Union County Historical Society

05/07/2026

04/13/2026

Remember this? January/February/March 1969 issue of the Iowa Architect.

03/12/2026

I received this souvenir school booklet from Debra Josephson of Harris, Minnesota. Debra is a descendent of one of the students, Bernice Eschle. She thought the Pleasant View school house was in Union County but the surrounding property owners does not add up with the list of students for any school in Union County. However, I found a school in section 26, Union Township, Adams County that has the McCafferty and Chapman surnames next to the school house in a 1895 Platt map, which leads me to believe that is the school this is for. I know the McCafferty and Chapman names were well known in the Cromwell area. The teacher, Cora Recknor, married Alfred Buxton and was the mother of Buck Buxton and Jean Richardson.

02/23/2026

1958 Union County girls basketball tournament.

02/23/2026

1957 Union County boys basketball tournament.

02/22/2026

I did a little research last week for Dean KARAU of Burnsville, Minnesota. He is writing a book about the early days of Kewanee Illinois, and needed a photograph of Hamilton Mayhew Way, who happened to be the fourth mayor of Creston. There was a sketch and biography in the county history book, CENTENNIAL SKETCHES, MAP & DIRECTORY OF UNION COUNTY IOWA, 1876. Much of the biography from that book will be published in Dean's new book as well as a more extensive history of his time in Kewanee, Illinois. Below is the image from our County history followed by chapter 70 of Dean's book where he used a colorized version of the same image. Besides being Creston's fourth mayor, WAY, was a member of the first Creston city Council, and continue to serve for many years. He was also involved with the fire department, was a founding member of the Bunker Hill Lodge # 302, A. F. and A. M. He also owned a hardware and Implement store on Union Street and later on Adam Street.

01/31/2026

I want to give a special thanks to the Creston Historic Preservation Commission. They have opened a new website https://creston.historyarchives.online/home which has a great amount of searchable information from early County newspapers. It has been a great help in finding more information about the rural churches and abandoned towns of the county for the Union County Historical Village website at https://uchistoricalvillage.com/ check it out and if you have any information to contribute please contact us.

Union County Iowa Historical  Village Our hours are Fri – Sat – Sun  1 – 4:30 pm       Memorial Day – Labor Day also open July 4, 3rd Saturday of September (Hot Air Ballon Days) We can open anytime by appointment and are always open here on the internet! Best viewed in landscape mode ...

01/31/2026

We are making some changes at the Village. Some of the farm implement collection has been moved outside to make more space inside the buildings. We have changed out our display at the side of the parking lot with a newly restored potato planter.

McCormick-Deering Potato Planter
Manufactured by the
International Harvestor Company
Chicago, IL circa 1940

Owned by three generations of the
Fils Family
Arthur Fils Sr, Arthur Fils Jr,
& Dixie Fils Moore

08/11/2025

Lincoln Elementary school sign now completed at the Historical Village. Thanks to Dan Adamson for laying the brick and John Walters for site preparation, labor and foresight in seeing that the items were saved from demolition. Also thanks to John and Cody Waltersdorf for all of their work involved in saving the sign during the demolition process.

06/30/2025

Someone left some copies of this in the Village mailbox. Thanks to whoever left it. Now, does anyone have any other information about the plaque? Does it still exist? Are there any scouts in our group that helped erect it?

06/11/2025

UCHS finally has a website! The site has been live for a few weeks now but we hadn't really advertised it. Some parts of the site are still under construction and there will always be new updates to make but please come check us out at uchistoricalvillage.com