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Many stories are told about the name of the town of Steamboat Rock. The only thing we can be certain of in these stories is that the town has had two names in its history – that of “Lithopolis,” and “Steamboat Rock.”
No information has been found that tells us if any name was actually given to the town when it was first platted. Lithopolis was the name of the postal station that was established in 1856. It was a small station on the stage coach postal route from Waterloo to Eldora.
Lithopolis may have been the name given, when the town was platted, or it was taken from the name of the postal station. There is also evidence that there were those who wanted it to remain as the name of the town.
At nearly the same time that the town was platted some of the early citizens organized a Literary Society, which met during the winter of 1856-57 for the purpose of discussing literary topics. This says a great deal about the caliber of the early inhabitants of the community.
These early settlers from the east are thought to have “officially” given the town the name “Lithopolis” (Stone-City) on January 6, 1857 thinking that the latin name was most appropriate for the intellectual status of the citizenry.
Others have speculated that the name meaning stone city, came because many of the original houses and buildings were built of stone.
On June 6, 1870, the name was changed to Steamboat Rock, and made official five years prior to the town’s incorporation. The name Lithopolis has all but been forgotten.
At the beginning of the new year 1898, an article appeared in the Steamboat Rock Echo entitled “An Historic & Business Town.” In this Friday, January 7 issue Mr. A.S. Root was interviewed and he gave his description of where Steamboat Rock had come from and where it was going: “One of the most interesting towns in the county, or even the state, is Steamboat Rock, a little town of 650 inhabitants, located on the Iowa Central Railroad, where it crosses the Iowa River four miles above the county capital.
I don’t know where the Steamboat comes in. That question is often raised. A.S. Root who located there in January 1857 and built and managed for 28 years the hotel gives the explanation as follows: There is south of the main part of town and just, I believe, inside the corporate limits, a point where a creek flows into the river. At this place in the river bank twenty-five feet high, and there is a sharp turn, making the current of the stream strikes the bank almost square. With the creek washing along there, the water had wore that bank so for a distance of 300 feet, that it looked like the side of a steamboat. As a result Mr. Lesh, so he told me, suggested Steamboat Rock as a name for the town. There was a projection like a wheel house and a pine tree stood on top. Since then lightening struck the tree and the wheel house projection dropped off so that the place does not retain so distinct an appearance like a steamboat…”
The excerpts of the history of Steamboat Rock is taken from the book, Steamboat Rock Anchored in History, compiled by Terry L. Folkerts and presented by the Steamboat Rock Historical Society.
If you’d like to read more about the history of Steamboat Rock, including “Famous Families”, personal accounts from past and present residents of Steamboat Rock and much more, contact the Steamboat Rock Public Library at 641-868-2300.
