MILLS COUNTY. Glenwood, the county-seat, was first settled by the Mormons, in 1847, and this was about the first settlement in the county; but that population has long since been almost entirely supplanted by people from Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Missouri. The present population of the town is about seven hundred — that of the county about five thousand. There are three churches in the place, viz. : Methodist, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian (Old School); in the county, ten churches, same denominations. Two newspapers published in the county : the " Glenwood Times," and the "St. Mary's Gazette." There are a large Union School and two District Schools in the town, and about twenty common schools in the county, all in a flourishing condition, and supplied with good teachers. There is still a great demand for teachers.
They have one flouring and two saw-mills — the two latter driven by steam. There are fifteen mills in the county, one carding-machine; and a shingle mill. All of the above-named are over-stocked with business, and there is abundance of room for others. Cabinet-makers, weavers, cloth-fullers, tanners, house-builders, and every class of mechanics, are much needed. Mills County is composed of the most fertile prairie, interspersed with magnificent groves of timber, with here and there an hundred little streams spread out and inter-laced over the face of the whole country, like the veins and arteries in a mighty living giant. The river bottom here is about eight miles wide, as level as a floor, yet dry and subject to no dangers from overflows. Cattle live in these bottoms all winter without feeding. No county in the State possesses a more munificent supply of water and timber than Mills. Owing to its geographical position, immediately opposite the mouth of the great Platte River, it may safely be said that the county, in interest and importance, is inferior to none in the State. It has not its equal in any State for perfect adaptation to agricultural purposes. It possesses a most salubrious climate. There is plenty of lime and sand-stone in all parts of the county, perfectly adapted to building purposes. There has also been some stone-coal discovered recently. There are four other towns in the county beside Glenwood, viz. : St. Mary's, Bethlehem, Platteville, and Lafayette — all flourishing villages. There is still considerable good land unentered in the county. (Iowa As It Is in 1855; A Gazetteer for Citizens..., 1855)