Pirkl says. A four-sided metal sculpture is among her favorites. “Modern headstones are very personal.”

A headstone commemorating Wayne Forman includes a picture of the deceased holding a guitar. Kenny Brant’s headstone includes a picture of a school bus. Brant was a longtime bus driver for the Clear Creek Community School District. Lowell Vogt’s headstone displays a UPS truck, farm and hogs, is one of the newer ones .

Pirkl says, “My husband Don thinks caring for the cemetery is a lot of work, but I love it. There’s a lot of history in cemeteries. We love walking through it.”

Noted Oak Hill Cemetery burials

Honorable Robert Walker was born in Schenectady County, New York, on October 1802. In 1838, he moved to Johnson County and was the first justice of the peace in the new Iowa Territory. In his official capacity he administered the oath of office to the Capital Commissioners who located the territorial capital in Iowa City. In 1853, he married Hon. Le Grand Byington’s sister. In 1860, he moved to his farm near Tiffin, where he died on October 28, 1879. During his life and Johnson County residence, Judge Walker filled an influential position and earned the respect bestowed him. His home and property was listed in the 1870 Thompson & Evert Atlas.

A former Indiana resident, Yale Hamilton was persuaded to move to the Iowa Territory along with several others by a close friend Judge Harris. Hamilton lived for a time in Lucas Township before settling in Clear Creek. Hamilton’s name appears on the 1838 Johnson County Tax List. His household and merchandise was valued at $50. He also owned 8 cattle valued at $200; two cows and 40 cattle more than three years old; and three head of cattle under three years old. At the time he reportedly paid $1.33 for property valued at $265.50.

Hamilton was a member of Claim Association of Johnson County, which represented a number of settlers who lived on land that had not been surveyed. The group adopted a constitution or code of laws that each one pledged to observe to defend their land claims.

Hamilton’s son J. C. Hamilton married Mary A. Hamilton (March 2, 1862) and lived on the Clear Creek farm near Tiffin. Together they had eight children. Her husband had two children with his first wife. Though Mary A. Hamilton received little formal education she passed examinations to teach school at age 15. She also wrote under the signature of “Kitty Carroll” for leading newspapers in Iowa including the Muscatine Journal, Dubuque Herald, Burlington Hawkeye, Keokuk Post and Tipton Advertiser.  She also wrote a series of local letters from Tiffin which was said to be the genesis of “country correspondence” in the state.

Robert Walker

By Malvin E. Moore III

Robert Walker was one of the giants of early Johnson County history. As the country’s first justice of the peace he played a seminal role in the county’s civic and political development and was an early civic and community leader.

He was born in Schenectady County, New York, to immigrant Scot and Scot-Irish parents. Not much is known abut Walker’s early years, but in 1823, he married Ellen McWade of Renesselaer County, New York. A few years later, Robert and Ellen and their five children (another child was born later in Iowa) joined the westward migration and traveled by covered wagon to Iowa. Nine of his 10 siblings also migrated westward and settled throughout the Midwest.

Robert Walker first appears in Johnson County records in 1838. He and his family first settled on property in the Pleasant Valley Township, and he became active in the civic life of the community.

Walker was appointed Johnson County’s first justice of the peace in 1839, one year after Iowa was accorded territorial status. On May 1, 1839, he administered the oath of office to the Capitol Commissioners so they could legally locate the territorial capitol in Iowa City.

The first election in Pleasant Valley Township was held at his home in 1846, and he was a member of the county’s first two grand juries. Walker also served as a county supervisor and appeared in historic records as helping apportion funds for schools. He was a member of the Johnson County Agricultural Society and was active in the Old Settlers organization. He was a member of the committee that organized the Universalist Church in Iowa City.

A year after the death of his wife, Ellen in 1852, Walker married Arys Byington Mygatt, a widow, and  moved to Iowa City, now the civic, financial and educational center of the county. By the time of the 1860 Census, Walker was living in rural Tiffin, where he resided until his death in 1879. His grave is on a rise beneath a pine tree in Oak Hill Cemetery, east of Tiffin.

