Seney, Iowa

Last updated
Seney, Iowa
USA Iowa location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Seney
Coordinates: 42°51′10″N96°07′51″W / 42.85278°N 96.13083°W / 42.85278; -96.13083
Country United States
State Iowa
County Plymouth
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (EST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (EDT)
Area code(s) 712

Seney is an unincorporated community in Plymouth County, in the U.S. state of Iowa. [1]

History

Seney was platted in 1872. [2] It was named for George L. Seney, a railroad official. [3] A post office was established at Seney in 1873, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1934. [4]

In 1874 Rev. J.T. Walker, pastor of the LeMars Methodist Church came out and organized this group into a Methodist class. The church was incorporated in 1876. The group met at Seney when the school house was built there in 1876. The village of Seney , a station on the railway line, was platted Dec. 7, 1872 , on Section 23 of Elgin Township. 1872 was when the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad was completed from Worthington to LeMars and a station was established at Seney.

In 1880 the church was built at a cost of $1,600. “It is a frame building, twenty-eight by forty feet, will seat 175 people, and is provided with a 760-pound bell. The work was done by Mr. Marsters, and the lots, two in number, were donated by the railroad company. A parsonage, which cost $450, was built prior to the church edifice. The present membership of the church is forty-five. A good Sabbath-school, which averages fifty-five pupils, is a great aid to the church proper. W.C. Lancaster is the superintendent.”

The main sanctuary of the church as it stands today is this “frame building, twenty-eight by forty feet.” However, in the beginning, the pulpit would have been to the west rather than to the south as it is presently. The $450 parsonage would have been to the west of the church.

The church at Seney was built through the liberal donation of a millionaire, Mr. George L. Seney, who was a stockholder in the old St. Paul and Sioux City (now “Omaha”) Railroad Company, and who gave one thousand dollars toward the building of the church at the town named for him. He also endowed a college at Nashville, Tennessee, and spent thousands of dollars in trying to raise a large grove of larches at Seney, this county. He was thwarted to some extent by a series of dry years, though no one, in going over this line of road to the north, can fail to observe a fine grove as a result of his labors at that point. The balance of the money for the Methodist church at Seney was contributed by citizens there and in the surrounding country.”

The Seney Grove was landmark for many years, and people for many miles around enjoyed its beauty. (The larch tree is a deciduous pine tree, which means it loses its green needles in the winter – a unique tree!) The Seney church used the grove for many events. Sunday school and church picnics and Fourth of July celebrations were held there, and the young folks had food stands, baseball games, and patriotic programs. At Christmas time, a manger scene was set up in the grove with life-size mannequins dressed as the Holy Family with bales of straw in the background and lights. [5]

Related Research Articles

Sioux County, Iowa County in Iowa, United States

Sioux County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,872. Its county seat is Orange City. Its largest city is Sioux Center.

Plymouth County, Iowa County in Iowa, United States

Plymouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,698. The county seat is Le Mars. Plymouth County was named after Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Linn Grove, Iowa City in Iowa, United States

Linn Grove is a city in Buena Vista County, Iowa, United States. The population was 163 at the time of the 2020 census. The nearby Chan-Ya-Ta Site contains the remains of a 1000-year-old prehistoric village, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Peterson, Iowa City in Iowa, United States

Peterson is a city in Clay County, Iowa, United States. The population was 322 in the 2020 census, a decline from 372 in 2000.

Le Mars, Iowa City in Iowa, United States

Le Mars is the county seat of Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. It is located on the Floyd River northeast of Sioux City. The population was 10,571 at the time of the 2020 census. Le Mars is part of the Sioux City metropolitan area.

Merrill, Iowa City in Iowa, United States

Merrill is a city in Plymouth County, Iowa, United States, along the Floyd River. The population was 717 at the time of the 2020 census.

The Sioux City metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of five counties in three states – Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, anchored by the city of Sioux City, Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 168,825. In the future, Wayne County would be considered by some people and politicians as an additional sixth county.

Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway

The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway or Omaha Road was a railroad in the U.S. states of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota. It was incorporated in 1880 as a consolidation of the Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railway and the North Wisconsin Railway. The Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW) gained control in 1882. The C&NW leased the Omaha Road in 1957 and merged the company into itself in 1972. Portions of the C. St. P. M. and O. are part of the Union Pacific Railroad network. This includes main lines from Wyeville, Wisconsin, to St. Paul, Minnesota, and St. Paul to Sioux City, Iowa.

Westmar University

Westmar University was a private four-year liberal arts college in Le Mars, Iowa, United States. It permanently closed on November 21, 1997.

Augustus Kountze was an American businessman based in Omaha, Nebraska, Kountze, Texas and New York City. He founded a late 19th-century national banking dynasty along with his brothers Charles, Herman and Luther.

The Sioux City and Pacific Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. states of Iowa and Nebraska. Built as a connection from Sioux City, Iowa to the Union Pacific Railroad at Fremont, Nebraska, it became part of the Chicago and North Western Railway system in the 1880s, and is now a main line of the Union Pacific (UP). The east–west portion from Fremont to Missouri Valley, Iowa, is the Blair Subdivision, carrying mainly westbound UP trains, and the line from California Junction, Iowa north to Sioux City is the Sioux City Subdivision.

Org is an unincorporated community in Nobles County, Minnesota, United States.

Zaneta is an unincorporated community in Grundy County, Iowa, United States. It is located on County Road D35 west of Hudson, at 42.391686N, -92.551408W.

River Sioux is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Harrison County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2010 Census the population was 59.

Ross is an unincorporated community in Audubon County, Iowa, in the United States.

Thrall is a ghost town in Wright County, in the U.S. state of Iowa.

James is an unincorporated community in Plymouth County, in the U.S. state of Iowa.

The Worthington Subdivision or Worthington Sub is a railway line operated by Union Pacific Railroad. It runs generally southwest-northeast and begins at a siding in St. James Township, Minnesota, where the Mankato Subdivision ends, and it continues to Sioux City, Iowa. The line has yard facilities in Worthington and Sioux City, as well as a small yard north of Worthington in Hersey and Lorain townships called Elk Creek. The line passes through many small towns and villages with grain elevators along its route, and it is the origin of numerous grain unit trains.

The Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis Railway was authorized in 1879 to build a railroad from the Eastern border of Minnesota to Minneapolis. In 1878, it obtained the re-organized West Wisconsin Railway, which had built from Hudson, Wisconsin to Elroy, Wisconsin.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Seney, Iowa
  2. Clark, W.L. History of the Counties of Woodbury and Plymouth, Iowa. p. 496. ISBN   978-5-88528-742-5.
  3. Chicago and North Western Railway Company (1908). A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways. p. 191.
  4. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Seney Post Office (historical)
  5. "Seney, Iowa".

Coordinates: 42°51′10″N96°07′51″W / 42.85278°N 96.13083°W / 42.85278; -96.13083