Cedar Rapids celebrated its 175th birthday in 2024. Iowa had been a state for barely two years when the new city was incorporated on Jan. 15, 1849. Of course, people had been living in the area for thousands of years before that happened.
Archeologists have found evidence of habitation dating back 9,500 years. At least 26 different Indigenous communities were present before the first American settlers arrived. The name of the Cedar River — or Red Cedar River, as it was also known — is the English translation of the Meskawki name for the river.
What became Cedar Rapids was first platted in 1838 and given the name Columbus, but the plans for Columbus died quickly. In 1841, it was platted again, and this time it was named Rapids City. That also fizzled. But the location was desirable, with the river providing both transportation and power to drive water wheels.
A year after its incorporation, the growing city had water-powered mills, as well as a woolen factory and a growing population. According to the 1850 census, there were 341 people living in Cedar Rapids. Ten years later, the 1860 census found the population had more than quintupled, reaching 1,830. By the start of the 20th century, the census recorded 25,656 Cedar Rapidians.
In 1895, Rev. George R. Carroll published a memoir about life in Cedar Rapids before there was a Cedar Rapids. Carroll was 8 years old when his family moved to the area in 1839, the year after the first failed attempt to stake out a city on the site. In chapter 10 of his book, Carroll related his memories of “Mr. Osgood Shepherd, who occupied the only human habitation on what was afterwards the original plat of Cedar Rapids.”
Carroll recalled Shepherd as “quite a large man, of sandy complexion” living with “his wife, and two or three children, and his aged father” in a log house that was “a somewhat squatty looking structure, about 16 x 20, covered with clapboards.”
“This being the only house on the east bank of the river, it became per force of circumstances, the stopping-place of the newcomers, and the few travelers that came this way. And so, naturally enough, it became known as ‘Shepherd’s Tavern’” (The tavern was located at about the same spot where the Tree of Five Seasons monument is today.)
Carroll called Shepherd the “First Settler in Cedar Rapids.” That’s certainly what Shepherd always claimed. But he was lying; he didn’t even build the house he lived in.
William Stone arrived at that spot on the Cedar River in 1838, before Shepherd showed up. It was Stone who platted the never-to-be city of Columbus, Iowa where downtown Cedar Rapids is now. And it was Stone who built the log house that became known as Shepherd’s Tavern.
The Guide, Gazetteer and Directory of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad published in 1868 gives a concise account of what happened next.
Shortly after Stone “erected a log cabin” in 1838, “Osgood Shepherd, a supposed leader of a band of outlaws, jumped Stone’s claim and took possession of the cabin, and held it until the year 1841, when he sold three-fourths of his interest to N. B. Brown and George Greene, H. W. Gray, A. L. Roach, and S. H. Tryon, for the sum of $3,000.”
“In 1842 he sold the remainder and soon after disappeared from the country.”
By the time Carroll and his family arrived in 1839, Stone was living on the west side of the river to avoid any further encounters with Shepherd.
Decades later, Carroll recalled Shepherd in a more favorable light than the author of the railroad guide, calling him “good-natured in his disposition” and saying he was considered “an accommodating and agreeable” tavern keeper. But the reverend was not entirely naïve about Shepherd’s character.
“Unfortunately, however, his morals were of a low order,” Carroll wrote. “While many good people were temporarily sheltered under his roof, and fed at his table, everybody believed that he also entertained horse-thieves, and these latter seemed to be his special favorites, and he showed himself ready to shield and encourage them in their villainous work.”
Carroll added, “It was afterwards currently reported here, that he himself, was finally convicted of horse-stealing in a neighboring state, and sent to the penitentiary.”
Perhaps because of his profession, Carroll believed a story he heard about Shepherd redeeming himself after getting out of prison. The reverend wrote, “word has come to me from a source that I regard as trustworthy, that in the latter part of his life he became a professor of religion and was active in church work.”
According to Carroll, Shepherd spent his final days in Wisconsin, where he was “accidentally run over by the cars and killed.” Carroll didn’t know when it happened, just that it happened “many years ago.”
This article was originally published in Little Village’s December 2024 issue.