Tiffin businesses today

Advanced Drainage System
In 1967,Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. (ADS) owner Joe Chalapaty opened a plastic manufacturing plant in Iowa City’s Longfellow neighborhood. In 1989, the Iowa City location became a distribution center, eventually moving operations to South Gilbert Street in 1993. In 1999, ADS moved to 3348 Ireland Avenue SW, just south of Interstate 80 near Tiffin. The distribution center ships 2.5 million pounds of tile manufactured at plants in Eagle Grove and Oelwein, Iowa. The privately-held company operates in the western hemisphere and ships tile worldwide.

Busy Bees

In September 2005, business-owner Amie Pitlick launched Busy Bees. The childcare and preschool employs 15 to 20 full-time teachers and staff who teach and care for children ages six weeks to 12 years. A before- and after-school program is also available. Busy Bees is licensed to care for 117 children during the school year. The building at 607 Marengo Road offers three classrooms, one for preschool and two for infant and toddlers. In 2010, a transition program for 5-year old children will be offered. Pitlick received a B.A. from the University of Northern Iowa and will complete a master’s program in early childhood education in May. Lead teachers hold infant and toddler caregivers certificates. All staff are required to complete 40 hours of development each year.

Charlie’s Welding
In 1973, Charles Stimmel started his family-owned welding business. The business is located on the farm where Charlie and wife Linda have lived since they were married. With five full-time and a few part-time employees, Charlie’s Welding provides general welding repair for the many residents of Tiffin, particularly members of the farming community.

Consumers Cooperative
In 1940, a small group of University of Iowa employees who organized a buyers’ club to make ends meet during the Great Depression founded the Consumers Cooperative. Since then, the organization has experienced abundant growth, and now serves the Tiffin community providing feed, grain, crop protection products, fuel, lube oil, propane and knowledge and expertise to go along with it. Today, the multimillion-dollar operation maintains up-to-date equipment and employs 25 highly-trained workers. The north office of Consumers Cooperative is located at 3500 Second Street in Coralville.

Hair Shortage Salon
Located at 211 W. Marengo Road, the Hair Shortage Salon was started by Lisa Crow, who worked several years in a large salon in Cedar Rapids years and wanted a change of pace. Crow chose Tiffin, becoming the first salon in the growing town. The salon opened in October 2001.

For two years, Crow worked by herself in a very small space. Recently the Hair Shortage expanded to accommodate additional stylists and all types of hair services, facial waxing, nail services and tanning.

The salon keeps a full schedule serving all clients, from the very young to the not-so-young, men and women. Although the Hair Shortage does not disrupt clients to answer the phone, stylists have openings for anyone who leaves a message.

Hart Family Dentistry
Since 2005, Hart Family Dentistry has given Tiffin residents bright smiles when Kevin Hart graduated from the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and made the decision to start his own practice. A member of the Iowa Dental Association, American Dental Association and the Academy of General Dentistry, Hart serves the Tiffin community providing numerous dental services, including bleaching, bonding, bridges, cleaning, crowns, dentures, fillings, implants and periodontal care. In June 2006, registered dental assistant Kelly M. Huston joined the HFD team. She plans to attend dental school at the University of Iowa. In September 2006, full-time dental assistant Quinn Heidtbrink joined HFD.

Hart-Frederick Consultants P.C.
Hart-Frederick Consultants P.C is a full-service civil engineering, land surveying and town planning consulting firm. The firm focuses on communities with fewer than 10,000 members, and serves as City Engineer for approximately 20 communities in east central Iowa, including Tiffin.

HFC represents the 1996 merger of Hart Engineering, managed by Michael Hart, and Frederick Surveying and Engineering, operated by Doug Frederick. Located at 510 E. State Street, Tiffin, the company employs an experienced staff to provide architectural, structural, archaeological, historical, geotechnical and environmental services.

Hudson Family Corporation
In 1986, owner Rick Hudson started Hudson Family Corporation in Keosaqua, Iowa. In 2000, he moved to Tiffin to purchase Winder Trucking, and now Hudson employs 10 people to haul LP gas throughout the Tiffin and Iowa City area. Hudson Family Corporation is located at 3348 Ireland Avenue SW.

Jon’s Ice Cream Store & Restaurant
In June 1980, Jon Snyder opened Tiffin’s first ice cream business. Jon’s Ice Cream Store & Restaurant, located at 231 West Marengo Road, employs 15 local people who serve soft and hard ice cream and food daily from March to Thanksgiving. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Meade CPA
A native of rural Tiffin, Russell Meade graduated from Clear Creek Amana High School in Tiffin and received an accounting degree from the University of Northern Iowa. After working elsewhere for nearly a decade, Meade returned to Tiffin to start Meade CPA in 1998, working from his home. A decade later, the company has four employees. The office is located at 3522 Half Moon Avenue SW.

