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Newspaper
Eldora Herald Ledger
Location
Eldora, Iowa, United States of America
Date
Jul 01, 1975
Page
4
Gifford's early history is marked by several deaths including the 1879 murder suicide of John Bell and Eva Roberts after his entanglement with a minister. Additional suicides near Whitten in 1884 and other fatal incidents, plus later electrification from Eldora in 1913, shaped the town’s grim record.
A June 3 1860 tornado devastated Union townships in Hardin County Iowa. It crossed the Iowa River at Sandersonville and leveled homes including the Crist frame residence and Michael Devine brick home, killing five Devine family members and a Mrs. Garrison while injuring about 21 in Gifford. About 31 houses were destroyed. The storm left stories of loss, the West family Bible surviving as the sole heirloom after their wagon mortgage and family tragedy. The depot at Gifford was later razed after 1958 railroad service ended.
Florence Patterson of Paradise California sends a letter and poem recalling Hardin County’s vanished town once named Xenia later Secor now in ruins. She recalls her father Milligan Patton who traveled from Illinois in 1876 and the early Patton and Parm settlements, the old mill, stone houses, a blacksmith shop, and memories of the valley river scene as she remembers Old Xenia.
The piece traces gravel and sand pits built by railroads in the 1880s and 1900s, later privatized as cement use grew. It notes firms led by R. A. Fuller and E. E. Carder, their operations, and sidetracks. The history mentions agate collecting and early settlers Riley Adams and Thomas Lane guiding Gifford’s development.
After 1884 Enoch Johnson was found shot near Johnson Hill, a rise north of Gifford. Before 1917 the Eldora road climbed Johnson Hill, judged by how often gears shifted and speed reached the top. In 1920 the Rainbow Trail added transport options and spurred local action with Union residents hauling gravel and serving a free dinner at the Methodist Church.
Gifford had no fire department and relied on nearby communities Union Whit ten Eldora and New Providence for aid. Notable fires include May 1901 hotel prep, September 1903 Gifford Hotel owned by Mrs Lou Weld destroyed at an estimated cost around 2000, and February 1906 H L Rogers store and meat market a near total loss with unknown cause and future plans.
The first election in south Hardin county was held at Gifford in March 1853 after the county split into two townships. Latham, the south half, voted 32 at the Henry Abrams home, later tied to Gifford’s founders. A 1903 Eldora Herald note mentions Gifford beating Berlin 41 to 14.
The 1882 Bradstreet records list 14 active Gifford businesses led by a hotel run by Enoch Johnson and Sarah Hubble and two saloons owned by Charles Fenton and John Kangly. Other shops include hardware and tin by Blakeslee and Stratton, coal and grain by J. B. Bradford, groceries by J. Brown and S. B. Rogers Drugs, and Tolman Brothers pottery. Population ranged from 156 in 1890 to 180 in 1899 and 200 in 1908.
In the late 1930s Gifford reportedly housed its own community orchestra. The group featured Glen Fagan Guy Campbell Zoe Campbell Fayerback Madsen Pearl Holthuis George Gunderson Lewis Lawler and Ed Lawler, listed in a left to right lineup.
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