Hartwick is a former townsite in Delhi Township, Delaware County,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, United States.

Geography

The community was on the

Maquoketa River The Maquoketa River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 in northeastern Iowa in the United States. I ...

, at the crossing of 220th Avenue, southwest of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

History

Early years

The Hartwick post office opened on January 1, 1853, and operated until September 24, 1861. It was reestablished on June 12, 1872, and closed permanently on December 10 of the same year. John W. Clark founded and

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bear ...

ted Hartwick in Section 30 of Delhi Township in December 1858. Clark had previously built a

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...

in 1849 and a

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

in 1853. John Whitman started a blacksmith shop in Hartwick in 1855; this was followed by a cobbler, a brickyard, and a paint shop. The Hartwick Bridge, a bowstring through truss bridge, spanned the river next to Furman's Mill.

Decline

By the turn of the century, Hartwick's heyday was over; the community's founder, John Clark, had left the community in 1861, followed by several others. Clark's house was leased to the county as a

poor farm A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. Workhouses In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), ‘workhouse’ has been th ...

. By 1914, a history of the county called Hartwick a "forgotten village". Hartwick still appeared on maps in the early 20th century, but with decreasing frequency. Today, the site of Hartwick is still marked by the replacement Hartwick Bridge across the river; there is also a marina called Hartwick Marina, and the Hartwick Amish General Store.

References

Geography of Delaware County, Iowa Ghost towns in Iowa {{DelawareCountyIA-geo-stub

Geography

History

Early years

Decline

See also

References