Oelwein

The town of Oelwein was laid out in a corn field purchased from G. A. Oelwein on the coming of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railroad (later called the Rock Island), in 1872. Some years later the two dividing streets of Oelwein were named after his sons, Frederick and Charles. At the same time Otsego, one of the promising villages of Fayette County, died a natural death when missed by the same railroad by two miles in the nearby territory. Otsego had been the trading point until the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railroad was established at Oelwein and from this time on, Otsego’s businesses were gradually absorbed by Oelwein and some buildings were moved. The hamlet of Oelwein was instituted in 1873; incorporated as town in 1888 with Dr. Pattison becoming its first mayor. Two years later in 1890 the census gave the population as 830. By 1895 the population had increased to 1,928 and in 1897 Oelwein was incorporated again, this time as a city. In 1900, following the opening of the Chicago Great Western Shops, the previous year, Oelwein had 5,000 people within the city limits. The town suffered its first chief setback in 1887, when nearly all of the old Main Street business district (now 1st Avenue SE) was destroyed by fire. Again, in 1968 the town suffered another setback when a tornado swept through the main business district and destroyed the junior high school, a grade school, two churches and many homes and places of business.