William
Sturgis was the first permanent white settler in Black Hawk
County. He came here in 1845 and built a double cabin where
the Ice House Museum now stands. Claiming land and water
rights on both sides of the river, including much of what
is now downtown Cedar Falls, he named the area "Sturgis
Falls."
His brother-in-law,
Erasmus Adams, a cabinetmaker from Ohio, soon joined Sturgis
and his wife, Dorothy. Adams built a log cabin and claimed
the land farther south, near Dry Run Creek. The first white
child born in the county was Sarah Jane Sturgis, nicknamed
Jennie, on October 1, 1846. Henry Adams followed her just
three days later. These births increased the population
of Sturgis Falls to 13.
Sturgis and Adams
each farmed five acres of land. In addition, Sturgis sought
to build a brush dam and sawmill on the Cedar River. Lack
of money and manpower, however, prompted Sturgis to sell
his 280- claim to John Overman in 1848. Sturgis then moved
his family to Minnesota, and the town was renamed Cedar
Falls the following year. |