Chapter 10 cont. PRINCETON TOWNSHIP. A very interesting chapter on the first settlement of Princeton township was written by Mr. Barrows in his history of Scott county herein published to which the reader is referred.  But quite a number of the earliest settlers not mentioned by him are given a place here.  Settlement in the township was at first quite slow, but even at that the Methodist circuit rider thought fit to visit the community and hold religious services.  It was not long before there were three denominations represented, the Presbyterian, the Methodist Episcopal and the Evangelical Lutheran.  All of these erected church buildings.  In 1853 Jerry Goodrich, James Todd and Porter McKinstry, members of the Methodist church, with friends and neighbors, built a brick church edifice near Lost Grove.  Services were held there about three years, when the members afterwards attended meeting at Princeton, on account of the death of several of the prinicpal members of the congregation.  In February, 1856, Rev. Daniel Garber of the Evangelical Lutheran church organized a church of that faith in this township.  A meeting was held in May following at which Isaac Daughenbaugh was elected elder, Samuel Gast, deacon.  Meetings were then held in the vacated Methodist church and continued there until 1859, when the congregation erected a building of their own in Princeton, which was turned over to the Methodists in exchange for the Methodist church at Lost Grove.  Meetings have been held there from that time up to the present.  The first school was taught here in 1846-1847 by Miss Hannah Peaslee in a log house owned by H. H. Pinneo, in what is now known as Princeton independent district.  Miss Peaslee's successors were Mrs. Charles Budd and Milcah Goodrich.  Sometime afterwards an old barn was purchased by Giles M. Pinneo and Wilbur Warren, who remodeled the building and which was for a period used for both school and church purposes.  A brick school building was built in 1852 and Mathias E. Pinneo was the first teacher.  This was the schoolhouse of Princeton until 1864, when it was consolidated with other schools which occupied the ground floor of a hall on Front street.  Then, in 1862, district No. 1 was changed into an independent district and in 1866 a large and substantial stone school building was erected on Third and Clay streets at the cost of about $5,000.  The city of Princeton was incorporated in January, 1857, and in March, following, the first election was held, at which Samuel Porter became the first mayor, but resigned from the office in May, following.  To fill this vacancy a special election was held and William Shew was chosen mayor.  The town contained at this time about 250 inhabitants, two hotels, one church, two stores, a blacksmith shop, a steam saw mill, and about fifty dwellings.  In 1858 William H. Tompson was elected mayor and at that time there were about 500 inhabitants.  Improvements kept up steadily in the town and it became a place of considerable importance.  A steam saw mill was built by Isaac Sherman, of Cleveland, Ohio, costing $8,000, and whose output equalled 30,000 feet per day.  Two steam grist mills were also built, one by Herbert M. Fishback, which cost about $9,000, and the other by McKinstry and Hubbard, which cost $12,000.  About this time Dr. G. L. Bell erected a very pretentious residence for that day at a cost of $5,000.  In 1862 a disastrous fire visited the little city of Princeton and destroyed a valuable three-story business and office building which had been erected by F. G. Welsh and also the business house owned by Christian Schmaltz.  At this time the Princeton house barely escaped destruction. The citizens of Princeton take a pride in the honor which her sons reflected upon the town through their services in the Civil war.  Its bright roll of honor is to be found in the chapter on the Civil war in this history.  The First Methodist church of Princeton was built in 1858.  This church takes pride in the history of its Sunday school which began at the time of its organization in 1849 by Father Pinneo and others.  In 1887 the Methodist society erected a church edifice at a cost of $2,500 and is at this day in a very prosperous condition.  On the site of the old church building the Presbyterians erected a new church structure in 1888 which cost about $3,000.  In 1898 the Salem Evangelical Lutheran church put up a neat structure while under the pastorate of Rev. Kunkleman.  Adjoing the church building is the parsonage. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L