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Carroll County Iowa History

Carroll County was started in 1855.  Carrollton was the first town, and the original county seat.  Carrollton and Carroll County were named after Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland.  He was the only cathloic to sign and longest living signer of the Declaration of Independance.

When the Chicago Northwestern Rali Road (CNW) came through Carroll County in 1869, they chose a flatter route through the central part of the county, instead of going through the hills in the Carrollton area.  Back in those days, the rail road brought many opertunities to towns along the rail road tracks.  And without the CNW going through Carrollton, the town would fall apart.  The county seat was then moved to the newly formed Carroll City (now known as just plain Carroll).  Carrollton was the county seat for only 14 years  Loosing the county seat was Carrollton's first step to becoming a ghost town.

There are fourteen ghost towns in Carroll County: Benan, Browning, Carrollton, Coplin's Grove, Divide, Elba, Hillsdale, Jasper, Ketner, Macke, Niles' Grove, Slater's Crossing and Tip Top.  Three of these towns still exist, but have different names.  Hillsdale was the first name for Roselle. Arcadia was originally Tip Top and Ralston was formally known as Slater's Crossing.  And then there's Reno...There's no records of there ever being a post office there (which is one thing that all of these towns had), and no one has ever been there.  But on some maps, there it is-just south of Glidden.  The reason why it's there?  Map makers like to be original, so they sometimes put a road, or in this case, a little insignificant town out in the middle of nowhere, so they know that no one is copying them.  And that's the story of Reno-it really is a "ghost town."

Map of Carroll County 1895

As you walk through the streets of Carroll, Iowa, or drive through the town, you see a few old historical buildings such as the Carnegie Library (not the Carroll County Historical Museum), the Episcopal Church, the train depot, Kuemper High School (The St. Angela Center), and even Adams Elementry (formally Carroll Middle School, formally Carroll High School).  But the question is: Why so few?  In 1879, there was a great fire in Carroll destroying the downtown area.  The city was rebuilt in the late 1800's and completely remodeled in the 1960's (when the new courthouse was built).  But one old building outside of the city of Carroll was completely restored historically and moved to living history farms in Des Moines, Iowa.  This Building is the Greteman General Store that sold everything from tractors to produce in the Willey area.

There is a long list of famous Iowans, but those who are famous are not always famous for doing great deeds in their area.  Father Kuemper did several things for the Carroll Area while he was serving at Sts. Peter and Paul in Carroll (which was later combined with St. Joseph's and became Holy Sprit) in 1901.  He started the St. Angela Academy for girls (which lated became the co-ed Kuemper Cathloic High School) St. Anthony's Hospital and nursing school, and St. Lawrance.

Another famous Iowan from Carroll County is Merle Hay.  (Ever driven down Merle Hay Road in Des Moines, or driven past the Merle Hay monument in the Glidden Cemetary?)  He was born in Carrollton, and was one of the first American (and the first Iowan) soilders to die in World War I.

Merle Hay Monument in the Glidden Cemetary along HWY 30.

Merle Hay wasn't the only one to save the Carroll area in the early 1900's.  In the Templeton area during the 1930's (The Great Depression) many farmers were loosing their farms.  And Templeton Rye was the cash crop of the prohabition and great depression that saved many small farms.  Templeton Rye is bootleg whisky made during the prohabition and great depression in the Templeton Area.  No one knows for sure if it is still made to this day.