"It is felt that a county which contributed one general, and fifteen field officers, with more than two thousand volunteers in defense of the Union, without draft or conscription, and without seriously lessening its productive energies, has an assured basis of future greatness and prosperity. A basis which nothing short of the entire upheaval and destruction of the foundations of human society shall be able to disturb." In _Guide, Gazetteer and Directory of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad_, Dubuque, _Bailey & Wolfe_, 1868, we read of Cedar Rapids: "The first settlement here was made in the year 1838 by William Stone, who erected a log cabin on the bank of the river in the rear of No. 1 North Commercial street. The same year Osgood Shepherd, a supposed leader of a band of outlaws, jumped Stone's claim and took possession of the cabin, and held it until the year 1841, when he sold three-fourths of his interest to N. B. Brown and George Greene, H. W. Gray, A. L. Roach, and S. H. Tryon, for the sum of $3,000. "In 1842 he sold the remainder and soon after disappeared from the country. N. B. Brown came here in 1840, when Mr. Brown and Judge George Greene became proprietors of the water power. "In 1841 the town was laid out and named from the rapids in the river. The first frame dwelling was erected by John Vardy and is still standing at 62 Brown street, corner of South Adams. The building known as the Old Postoffice Building, North Washington street, was built for a store by N. B. Brown, the same year. P. W. Earle's residence, 29 Iowa Avenue, was the first brick building, and was erected by Mr. Earle in 1849. Wm. Dwyer built the first hotel in 1847. This was destroyed by fire in January, 1865. "The work of constructing a dam across the river, was commenced by N. B. Brown, July 4th, 1842, though much of the material had been prepared prior to that date. Mr. Brown commenced the erection of a saw mill, and also of a grist mill the same year, and both were completed the year following. A second saw mill was built in 1851. "The second flouring mill was built by Alexander Ely in 1844-5. The first woolen factory was also built by N. B. Brown in 1847. In 1855 a city charter was obtained, and at the first charter election, Isaac N. Whittam was elected Mayor. Railroad communication with the Mississippi was opened in 1859, from which time the growth of the city in wealth and population has been rapid and constant.