Ackley, Iowa (IA) real estate |
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Ackley, Iowa was named for William J. Ackley, a right-of-way attorney for the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad. As was the case with many new frontier towns, William J. Ackley was not a resident of the town nor a builder of the town, but solely a promoter who saw a chance to make a profit from selling land. Ackley was platted as a town in 1857 but remained a "paper town" for the eight years until after the civil war.The coming of the railroad was the signal for Ackley to spring into existence as a very real and living frontier town, not just a patch of prairie nailed down with surveying stakes. By the end of the year there were 10 business establishments and several swellings, and Ackley became the western terminus of the railroad for the winter of 1865-66. The town continued to grow at a rapid rate in the years following. By 1873, the population had reached 1200. Ackley received a major immigration of families from East Friesland, Germany in the 1870's. Land in German Township near Ackley was selling for $10.00 per acre in 1869, $25.00 per acre in 1876, and continued to rise to $60.00 per acre in 1900.
Early buildings were frame structures and fires were common. The first brick building was constructed in 1869 from brick produced in Ackley. Over the years eight different hotels existed. Trains did not then travel at night. In one 21-day period of time there were 433 arrivals by railroad. The bowler house, a hotel constructed in 1870 for the costly sum of $20,000 was a beautiful three story structure housing shops and officers, sleeping rooms, and a grand ballroom. The ballroom was destroyed by fire in 1871.
In the 1860's, the triangle area today known as Victory Park was a large open area called the Market Place where farmers took their grain and produce to dicker with buyers. As many as 20 carloads of grain were shipped east by rail within a three day period. Live chickens and their "drovers" along with thousands of iced ducks were sent by rail to eastern cities.
In the stores, in the saloons, and on the streets, the Irish from north of town, the German from southeast of town, and the Yankees from southwest of town all met. Add to this the railroad workers and the ever present westward bound settlers traveling by railroad or by wagon, and you have the picture of the frontier days of Ackley. It was a chaotic place with a wild and wooly reputation. Herbert Quick in his autobiography, one man's life, credits the great immigration of Germans in the 1870's with exerting the necessary stabilizing influence.
Frank Goettel, upon retirement in 1960, looked back over seven decades on Main Street. He recalled kerosene lights, wooden boardwalks and crosswalks over the mud, the curiosity of Ackley residents when he hung out the first bunch of bananas, butter brought to the store in stone jars, carload shipments of barreled apples and potatoes, and kerosene barrels with spigots. The Goettel Building was built in 1880 from Ackley brick and is still standing at 627 Main Street.
Ackley displays much of its early look through a group of 1880 to 1930 buildings located along a two block section of Main Street and Park Avenue.
Ackley Iowareal estatehomes for sale