104 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



Near the spring referred to the Days built a log cabin. They were 

 Virginians of the better type, and an inherent hospitality made them 

 logically the keepers of the first place of entertainment for the weary 

 traveler. Here had been the "Neutral Ground" where the Winnebago 

 Indian was free from molestation by the more w r arlike members of other 

 tribes. Winneshiek and Waukon-Decorah were chiefs of the tribe, 

 and it was from these two that the county and the town derived their 

 names. The Day hotel was known as "The Winneshiek," a name that 

 has clung to the successors of their humble cabin hostelry. 



Not until 1853 did the population of Decorah show a marked increase, 

 but from then on its growth was both rapid and substantial. In 1860 it 

 claimed 1,200 souls. In those days, when the stage coach was the chief 

 means of travel, the known settlements of importance west of the 

 Mississippi were Dubuque, McGregor's Landing, Decorah, Fort Atkinson, 

 Rochester and St. Paul. The Indians told of Minnehaha Falls but never 

 spoke of Minneapolis, for it was not. 



Among the early settlers of this region there came many of foreign 

 birth. Norway was most generously represented and the descendants of 

 these early pioneers, with others that came later now number about 40 

 per cent of the population of the county. They settled mostly near De- 

 corah and it is to their credit that the first school of the county grew 

 out of their desire for education. The building which housed this 

 school still stands. 



In 1853 there came directly from the University of Christiania, Nor- 

 way, Rev. Vilhelm Koren. A cultivated gentleman of aristocratic line- 

 age, he saw a field here among his countrymen and with his wife 

 took up his residence in a log cabin a few miles south of Decorah. His 

 parish was known as "Little Iowa," but it extended from the Missis- 

 sippi west and north over Iowa and into Minnesota for a distance of 

 a hundred miles or more. The same year that he took up his work 

 here the Norwegian Lutheran Synod of America was formed. The 

 natural outgrowth of this organization was a church school that com- 

 bined scholastic and religious training. After an existence of about 

 two years at Half-way Creek, Wisconsin, Luther college was moved to 

 Decorah in 1861. It was largely through the instrumentality of Rev. 

 Koren that this change came about, and in anticipation thereof he se- 

 cured an option on a sightly location just at the northwest edge of the 

 town. Here a handsome building was erected. Later years have seen 

 modest efforts at landscape gardening and the adornment of the campus 

 with other buildings. From its drives beautiful views along the Upper 

 Iowa river may be obtained. On its campus spirited athletic contests are 

 staged, and in the spring and early summer evenings may be heard 

 open air concerts by the best college band in the United States. 



Nature has been very kind to Decorah. Surrounded by hills that, in 

 the eyes of dwellers on the prairies, seem almost like mountains, the 

 city lies in a bowl through which winds the river. In this mirror is re- 

 flected the foliage of the hills. Rising almost from the water's edge 

 high bluffs with outcroppings of Trenton limestone greet the eye. In 

 one of these, just north of the business portion of the city, is located 



