About Us:

Jackson County Historical Society was founded on April 25, 1903, when 9 prominent citizens met in Maquoketa to arrange for the preservation of the County heritage as a suitable remembrance of those who settled and developed Jackson County. They recognized that the County history and development was typical of such for the upper midwest in general. The 9 founders of the Society were George L. Mitchell, businessman, H.S. Littell, Harvey Reid, businessman, ex-County Treasurer, and local historian, J.W. Ehlers, Dr. A.B. Bowen, W.C. Gregory, realtor, D.A. Fletcher, James Fairbrother, and Will Cundill, legendary photographer. These men were soon joined by W.C. Swigert, newspaper publisher, and James W. Ellis, insurance broker and avid local historian who for many years operated a museum housing many valuable artifacts of local history.

The Society struggled for many years until the support and generosity of the Pearson Memorial Foundation and the Jackson County Conservation Commission afforded a home in Pearson Hall (above) on the County Fairgrounds in Maquoketa. The County Historical Museum was established there and it now has grown into one of the finest county museums in the state housing one of the finest collections of early farm equipment in the com mission. We are also involved with the Conservation commission in the preservation of the Canton Church and we are owner of the restored historic Hurst Lime Company lime kilns in Hurstville, just North of Maquoketa. Society member, Bob Sheets, also of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, drove that immense restoration with thousands of hours donated time, expertise, and hard work. The County Conservation Commission was also involved in the project.

This year, the Society took another giant step by acquiring the abandoned Clinton Engines Corporation building and grounds in Maquoketa. In time a new and more interactive museum complex will be built that will teach of the settlement and development of the upper all prairie in unique and effective ways. Plans also call for remodeling the Fairgrounds buildings to house and properly display the farm exhibits and permit interaction between the exhibits and the patrons.