page_title: Charles City, Iowa
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Charles City, Iowa / History
caption_attribution_description: English: HART-PARR copper tub washing machine built in 1924 to 1927 located at the Floyd County Museum in Charles City, Iowa, USA
context_page_description: Charles City is a city in Floyd County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,652 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 160, or 2%, from 7,812 in 2000. It is the county seat of Floyd County. Charles City is a significant commercial and transportation center for the area, located on U.S. Routes 18 and 218, Iowa Highway 14, and the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railroads.
context_section_description: Located on the site of a Winnebago Indian village, Charles City was originally named "Charlestown" for the son of the first-known white settler to the area, Joseph Kelly. Upon his 1851 arrival to the area, Kelly envisioned the site, with its ample supply of water from the Cedar River and adjacent timberland, as an ideal location for a town. By 1852, twenty-five other settler families had joined Kelly in that vision and a community was born. The town name changed, first to "St. Charles" and then to "Charles City," to avoid duplication of other Iowa town names.
  Charles City became the county seat after Floyd County was established in 1851 and officially organized in 1854. Floyd County itself was named for Sergeant Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
  Charles City is known for the role it played in the history of the American tractor. A native son Charles Walter Hart, whose father owned three local farms, met Charles H. Parr in college. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Hart and Parr developed a two-cylinder gasoline engine and set up their Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company in Charles City in 1897. It was here in 1901 the term "tractor" with Latin roots and a combination of the words traction and power was first coined by Hart and Parr. In 1903 the firm built fifteen "tractors", the first successful production-model tractor line in the U.S. The 14,000 pound No. 3 is the oldest surviving internal combustion engine tractor in the United States and is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. In 1929, Hart-Parr was one of the four companies that merged to form Oliver Farm Equipment Company and finally the White Farm-New Idea Equipment Co. At its peak in the mid-1970s, the sprawling plant complex encompassed 23 acres and employed nearly 3,000 workers. The 1980s farm crisis and other economic pressures led to the closing of the plant in 1993. As of 2013, the vacant site stands ready for re-use.
  Although more famously known for producing tractors, the Hart-Parr company also made some of the first washing machines. Selling for $155.00 in the 1920s, the buyer had the option of ordering either an electric or gasoline engine
  The Floyd County Historical Museum preserves the plant's history and memories in an extensive collection of documents and artifacts.
  Charles City is the location of the last lynching in Iowa, that of James Cullen in 1907.
  National women's rights leader Carrie Lane Chapman Catt spent her girlhood years on a farm south of Charles City. Catt is well known as a prominent leader of the woman's suffrage movement and her efforts in helping to pass the 19th Amendment ratified on August 18, 1920, granting women the right to vote. Carrie Catt was also the founder of the League of Women Voters. Her home and a visitor's center are open for public viewing.
  On June 9, 2008, record flooding caused major damage in the town. Charles City's historic suspension bridge, which crossed over the Cedar River, collapsed, and numerous homes around the city were destroyed. A new bridge, built with FEMA and state funding, opened in early 2010.
  Charles City is the location of the Dr. Alvin L. Miller House, a Usonian home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
caption: HART-PARR washing machine
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