Time Machine: Brooklyn’s Manatt House

Robert Manatt, a Pennsylvania farmer, brought his family west to Poweshiek County in 1846, just as Iowa was becoming a state. The Manatts were some of the first settlers in Bear Creek Township.

In 1850, the small settlement known as Greenville contained just a few buildings.

In 1855, when Robert and Dr. William Sears began platting and recording lots in a section that became the 'old town,” they renamed the town Brooklyn. Local lore says the name came not from the New York borough but for the nearby brooks.

The business district shifted toward west Brooklyn when the railroad came through. Much of the land for the railroad and new businesses was purchased from Robert's son, William Manatt.

The family was well-established in both agriculture and land sales when Robert died in 1864.

home built in 1869

William built a home in 1869 on a spot that overlooked Brooklyn's business district. The house, barn, carriage house and pasture eventually stood in the middle of the growing town of Brooklyn.

William had eight children. With his first wife, Mary Ann, he had Wesley and Sarah. Sarah was the first child born in Bear Creek Township in 1851.

After Mary Ann died in 1854, William married Roxann Shrimplin. Two of their children died in infancy. Of the remaining four, three were daughters. Lola Ada married a lawyer, W.W. Cardell, of Perry, Iowa; Nellie married (and later divorced) Albert Sherwood; and Thursia, who remained single, became an accomplished musician and organizer of a Civic League Club that focused on improving the town.

William's youngest child was Coe Haven Manatt, born May 13, 1881. When he was finished with school, Coe joined his father in the real estate and farm management business. He acquired 1,500 acres of property that he divided into farms and leased to other farmers.

William died at home on Jan. 29, 1906, at age 83. Brooklyn businesses closed the day of his funeral out of respect for one of the county's most prominent, civic-minded and wealthy citizens.

Coe took over management of his father's estate. His sisters, Nellie and Thursia lived in the family home with their widowed mother when Coe married Nellie Jones on Sept. 11, 1906.

The matriarch, Roxann, died in 1923. After Thursia died in 1953, Nellie moved to Des Moines.

Coe and his wife moved into the house, becoming the last of the Manatts to live there.

Coe and his sister donated some of their pastureland to the city in 1956 for a new fire station.

town library

When Nellie Sherwood died in August 1962 at age 90, Coe and his wife decided the home that had been in the Manatt family since 1869 would make a good public library for Brooklyn. At the time, the town's library was in a rented room in the downtown.

After Coe died Oct. 8, 1962, his widow presented the Manatt home and property to the town. Remodeling began immediately to turn the site into a library and playground.

The Brooklyn Public Library opened in the Manatt house in September 1963.

A reception was held in the library on June 29, 1965, honoring longtime librarian Gertrude Newkirk. A room in the library, designated by Nellie Manatt to be used as a place for civic groups, was dedicated to Newkirk, who had worked at the library for more than 50 years. She was replaced by Lydia Nelson.

The Hillside apartments, a 19-unit complex for the elderly, was added to the former Manatt property in 1975.

avenue of flags

In 1992, Brooklyn residents wanted to distinguish their town by becoming a 'Community of Flags.” When RAGBRAI went through the town in 1991, residents put up an Avenue of Flags. It was so impressive, Alexander Wehrle presented the city council with the idea of making a permanent flag display.

'Eleven rows of small flags - one from each of the 50 states and others for special events - would lead up to an 80-foot pole bearing a U.S. flag,” according to a newspaper description.

The only obstacle to the project, besides money, was that the land was donated to the city by the Coe Manatt estate. The Community of Flags Committee needed approval from the Manatt heirs to go ahead with the project.

When the two surviving heirs were found, they were so enthusiastic, they asked to make a donation.

saving the house

An unexpected offer of $100,000 toward the building of a new library was submitted to the library board in 1995. The offer, from G.J. Manatt and Manatts Inc. (distant cousins of Coe), stipulated the board come up with another $100,000.

When fundraising was completed in March 1996, the board offered the Manatt house for sale - provided the buyer move it off the property by July 15.

When townspeople heard the historic building could possibly be razed, they began working to save it. The newly formed Brooklyn Historical Society was given one month to come up with $50,000 to cover the costs of renovation and moving. It raised $52,000 by the deadline.

As a result, the house stayed put, becoming the Brooklyn Historical Museum, and the new library was built next door.

The 'Community of Flags,” with a population of just under 1,500, is a few miles north of Interstate 80, about 50 miles west of Iowa City.