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From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IASCOTT] Several Outlying Dav. Communities-Hamburg/Chawtown (cont.)
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 09:39:46 -0600


...continued...

Richter, August Paul. Geschlichte der Stadt (English Translation)
Davenport und der County Scott. Davenport, Iowa: 1917

Chapter 52
Several Outlying Davenport Communities
East Davenport, Blackhawk, Northwest Davenport-Characteristic Features.- Good
cohesian with the whole.


A "little Germany" in the American west could and still can be seen in
Northwest Davenport by taking a walk to this singular part of Davenport. It was
much more German than the city of which it is now suburb to the northwest and
from which it was completely separated for many years by large stretches of
fields and brickyards. It formed a quiet, comfortable community in itself. In
the course of the last fifteen or twenty years this has changed dramatically,
but the former character of Northwest Davenport has remained essentially the
same. It makes a free, and hospitable impression on every visitor.
The founding of this part of the city, which has now been a part of the old
town, with the intervening spaces filled with stately homes, falls in that time
when the Schleswig-Holstein immigration markedly increased. Holsteiners or their
descendants still almost exclusively constitute its population. For that reason
it was named "Hamburg" after the port of embarkation, and name which is still of
this area, laid claim to large tracts of government land shortly after his
arrival in 1835. Several years later he bought them for the cheap price of $1.25
per acre. A quarter-section, 160 acres, of this land was divided into building
sites in 1853. They found willing buyers, because they were much cheaper and
more healthy than those which were to be had at the time in lower and west
Davenport. Hamburg was originally bounded by Leonard, Border (Division), Locust
and Marquette Streets. In later years it was enlarged by properties of Harvey
Sturdevant, a brother-in-law of Mitchell. The names of its streets had a good
sound, among them Marquette, Washington, Franklin, Liberty, and Union, as well
as streets named after worthy pioneers Leonard, Mitchell, and Sturdevant. The
Mitchell home, surrounded by a large garden, is still standing in its former
old-fashioned splendor. It is the property of John Lueschen, a successful
businessman in Northwest Davenport and an important landowner.
The social life of German associations and other types is still flourishing
to the extent allowed by repressive state laws. There has been a Northwest
Davenport Turner's Society since 1871 which cultivates physical and mental
exercise, German song and dramatic art. It owns a beautiful, spacious hall which
was built shortly after the first hall burned on July 4, 1882. Next to it is a
pretty garden belonging to the society, in which pleasant folk festivals are
held. In former years there were several other favorite amusement places. On the
southeast corner of old Hamburg there was Washington garden and catercorner on
the northwest corner of the settlement was Peter Jacobsen's tavern with a small
park. Each of these places had a popular stage on which German comedies and
popular plays were performed by talented amateurs. Among the other societies the
Glee Club deserves special mention.
Besides the name of Hamburg Northwest Davenport was also popularly called
"Chawtown." This comes from the time before the Civil War. A wheelwright by the
name of Klindt lived there who attracted the attention of outsiders mainly by
the fact that he chewed a lot of tobacco. He had a big chaw in his mouth all
day; his cheek was stretched out and the front of his shirt [showed traces of
the juice]. The man was called Chaw Klindt...
An interesting institution of old Hamburg which lasted far into the
eighteen seventies was cow-herding. After the free rambling and grazing of
domestic animals on the roads and paths of Davenport itself had been forbidden,
the law was also extended to Northwest Davenport. Almost every family there had
at least one cow. In February of 1872 the Northwest Davenport Cow Pasturing
Society was organized for a cow herd to collect the cows in the morning and to
drive them to fallow land or rented meadows and to bring them back in the
evening. According to the by-laws every member pledged himself to permit the
sale of his best cow if he did not pay his dues on time. No one could leave the
society before the end of the year without presenting a successor. If a cow was
found to have an infectious disease, the owner had to keep her in, but he had to
pay his dues until the end of the year. He could replace her with another cow,
his own or one of his neighbor's. The society had more than forty members; their
regular meetings were held on the last Sunday of February, June, and October.
Each community needs leaders; the republic of Hamburg also had its own.
They were not official; there was no formal election, but the authority was in
general quite normative. Members of the managing council were Peter N. Jacobsen,
Dr. F.F. Raabe, Henry J. Meyer, Gustav Boeckelmann, Henry and John H Jebens,
John Lueschen, Nik. Albrecht, and others. Jacobsen was considered top man. He
was the "mayor of Hamburg" or "Chawtown".
Peter Nikolai Jacobsen was born on March 24, 1833, in Eckernfoerde. The
Schleswig-Holstein uprising against Denmark began on his fifteenth birthday.
Because he was too young for the people's army he served as coachman during the
war. Later he took up the miller's trade and made extensive journeys through
Germany. In the summer of 1857 he came to Davenport. He spent the first years on
a rented farm and then on his own in Princeton township. When J.N. Rusch had
built the windmill about five miles from Davenport on Dubuque Road, he took over
its management. The mill burned down in 1863 and Jacobsen opened a business on
the crossing of Locust and Border...[lines missing]... The Turner Society had
its first home here and other associations had their quarters. Jacobsen set up a
German stage for which he gathered and managed the personnel, like the man of
good education and organizational talent that he was. In 1886 he retired from
business, but till his death on July 25, 1913, he took a very active part in
public affairs, and especially those of the German community. In all the
associations of Northwest Davenport and several in Davenport, in the old fire
brigade and industrial complexes he held positions of responsibility for many
years. He was a member of the citizens' committee for managing school elections
independent of political parties for more than forty years and for many years
its chairman. He was a delegate of the German-American Central Association,
founder and president of the German Theater Society and the German Pioneer
Association of Scott County. He never ran for a paying position.
Northwest Davenport has retained its attractiveness to the present day. In
a lecture given several years ago about city beautification E.K. Putnam called
it a model, idyllic place, which "brings joy to the visitor with its neat
houses, lawns and flowerbeds in the gardens in front, the flowers in the windows
where even hoarfrost makes one feel cozy in winter." It is, however, no rural,
sleepy idyll that makes one drowsy. It has a good number of lively business
establishments and stores, and a bank, and above all a very animated, joyous
populace.

Cathy Joynt Labath
Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project
http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm



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