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CEDAR COVERED HILLS IS WHERE THE TOWN GOT
IT'S NAME
By MARY LOU OLSON
Cedar Bluffs had its beginning in
the year 1870 when Joseph Dimmick from Packersburg, Iowa,
homesteaded the NE 1/2 or better known as the Joseph Weyeneth
quarter, which borders the state line and joins the former
Cecil Vernon farm. now owned by Marion Mockery.
After homesteading in the spring
of 1870, he established the post office, and gave it the name
Cedar Bluffs and became its first postmaster. Mr. and Mrs.
Dimmick were true pioneers, .having founded the town of
Packers burg before coming west. Accompanying Dimmick here
were his son, Joseph Jr. and his wife and also a son-in-law,
Lemuel Daniels and his wife.
Joseph Dimmick, Jr. homesteaded
what is now the Dick Macy farm and Daniels homesteaded the
W.R. Redfern land which lies directly west of the Dem Moore
farm. In the fall of 1870, Clarence Dimmick came to join his
parents, walking from Crete, Neb., to Cedar Bluffs. He
homesteaded the Bessie Adams farm. He was the first mail
carrier to Cedar Bluffs, bringing it on horseback from
Orleans, Neb.
FIRST WHITE COUPLE MARRIED
Clarence Dimmick was the first white man known to have been
married in Decatur County. He married Julia McKenzie April
28, 1873.
The following year Isaac Bowen
and Joe Turby homesteaded in Beaver Township. These first
six homesteaders we~ joined in the next few years by a good
many settlers and by 1877 most of the land adjoining the
Beaver had been taken.
Joseph Dimmick, Sr., died two
years after establishing the post office and was succeeded by
his son, Clarence. The post office was moved to the homestead
of Mrs. Adams. He served as postmaster for two years before
selling his homestead and moving to Jewell County, Kansas. Mr.
: Fields was then appointed postmaster and the post office was
moved to the Otis Relph farm, where a mill and grocery store
were also located.
EARLY SETTLERS
Among early day settlers were
James Jones, Clarence and Joseph Rathbone, James Addis and
Frank Kimball. The Hamper and McKinzie families arrived in
the fall of 1873.
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Cedar Bluffs, named for the
cedar! trees and bluffs to the east of the town site, , was
surveyed and platted in May 1886 by Lincoln Land Co. of Iowa.
The Chicago, Burlington &;
Quincy Railroad tracks reached. Cedar Bluffs in 1877. The
depot closed in 1954 'and Mrs..Loyd Millard was the last depot
agent. By the early 1900s the town had 18 to 20 business
places in operation.
SECTION CREW for
the CB&Q left to right: Loyd Millard, Kris Leitner.
" Density St was
Dr. Guy Simon and-his brother, "Doc" Simon and Dr.
Williamson were medical doctors. The Joe Kennedy family
operated one of the general stores, the George Patterson
family had a restaurant and AI Holliday was a carpenter.
Harry Kennedy operated a bank, Charles Lofton, an elevator
with coal and lumber and Mr. Justice, a garage and filling
station.
The Beaver Valley Booster, a
weekly newspaper, was published a short while by Mr. and Mrs.
Harry Kennedy, starting in 1918.
POST OFFICE CLOSES One of the
last business places to close in the tiny town was Jack
McCurdy's grocery store which opened in 1922. The post office
closed in August of 1952 and. Dollie Fisher was the last
postmaster.
. During hard times of the. early
1920’s men left Cedar Bluffs to seek employment else
where and the business began to decline. The population of
Cedar Bluffs in its heyday was 300-350. Present population is
35 and Cedar Bluffs Grain Co., Inc. is the only active
business in the
community .
Present residents of Cedar Bluffs
are Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Woofter, Mrs. Loyd Millard, Mr. and
Mrs. Otis Relph, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Martin, Mr. and Mrs.
Richard Bunstock, Mr. and Mrs. John Wells and family, Mr. and
Mrs. Owen King and family, Mr. and Mrs. Noel Bissell and
grandson, Leon, Mrs. Bob Ball and
CEDAR BLUFFS
Railroad at Cedar Bluffs. From
left to right Kris Angeloff, James Lazaroff, Robert
children, Mr. and Mrs. Don Fowler and Curtis, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Pratt and Clayton, Elaine
Fuller, Pearl Awtry, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Richardson and Ernest
Fowler.
FIRST CHURCH IN DUGOUT
The only church ever known to
serve the Cedar Bluffs community was the Methodist. The
building was constructed in 1902 through donations and gifts
from the congregation. First meeting place for the worshippers
was a dugout and later they met in the schoolhouse. Mr.
Johnson was the first minister.
A short time later the Rev.
Beaucamp and family moved to Cedar Bluffs and a parsonage was
added. The church building was sold to Marion Mockry several
years ago , but the shell of the
building still stands as reminder of bygone services:"
The Rev. W . W . Appleyard served
both the Traer and Cedar Bluffs communities in the 1930's
and he was the last regular minister to serve the congregation
in 1939.
Otis Relph stated in his history
of the community that the first building used as a church was
the fort which was located on the northwest corner of the
George Miner farm, built around 1873. To it the pioneer
fathers and mothers walked with their
children on Sunday, reverently
and gravely, the men fully armed.
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