The Village of Kingston

Just as Osgood Shepherd is credited with building the first cabin on the east side of the Red Cedar River, a pioneer named William Stone is believed to be the first pioneer on the west side of the river.

For a time, there were two towns on the Cedar River at the river's rapids, one on the east bank and one on the west.

In 1838, according to Bailey & Hair's Gazetteer, Robert Ellis and O.S. Bowling settled on land in the vicinity. In June 1839, David King and Thomas Gainor arrived by ox and wagon from Michigan with their families.

Gainor purchased land that would eventually become Linwood Cemetery. The first person to be buried there was his wife, Rosanna, who died in 1847.

King and his wife, Mary, purchased a tract of land on the river when it became available for sale. The property included the most favorable spot for fording the river. They built a log cabin on the site of what would become First Street West.

In 1840, they obtained a license to operate a ferry across the river. King brought wire and other materials for the ferry from Iowa City with his ox team.

After two bridges had been swept away by the flooding Cedar River, the ferry prospered, but the chains that passed over May's Island flattened the trees that grew there. It continued in operation until a viable bridge was constructed.

WEB FEATURES

• Timeline: The history of Kingston
• Thirty-two years: Growth in the city shown by a map
• How a pioneer regarded Texas: John E. Cole, in a letter to the late David W. King

Birth of a town

King divided his land into lots and filed a plat for a town he named Kingston on Aug. 11, 1852. The plat extended from the river, back to Fourth Street and was bounded by B Avenue on the north and by Third Avenue on the south.

It contained 110 lots. In 1853, another 103 lots were added. Nearly all the lots were measured at 60-by-140. Streets were planned to correspond with those across the river.

King built a large home and a 34-by-60-foot building to be used for community gatherings. The village had a school on the second floor of a building that housed a harness factory at 116 A Ave. NW.

King was known as a promoter, giving away many lots for factory sites and other enterprises to induce people to locate on the west side of the Cedar River.

Kingston boasted a few hotels at the crossing, one of them the Young America Hotel, which opened in 1857.

It advertised: “This house is newly finished and furnished with new furniture, the rooms are large and airy, and is located on the bank of the river, directly opposite Cedar Rapids, at the ferry landing. Good stabling attached to the hotel.”

By 1865, according to the Gazetteer, Kingston had “one paper mill, one saw mill, two blacksmith shops, two groceries and one dry goods store. There are three religious organizations, Methodist Episcopal, Congregationalist and United Presbyterian. There is also a commodious building for school purposes, and three libraries. This region of the country is especially adapted to growing grain. Large quantities are annually shipped to Chicago from this place.”

It also had a post office and a postmaster, Dwight Mallory.

With a population between 300 and 350, some Kingston residents were exploring the possibility of annexing to Cedar Rapids as early as 1866. The vote that year came up short just as the village was organizing its own school district.

School board officers were elected and plans were made to sell the old school and erect a new one or at least remodel the Methodist Church that had been purchased for school purposes.

Joining forces

Kingston might have continued to retain its autonomy if it hadn't been for a devastating flood in August 1869.

A newspaper reported: “Kingston and the adjoining flats were completely flooded; fences swept away, gardens inundated and cellars filled with water.”

Heavy rains and high winds added to the destruction. The people of Kingston began to look more favorably toward annexation, and in September a petition was filed in circuit court asking to become part of Cedar Rapids. A hearing was held Dec. 14, 1869, and the town became West Cedar Rapids on April 22, 1870.

David King didn't live to see his namesake town annexed to Cedar Rapids. He died in 1854 at 46 from exhaustion and exposure after his efforts to fight a prairie fire. Mary lived in the brick two-and-a-half-story home he had built for her and their 10 children at 202 S. First St. W. until it was destroyed in a fire in 1878. She had a new home constructed on the site and lived there until her death in 1902.

Even in death both remained on the west side of the river. They are buried in Linwood Cemetery.

Calvin Greene, son of city father George Greene, wrote an extensive article on the real estate history of Cedar Rapids in 1904. In it he said: “All through the years (Cedar Rapids and Kingston) have been united in purpose and interest and have cooperated to achieve success and greatness in which both have shared. There have been frequent exhibitions of a spirit of rivalry between the two sides, but never has there been any trace of a sentiment on either side of the river that was characterized by jealousy or a willingness to depreciate or hamper the other side.”