Tales From the Aisles
By Mickey Thomas
Weldon, Part I: A town without a tavern
As a transplant from Iowa City, I thought Weldon was in Clarke County because Robinsons has so many Weldon customers. With the exception of a few buildings, the town of Weldon is in Decatur County adjacent to the Clarke County line.
Mary Delk wrote an interesting history of Weldon as a preface to the Weldon 1980 Centennial book. She states that Weldon was founded in 1880 following the extension of rail lines. The Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad line was extended halfway across Decatur County before being acquired by the Humeston and Shenandoah Railroad which extended the lines about 100 miles further west. During this expansion the railroad acquired 70 acres of fine farm land for a town site from J.P. Kline who owned a section (sq. mile). The town, to be known as Weldon, was plotted August 3, 1880. Mr. Kline gave a portion of land for town streets on the condition there would never be a tavern. Main Street is 140 feet wide. Initially, Mr. Kline thought of using his name for the town, but there was another village in Iowa with a similar name. The town was then named Weldon after the Weldon River, which begins as a small creek on the original Kline land.
According to Mary Delk, the first lot in Weldon was purchased by L.G. and Frank M. Jamison who moved their general store from nearby Smyrna. After the town was named, L.G. Jamison was appointed postmaster and a post office addition was added to the Jamison store, which was located just south of the existing Post Office. Doctors came early to Weldon. Dr. Enos Mitchell purchased and built the first residence followed by Dr. Wall. The next doctor to come to Weldon was Dr. Stuart. A drug store was needed, so Dr. Wall and a Mr. Fippen opened a drug store on the west side of Main Street. Mrs. Wolver, who had a boarding house at Green Bay, built the first hotel which was located by the depot. John Barnard moved his blacksmith shop from Smyrna. Metier, Jamison, and Norton had the first granaries. The first livestock shippers were Eals and Norton. By 1882, Weldon had some 30 businesses, which included:
Bank of Weldon, Maxwell House, Baker General Store, Weldon Witness (newspaper), Weldon House, Chase Drug, DeWild Boots & Shoes, Grimes Hardware, Matheny Hardware, Baker General Store, Hughes Hardware, Roger Millinery, Weldon Livery Stable, Standish Furniture, Greeman Restaurant, McVay & Moyer Meat Market, Bullard Lumber, Mrs.Wolever Bakery, Standard Implements & Hwd., Greenlee Drugs, Grimes Harness Shop, Lederwood & Hodge Gen. Store, Abbott Drug and Dick Murphy Furniture.
Church services for Methodists and Christian members were first held in the depot waiting room and the bank parlor. Christian members helped their Methodist friends build the Methodist Church in 1882, which cost $2,000. In return, the Methodists helped build the Christian Church that was completed in 1886 at a cost of $2,400.
In addition to facts above, Mary Delk wrote that Weldon’s first marriage was to C. B. Chase and Blanche Roach. The first child born was John Lewis Mitchell, son of Rev. George E. Mitchell and wife. Their son did not live to grow to manhood.
