Time Machine: Pioneers of Linn County

LINN COUNTY - The McKean brothers were born in Burlington, Bradford County, Pa. Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson McKean came to Linn County in 1838. Their brother, Noah Wilson McKean arrived in 1855.

Thomas McKean, born in 1810, graduated from West Point in 1831 and immediately entered the Army. Three years later he resigned to become a civil engineer, and three years after that, he became first lieutenant and adjutant of the 1st Pennsylvania volunteers, serving in the Second Seminole War in Florida. When the regiment disbanded, he moved to Marion, to survey for the government. In 1844, he was a member of Iowa's first constitutional convention in Iowa City. He belonged to the wrong political party to expect a commission in the war with Mexico, so he entered the ranks as a private in Company K, 15th Infantry, rising to sergeant major before the regiment disbanded.

After he returned to Marion, McKean married Sarah Gray on Sept. 5, 1848. After stints as the chief engineer of the Dubuque & Keokuk Railroad and U.S. deputy surveyor general of Iowa and Wisconsin, McKean became sheriff of Linn County in October 1859. In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, he resigned as sheriff to become paymaster in the Union Army. Following Gov. Samuel Kirkwood's recommendation, he was appointed brigadier general and reported to General Ulysses S. Grant at Pittsburg Landing in Tennessee. He took several commands during the war before his honorable discharge in 1865, the same year Marion was incorporated and the year he became the city's first mayor. He died at age 59 on April 19, 1870, the only brigadier general from Iowa to serve in the Civil War. He is buried in Oak Shade Cemetery.

Marion was named the Linn County seat in 1838 by Iowa's territorial legislature. In December 1839, Andrew Jackson McKean was one of the chain carriers on the team that platted the town. He had already been named one of its first constables or peace officers and was the first county assessor.

He staked a claim in Franklin Township, Linn County, and married Abiah Day on Dec. 24, 1842, at Yankee Grove in Linn County. Andrew was 26 and Abiah was 18. The couple had eight children, four of whom survived. They moved to Marion when he was elected clerk of the district court in August 1854 and he served nine terms. He also presided over many weddings as justice of the peace. When the Marion Savings Bank was incorporated on Feb. 22, 1889, he served as vice president and was on the board of directors.

When Andrew retired in 1871, he formed a partnership with J.K. Gibson and opened a book and stationery store at 'the corner of Main and Marion Streets (First Street and Second Avenue).” In 1877, he was the sole owner. When his eldest son, Allen, was old enough to join him, the store became McKean & Son, then McKean & Sons when his younger son, George, was admitted to partnership.

Everyone noticed that two east windows in the second story of the new brick McKean building going up in 1883 in the 1100 block of Seventh Avenue were out of plumb - except the builder. When Andrew saw it, he had the whole wall taken down and redone. Finally, the store was named A.B. McKean & Co. in 1890. The owners advertised all styles of wallpaper, window shades and fixtures, albums, picture frames, school supplies and, of course, books.

Andrew died at his home in Marion on Sept. 4, 1899. He had seen the county develop from wilderness to one of the most populated counties in the state. He, too, is buried at Oak Shade.

His son Allen B. married Elnora Oakley at Marion in 1878. When Allen took over the store, he renamed it Marion Book Store and continued his father's legacy of reliable service. He also added a visit from Santa each December. With a prosperous business, he could afford to buy a lot at Palisades to build a summer cottage.

Allen's health declined and in December 1912, he sold Marion Book Store at 1138 Seventh Ave. to Frank Holmes, who worked in the county auditor's office, and Frank's cousin, Mary Parkhurst, who had once worked in Marion's Carnegie library. Holmes and Parkhurst renamed the enterprise City Book Store and cleared out all of the wallpaper and window shades, focusing on stationery and books. After two years, the business belonged solely to Frank Holmes.

The building subsequently housed a piano store in 1915, Henry Arp & Son painters' supply store in 1918, M.L. Braska Millinery Co. and the Subway Café in the 1930s and H.F. Knight's heating business and tin shop in the 1940s. One of its last incarnations was as Sorg Sample Pharmacy, which closed in 2012.

Noah Wilson McKean chose Mount Vernon instead of Marion and moved there with his wife, the former Margaret McCloskey, and their children in 1855. He became a grocer and Mount Vernon's postmaster, appointed first by President Abraham Lincoln, then by President Ulysses S. Grant. After 1879, he was a notary public and secretary of the school board. Noah and his wife Margaret were avid supporters of Cornell College, Noah having served on the college's board of trustees.

When Noah died in 1889, he was buried at Mount Vernon Cemetery. Two of his children were drawn to Marion: Edward, a postal agent on the Northwestern Railroad, and Ella, who married J.M. Toms of Marion.

All three brothers left reputations as honored and respected citizens of Linn County.