Page 8 - QuakerMillDam

Floods, Fire, and the “Best Laid Plans”
Quaker Mill, facing west, circa 1900–1915 (Robert Ungs). Acersville, establishing a new town for the railroad station.
Deaths at the Dam
Six fatalities are known to have occurred at or
near the Quaker Mill Dam. In chronological
order these are:
June 11, 1887: Albert Lee, age 15,
drowned while swimming in Quaker
Mill Pond.
57
June 30, 1929: Alice Collins, age 30,
of Lamont, was struck by lightning
while taking shelter under a tree dur-
ing a sudden storm that broke during
a family picnic at the dam.
58
May 29, 1938: Mary Shimpack, age
21, of Cedar Falls, drowned after fall-
ing from a motorboat near the dam.
59
July 18, 1948: Jerry Luther Kirby, age
29, of Strawberry Point, fell into the
water while trying to climb up to the
powerhouse base after walking across
the top of the dam.
60
May 29, 1958: Jan Speed, age 19, of
Manchester, drowned while trying to
swim across the river just above the
dam.
61
July 18, 1968: William Tibbott, age
17, of Greeley, stepped into a deep
hole in the river while seining fish be-
low the dam.
62
6 University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist
Prior to the construction of the concrete structure in 1914,
at least four other dams had existed at the location of the
Quaker Mill Dam. The first dam was probably built in 1852 by
Dr. John Acers (pronounced “Akers”) and his brother Henry.
This was a wooden structure designed to power a saw mill.
Just two years later, in 1854, a flouring mill was added.
1
John Acers had great aspirations for development in the
area. In November 1854 he laid out the town of Acersville,
later known as Delaware Center, along both sides of the Ma-
quoketa River near his mills. Confident that the proposed
route of the Dubuque and Pacific railroad would have to go
through Acersville, he reportedly set a high price for land
in the railroad right-of-way. The railroad interests balked,
and chose instead to run the railroad two miles south of
Originally named Burrington, the new city was platted in
1854–1855. In 1857, it was given its present name, Man-
chester, probably as a sly reference to William Chesterman,
one of the entrepreneurs involved in securing the railroad
route. Losing the railroad was the death knell for Acersville,
as businesses and residences rapidly abandoned the town
and moved to Manchester. 2
Although Acersville faded away, the flouring mill continued
to operate at the dam. Unfortunately, the early years held
many more troubles. Disaster struck in 1865 when a flood
destroyed the mill. The firm of Paxson & Seeds (later Paxson,
Seeds & Co.) stepped in, purchasing a part interest in the
business and rebuilding the mill in 1867. The new partners
named it “Quaker Mill” in honor of their religious heritage.
The mill was destroyed again in 1869, this time by fire. Dr.
Acers sold his remaining interest in the business, but Paxson
& Seeds had the structure rebuilt by the end of the year. In
1876, the dam was washed away “for the third or fourth time
since its construction,” but it was soon rebuilt 120 feet long
and 14 feet high. 3
Paxson, Seeds & Co. and other firms continued to operate
the Quaker Mill for several decades. By the turn of the twen-
tieth century it was one of the leading flouring mills in the
area. This 1902 overview summarizes the situation of the
company:
The Quaker Mill company is having a very
satisfactory and ever-increasing trade,
and besides doing a large local business is
shipping flour to the leading markets of the
country, in addition to doing quite an exten-
sive export business, shipping to different
ports in the British empire. The company
pays the highest market price for all kinds
of grain, and not only uses all the grain to