mundson, sheriff; Seth Hammer, recorder; and W. Fleener, probate judge. The county-seat was located by commissioners in July, 1846, at a central place where a town was laid out and named Newton City. A rude log building was erected for a court-house in which Judge Joseph Williams of Muscatine held the first term of court. The first store in the county was opened at Tool’s Point by Daniel Hiskey in 1851. The first school was taught by William E. Smith at Elk Creek settlement in the winter of 1848.
In 1850 commissioners chosen by the General Assembly to select a site for the permanent Capital of the State decided on the tract of prairie four miles northwest of Toole’s Point. A sale of lots was held but the State refused to make it the Capital and the plat was eventually vacated and used for farms. Monroe was laid out at Toole’s Point by David Hiskey in 1856 and has grown into a flourishing town. Prairie City was platted in 1856 by James Elliott and was first named Elliott. Kellogg, which was first called Jasper City, was laid out in September, 1865, by Enos Blair and A. W. Adair. Colfax, on the Skunk River, was named for Schuyler Colfax, Vice-President of the United States, and has long been famous for its mineral springs. The Newton Free Press was a weekly newspaper established in the 1859 by the Campbell brothers. The main line of the Rock Island Railroad runs from east to west, while the Keokuk division runs through the western part of the county.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, originally a part of Demoine, was established in January, 1839. It is the third county west of the Mississippi River in the second tier north of the Missouri State line and contains twelve townships, embracing an area of four hundred thirty-two square miles. It was named for Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence. The county-seat was located in March, 1839, where a town was laid out and
