Lincoln-Fairview Historic District

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Perched high on the bluffs on the Loess Hills sets the Lincoln Fairview Historic District, one of Council Bluffs earliest neighborhoods. This charming area showcases the city's rich history and architectural heritage.

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[Susan Seamands] The railroads really were what spurred the growth of the city on this side of the Missouri and also there was no bridge over the river so this really was kind of the last point before you moved west of civilization, if you will. Since there was no bridge over the river and pioneers were moving west, Council Bluffs became one of the last places you could get outfitted, you could get provisions and so forth, whatever you needed to make that treacherous journey west.

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[Susan Seamands] Fairly wealthy people were building homes here. Business people, business owners would build their homes here because it was close to the center of the city and the business district and the houses filled in one by one. I think you can see that it's quite beautiful in the fact that there might be several of a given style but each home is unique.

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[Susan Seamands] One of the first homes at the top of the hill is Italianate, beautiful regal structure in the Italian fashion of the renaissance homes. Many Victorian or Queen Anne, which are the lovely multi-colored, lots of architectural detail with peaked roofs, lots of maybe different shaped windows, different facings on the house. They might have fish scales. They catch your eye because they are unique. We don't really build anything like that these days. We've been in this home just over 29 years, very fortunate to have found it. It's my dream home. It has been a pleasure to live here and feel the history around us and be able to make our own memories in this home, and at the same time be stewards of the property so that one day another family can live here and make their own memories.

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[Susan Seamands] This district is very fortunate in having the beautiful homes that we have that people have chosen to preserve, but also, we sit with the Dodge Memorial Angel. We have Fairview Cemetery at the top of the hill full of history. And then we also have the Lincoln Monument in our district.

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[Narrator] Erected in July 1911, the Lincoln Monument is an impressive pilon that commemorates Abraham Lincoln's 1859 visit to the area.

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[Narrator] From this site, Lincoln and young railroad engineer Grenville Dodge, surveyed what would become the eastern terminus of the first Transcontinental railroad built in the United States.

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[Thomas Emmett] Dodge told Lincoln everything about the Platte Valley route out into the west. And later that day, Lincoln said, many railroads will someday center here. By 1913, Council Bluffs was the fifth largest railroad center in the country. Council Bluffs really created the west. It is a frontier city that made the frontier more and more expansive.

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[Narrator] Just east of the Lincoln Monument sits the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial. Also known as the Black Angel, this monument commemorates the contributions General Dodge's wife, Ruth Anne, made for education and for promoting the development of the city and the state that she loved.

[Thomas Emmett] The Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial is something that we are so proud of. Ruth Anne Dodge was married to General Grenville Dodge. And in 1916, his beloved wife was dying and she had a vision and the vision was a woman on the bow of a boat offering her the water of life. And she felt like she was unworthy and so she refused it. And every night, the dream would reoccur and the woman would come and offer her this water of life and she finally took it and then she woke up at peace.

[Narrator] Shortly after that dream, Ruth Anne passed away and this cast bronze sculpture was erected in her memory. Standing almost nine feet tall, the statue holds a water basin and is wreathed in laurel. Its pedestal is a representation of a ship's prow with a garland swag carved in pink marble. Commissioned by Dodge's daughters Anne and Ella, the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial was created by sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Henry Bacon, the same team behind the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

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[Narrator] North of the Black Angel lies the Fairview Cemetery, home to the Kinsman Monument. Built in 1902, this monument was erected to honor Colonel William Kinsman, commanding officer of the 23rd Iowa volunteer infantry regiment and veterans of the Civil War.

[Thomas Emmett] When the Civil War came along, he was eager to fight for the freedom of African-Americans and to preserve the union. And at a battle to take Vicksburg, he led his troops and was mortally wounded. But the battle was won. And so, he was buried and after two searches funded by General Grenville Dodge, they found his body and brought him back and built this amazing, beautiful monument for him. There are a number of other soldiers buried alongside Kinsman that died with him or Council Bluffs soldiers that died during the Civil War. We've not forgotten Mr. Kinsman or any of his fellow warriors to this day. We honor our dead. We honor our heroes here in Council Bluffs.

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