SIDNEY, the county seat of Fremont county, is beautifully situated upon a high plateau of prairie land, near the centre of the county. It was laid out in June, 1852. It has a four-horse line of stage coaches every day going north and south; and the same number passing through east and west, to and from Nebraska City. There are also two arrivals and departures of the United States Express every week.
The town is distant twelve miles from Sidney Landing, which is the nearest shipping point on the Missouri River. There are other good points, from which shipping is also done, to wit, Paney's Landing, opposite Nebraska City and Millville, situated in the northwest part of the county.
The first dwelling erected in Sidney, was in August, 1852, by J. H. Cowles, who, together with A. A. Bradford, T. Lingenfelter, Augustus Borchers, A. L. Holden and J. C. Campbell, were the first settlers. The first child born in the town was a daughter of J. H. Cowles, and was named, in honor of the town, SIDNEY.
The first death which occurred was that of a young man named Lockwood, a shoemaker, who died in 1854, of consumption.
Sidney is a very quiet, peaceable and moral place, containing a population of about 800 inhabitants. It has a court house, which is one of the most beautiful in the State, erected at a cost of $40,000. There are four church organizations: Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and Christian. The Baptists and the Christians have each upwards of one hundred members. The Baptists have erected a substantial brick meeting house. The Methodists have one under contract, and the Christians are taking steps towards erecting one. There is an Agricultural Society of the county which meets regularly for exhibiting stock, and other purposes, in Sidney. The Masons have a lodge in the town, called Nishnabotany Lodge, No. 153, numbering about seventy-five members; it meets on Thursday evening, before the full moon. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows have a lodge numbering about twenty-five; it is called Frontier Lodge, and meets every Saturday evening. Sidney Lodge, No. 128, Independent Order of Good Templars, has some eighty members, and meets every Friday evening.
There is a vast amount of produce, such as corn, wheat, flour, bacon, butter, eggs, honey, peltry and dry hides shipped annually from Sidney, down the river, and west for the gold-
mining country.
There is a weekly newspaper published in Sidney, by B. C. Golliday, called the American
Union. Sidney now has one of the best high schools in Western Iowa, under the management and direction of President Thompson and Professor Bradley.
Taking everything into consideration, health, morals, location, etc., Sidney is one of
the most pleasant places in the State. (Hair's Iowa State Gazetteer..., 1865)