Morgan Service
Morgan Service, located at 230 W. Marengo Road, has served the auto repair needs of the Tiffin community for more than 30 years. In 1978, Tiffin resident Tom Morgan started the repair shop when he saw an opportunity to start a business in his hometown. The shop hasn’t changed much, but now Tom works alongside his son Randy. Together, the two provide general mechanical repair work for the surrounding community.

PB Auto Body
PB Auto Body owner Perry Beckler knows a thing or two about fixing cars: He’s been doing it more than 40 years. After working at an auto repair shop in Iowa City since 1961, Beckler and his wife Judy started their own shop in 1974 working from their home. Ten years later, in 1985, they moved the business to Tiffin at the corner of Railroad and Main streets. The shop also includes Perry and Judy’s son Steve. PB Auto Body serves the Tiffin community by conducting crash work, restorations, fiberglass work and sandblasting on all types of automobiles and motor homes.

P & D Repair
Don Pirkl and his wife, Patricia, know a thing or two about running a business in Tiffin: they’ve been doing it for more than half a century. “Everything is more sophisticated, more electronic and more expensive,” since he and his wife started the general auto repair shop. The couple repairs cars, trucks and tractors on their farm south of Tiffin, located at 2718 340th Street SW.

Solon State Bank
In 1997, the Solon State Bank opened its Tiffin branch, 65 years after its main branch was originated in Solon. The full-service commercial bank, located at 444 E. State Street, employs four people. The family-owned bank prides itself in customer service. The branch manager is Steve Berner.

Tiffin Depot, formerly Tiffin General Store
In 2006, the West Marengo Road building, previously occupied by Tiffin General Store, adopted a new name, Tiffin Depot, to serve both as a convenience store and a restaurant. Matt Scheetz manages the store. His parents, Tom and Lynette Scheetz co-own both the Tiffin Depot and Depot in Oxford. The store provides a convenience store and lunch in addition to gasoline.

Tiffin Grace United Methodist Church
Founded in 1872, 50 pastors, three buildings and 135 years later, the Tiffin Grace United Methodist Church congregation numbers 175 members and maintains an average weekly attendance of 125.

Since 2004, Beverly Marshall-Goodell has pastored to the community. The church is most concerned with caring for the community, as is evident in its preschool and vacation Bible school programs, monthly senior citizen meals, and blood drives. Recently, the church finished a building addition that doubled the size of its facility. It has also expanded its ministry by sending youth group on mission trips and adding Sunday school classes and a food pantry for those in need.

Tiffin Locker
Located at 111 College Street, Tiffin Locker helps fulfill the meat processing needs of the Tiffin community. In 1978, owner Timothy Spivey took over the business from his father, who started the locker in 1947. Spivey said the business has grown a lot through the years, especially recently. An addition to the building front enlarged the local store. The family-owned business provides custom slaughtering and deer processing services, as well as meat sales.

Titronics Research & Development
In the late 1970s, Titronics Research & Development began operation in Iowa City. Originally started as a consulting and custom builder of process control equipment for manufacturing companies like Quaker Oats and Procter & Gamble, the company spent the 1980s providing training support to many companies through Kirkwood Community College and the Iowa Economic Center.

In 1985, Titronics developed an infrared temperature sensor for a project in conjunction with D.C. Taylor Company that turned into the basis of a Para-Spinal temperature-graphing instrument for Chiropractors. The instrument is the main focus of Titronics. In the 1990s as the company grew from four to six employees, the company moved to Tiffin.

Now located at 400 Stephans Street, the company is committed to serving the chiropractic, physical therapy and medical professions with world-class temperature instrumentation. The local business has sponsored three chiropractors in an attempt to have an upper cervical doctor in Tiffin

Discovery

The history of Tiffin, Iowa, did not begin when the first homesteaders arrived. The history of the Clear Creek area is irrevocably tied to early U.S. and Iowa history.

The land that is now Iowa was part of the vast territory known as the Louisiana Purchase that was added to the United States in 1803. The additional 885,000 square miles extended the young nation’s reach from the Mississippi River to the base of the Rocky Mountains.

