Fort Atkinson was erected in 1840 when the country was occupied by the Winnebago Indians who remained until 1848. A mission school was also established for the education of the Indian children, in connection with a large farm, where efforts were made to teach them agriculture. After removal of the Indians the mission was abandoned and the farm sold to white settlers.
Among the first settlers were Francis Rogers, George Bachel, David Reed, F. J. Huber, William Day, George Ream, William Painter and Philip Morse who took claims in 1848. In 1849 Painter and Aldridge built the first mill in the county on the Upper Iowa River near where Decorah now stands. William Day built one of the first log cabins, in 1849, where Decorah was located. It was occupied by his family of nine persons and also sheltered travelers until winter when he built the Winneshiek House. Several families built cabins near him in 1850-51 and a village grew up which was given the name of Decorah, for an Indian chief of the Winnebagos, whose village and burial ground was at that place.
In 1851 the first steps were taken to organize a county government and a vote was taken upon the location of the county-seat which resulted in the choice of Decorah. The officers chosen were David Reed, judge; Joseph Brown, clerk; George Bachel, sheriff, and David Kuykendall, recorder and treasurer. The first term of court was held at the house of William Day in Decorah in September, 1851. J. B. Onstine was the first lawyer and Aaron Newell opened a store the same year in a “slab shanty.” Elder Bishop of the Methodist Church was the pioneer preacher who came in 1851. A school-house was built in 1853 in which T. W. Burdick gave instruction. For several years efforts were made to remove the county-seat from Decorah which delayed the building of a court-house until 1856. In 1855 a United States Land office was established which brought many there to enter land.
In 1856 the Decorah Chronicle, a weekly newspaper,
