Springdale is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Cedar County Cedar County may refer to: * Cedar County, Iowa * Cedar County, Missouri * Cedar County, Nebraska * Cedar County, Choctaw Nation * Cedar County, Washington, a proposed county made up of part of King County * Cedar County, Utah Territory, a fo ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, United States. Historically, the town was predominantly settled by

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

, and was one of Iowa's most important stations on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. Starting in 1857, Springdale was the western base of operations for the militant abolitionist

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

, who lived in John Hunt Painter's house while training the 10 men who came with him in preparation for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The 10 were his son Owen Brown, John Kagi, Aaron D. Stevens, John E. Cook, Richard Realf, Charles W. Moffitt, Luke J. Parsons, Charles H. Tidd, William Leeman, and Richard Richardson. In 1858 they departed east. In February 1859 Brown appeared with 12 enslaved men and women from Missouri. In July, 1859, two local boys, Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, joined Brown in his raid. The first was captured, tried, and executed; Barclay escaped and died later serving in the Union army. Springdale was also the home of

Lawrie Tatum Lawrie Tatum (May 16, 1822 in Mullica Hill, New Jersey - January 22, 1900 in Springdale, Iowa) was a Quaker who was best known as an Indian Agent to the Kiowa and Comanche tribes at Fort Sill agency in Indian Territory. He was born to Quaker par ...

, a farmer who served as a frontier Indian agent and the legal guardian of future President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

. The main street through the town is the Herbert Hoover Highway. No downtown business district remains in Springdale; it is a cluster of houses with a

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

church. William Maxson's home, where Brown's men were quartered, was razed in 1938, but its location is marked by a plaque provided by the

Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...

. Although often described as Quaker, Maxson was raised in the faith but at the time of Brown's visit considered himself a follower of

spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...

Historic residents

File:John Brown portrait, 1859.jpg,

File:Barclay Coppock.jpg, Barclay Coppoc File:edwin coppock.jpg, Edwin Coppoc File:Lawrie Tatum.jpg,

References

External links

* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Iowa Unincorporated communities in Cedar County, Iowa Underground Railroad in Iowa

Historic residents

References

Further reading

External links