The new territory was scarcely populated and largely unexplored by white men, Almost immediately, President Thomas Jefferson authorized an expedition to explore the new land. Led by captains Merriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition launched on the Missouri River near St. Louis in May 1804, embarking on what had been called, “the greatest exploring venture in the history of the United States.”

As The Corps of Discovery (as it was named) moved up the Missouri River to what is now the Dakotas, they sailed pass the land that would become Iowa; the river, itself, would ultimately form two-thirds of the state’s western border.

The river would take the explores westward into what is now Montana; they would cross the Rocky Mountains and into the Oregon Territory, eventually reaching the Columbia River and then the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The contentment had now been broached. New land had been discovered. New natural wonders had been found. New opportunities would soon beckon.

The Corps returned to St. Louis and the East in 1806. The publication of their journals and letters would inspire new explorations and settlements in parts of the newly discovered lands. One hundred years later in 1906, community leaders would incorporate the town of Tiffin.

The beautiful land

In the 1820s and early 1830s, before the area gained territorial status, the U.S. government opened the Iowa prairies to new settlers. Following the publication of the accounts of the Lewis and Clark expedition, fur trading began to flourish in the new territories had played a vital role in settlement and development of Iowa. A trading post was established in Iowa City in the 1820s.

Relationships between native Americans and the early settlers were generally friendly, but throughout the 1820s, the U.S. government forced the Indians to cede land to the new settlers. Following the Blackhawk War in 1832, settlement began to grow, particularly in Eastern Iowa.

Subsequent land cessations by native Americans lessened their presence in Iowa and opened up millions of acres of land to new settlement. By 1851, less than 30 years after the first land cessation, the native American presence in Iowa as practically nil.

In its early years, Iowa was governed by several territories: Indiana, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin. On July 4, 1838, Iowa became a territory of its own, with its district capitol located in Burlington, a gateway point for new settlers crossing the Mississippi River on their westward trek.

The Iowa Territory was abundant with wild game – elk, deer, buffalo, bear, big horn sheep, ducks, turkeys and other wildlife – and the prairies were covered with tall grass and berries.

One pamphleteer gave the following description of the Iowa farmland: “the agricultural products consist chiefly of maize, wheat, rye, oats and potatoes. The large white corn of the south may be produced . . . (and) the yellow flint corn grows well anywhere. Wheat is produced with a facility unknown except in the west  . . . potatoes grow abundantly, and are famous throughout the west for their . . . quality.”

Small wonder then that the fertile land between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers – full of rich prairies, lush savannas, and woods full of strong timber and wildlife – was described as “the Beautiful Land.”

On December 28, 1846, Iowa achieved statehood, becoming the 29th state admitted to the Union. Iowa City, which became the territorial capitol in 1839, was the capitol city of the state until 1857 when the state government was moved to Des Moines, in the center of the state.

Manifest Destiny

By Malvin E. Moore III

The Homestead Act of 1862 was a major impetus in the wave of westward migration in the 1860s and 1870s. The goal of the act was to add key ingredients missing from the vast territory of the Louisiana Purchase: people, homesteads, communities – essential ingredients to building societies and cultures and the expansion of the nation.

The Homestead Act gave life to the expansionist notions of many Americans of the inevitability of the nation stretching from sea to sea. In the 1840s, this thought took ideological form with the concept of “Manifest Destiny” – that the United States was destined to expand onward, outward and westward, conquering new lands if necessary, until the Pacific was reached and claimed.

Under the Homestead Act, any man or woman head of household who paid a small filing fee could apply for 160 acres of land. The filer had to be at least 21 years of age and an American citizen or planned to become one. In return, the landholder had to build a house, dig a well, fence the land, plow at least 10 acres and pledge to live on the land for five years. After six months, the homesteaders could purchase additional and for $1.25 an acre.

Many new settlers headed for Iowa. Westward migration was long and arduous. Steamboat travel was a common way to reach Iowa, but many settlers came in covered wagons on trails through tall grass prairies without the luxury of roads or bridges at river crossings. The development of a ferry system would play a key role in easing the transportation woes of settlers crossing rivers and streams.

Once the homesteaders reached the other side of the rivers, they often settled in or near settlements that had already been established, or would soon be built. These communities would soon flourish, boosted by the influx and enthusiasm of the new settlers who were seeking new land in which to build a new life in a place called Iowa.