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Source:
The History of Delaware Co., IA
containing A History of the County, its Cities, towns, &c.,
A Biographical Directory of its Citizens, War Record of its
Volunteers
in the late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics,
Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men,
History of the Northwest, History of Iowa,
Map of Delaware County, Constitution of the
United States, Miscellaneous
Matters, &c
- illustrated -
Publ. Chicago: Western Historical Company
Successors to H. F. Kett & Co.
1878
DELAWARE CENTER
(Acersville)
p. 558 - 559
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The town of Delaware Center was
laid out in 1853, by Dr. Acers, who had
entered the land surrounding in 1851, and settled thereon
the same year. The Maquoketa here flowed over a rocky
bed, gradually narrowing at the site of the present Quaker
Mill to a water bed about six rods wide, and with lime stone
banks over twenty feet high. Here Dr. Acers
and his brother Henry erected a saw-mill, in 1852,
which they soon after leased to Henry Ryan.
In 1853, Delaware Township was established, with
Delaware Center as polling place, and the post office of
Delaware Center was established Oct. 1, 1853.
Edson Merrill settled here this year,
opening a blacksmith shop, but removed to Burrington in
1855.
[Page 559]
The same year (1853), a school house was begun, and
completed the following year. Before the building was
completed, some time in the Spring of 1854, Rev. B. M.
Amsden held religious services therein. Mr.
Amsden says a lot of plank for temporary seats were
obtained from the saw-mill. Elder John Martindale,
of Elk Township, held meetings there soon after. The
first school taught in the building was by Mrs.
Riley.
In 1854, A. R. Loomis started a dry goods store,
and the election of that year was held therein. Dr.
Acers built a flouring-mill the same year, and the
indications were that quite a town would spring up.
But the golden opportunity was lost when Dr. Acers
failed to make satisfactory arrangements with Judge
Dyer, in 1854, and compelled the latter to start a
new town below. He did not take the "tide at its
flood," and consequently Delaware Center was stranded, and
its final hope was lost when, in 1856, the railroad was
definitely located at
Manchester, two miles below. This, and the removal of
Mr. Loomis from the town, the year previous,
was more than the infant town could bear. It quietly
yielded up the ghost, and now exists only in the pages of
this history and the memory of the old settlers.
In the Spring of 1854, Dr. Acers ordered
his hired man to build a fire in the yard, as his folks were
" ready to make soap," but the order was not obeyed.
Returning from some other part of the farm, and observing
that no fire was built,- the Doctor started one himself.
In some way the fire caught the house, and it was burned to
the ground. It was a frame structure, and is said to
have been the best in the county. Dr. Acers
and such men as were at hand, among them H. L. Ryan,
worked like Trojans, but the fire burnt too fiercely for
them. The Doctor went into the cellar and secured a
quantity of meat, which he carried to a place of safety; he
started back to get some more, but was prevented by Ryan.
In this fire was destroyed most of the copies of the book
which Dr. Acers had written some years before
to prove that the Bible is not inspired. While the
conflagration was at its height, sparks flew across the
river and set fire to the brush, destroying thousands of
saplings. Dr. Acers rebuilt his
residence in 1861, a commodious brick structure taking the
place of the one destroyed.< CLICK HERE
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