REMINISCENCES OF OSKALOOSA CITY PARK x 



In 1879, when James A. Rice was mayor of this city, he 

 took a vacation in New England. One beautiful Sunday 

 morning he was walking past the home of Ralph Waldo 

 Emerson, and the flowers, trees, and shrubbery looked so 

 inviting that he strolled in through the open gate. 



Mr. Emerson saw him and walked out and welcomed 

 him to his home, and inquired of the young man where 

 he was from. Mr. Rice proudly replied that he was from 

 Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa. 



"Say that again,' said the Sage of Concord; "that is 

 beautiful," and then repeated the words with his visitor, 

 "Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa." The euphony of 

 the name catches the ear of the stranger. 



On the first day of May, 1843, the "New Purchase," as 

 it was called, was opened, and the settlers not waiting for 

 daylight flocked in with torches and lanterns and staked 

 out their claims. 



On the eleventh day of May, 1844, Jesse Williams, Ebe- 

 nezer Perkins, and Thomas Henderson, as commissioners, 

 located the county seat for the new county of Mahaska; 

 and Micajah T. Williams, the first clerk of the county, 

 christened the town with the name of a Creek Princess, 

 Oskaloosa, who was the wife of the heroic Seminole, Osce- 

 ola. 



In May, 1843, as the pioneers came up to the divide be- 

 tween the two rivers they saw in their front the forests 

 from the two rivers approaching so nearly together as to 

 make a gateway which they called "the Narrows." 



i Address by Major John F. Lacey at the Harvest Home Festival, Oska- 

 loosa, Iowa, Wednesday, October 23, 1912. 



