Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/538

 the Boone River, to divide the county and make each of these towns the county-seat of the new counties thus created. The first step was calling an election in April, 1856, for the removal of the county-seat from Homer to Fort Dodge. By coöperation of the citizens of Fort Dodge and Newcastle and the entire northern part of the county Fort Dodge was successful. The Legislature of 1857 divided the large county of Webster, creating the county of Hamilton out of the eastern part and the county-seat was established at Webster City, the new name for the town of Newcastle. The division line between the new counties left Homer close to the west side of Hamilton and was a death blow to a town which had made a remarkable growth, and was at one time the most important in northwestern Iowa. Business and citizens deserted it, houses and stores were left without tenants and for years it was a deserted village.

The boundaries of Hamilton were made identical with the original county of Webster the present county containing none of the territory of the original county of that name. On the 26th of February, 1857, the north tier of townships of Webster County was annexed to the new county of Humboldt, leaving Webster with an area of seven hundred twenty square miles.

The first sermon preached in Fort Dodge was by the Rev. J. H. Burleigh in the fall of 1851 in a hospital tent. Williams and Lemp operated the first store in 1855 and C. C. Carpenter, afterwards Governor, taught the first school in the winter of 1855-6. Hoyt Sherman and E. W. Lucas of Des Moines bought the first lots sold in Fort Dodge in March, 1855. John F. Duncombe opened the first law office in April and Dr. S. B. Olney was the first physician. The first hotel was opened in 1854 by W. R. Miller in one of the barracks. In July, 1856, A. S. White established the first newspaper in northwestern Iowa, at Fort Dodge. It was a weekly Democratic journal named the Fort Dodge Sentinel. The first railroad built into the