Five Webster City men, who felt that the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad would have to come to this area soon, platted the town of Hawley in SE Sec 36-89-24 on December 7, 1857. They were George Grechneck, Thomas J. McCartney, Walter C. Willson, Sumler Willson, and Jacob M. Funk. Hawley was the chief engineer of the railroad at the time. The railroad did not come as quickly as the men expected.

In 1869, John I. Blair was the chief engineer of the railroad, now called the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad. He came to the area to gain concession of land from the Hawley investors. When they refused, he platted his own town in NW/NE Sec 35-89-24 and named it for himself. It was about a mile north of Hawley. The new town grew very slowly. By 1880 there were only 44 people living here. By 1900 it had grown to 260, and to 270 by 1969. In 1980 it peaked at 288. Since then the population has been in a gradual decline. Today Blairsburg's population is listed at 269.

Blairsburg Line Crew.

Electricity comes to Blairsburg in the early 1920's. This pictures shows the line crew stringing the first wires in the business district.

The first settler in the town was Robert Tinling. A post office was established, and Gilbert Blair was the first postmaster. An early postal listing gave the town spelling as Blairsburgh, but the town plat was spelled without the "h."

The first state road passed along the south edge of town and along the north shore of Blairsburg Lake. A thick grove of trees made the road very dark some nights, so lanterns were hung in the trees to light the way for travellers. The lake was a very shallow lake that was a popular spot for fishing and hunting. So many hunters lost their guns overboard that the name was commonly called "Shotgun Lake." At one time Ed Mabbott of Webster City brought over his small steamboat, the Daniel Boone, to give rides on this lake.

The first school house in town was built in 1870 - a one room ungraded school taught by Jennie Toughtaling. There were 40 pupils in this school. By 1877 the school population grew to 55. Mr. James McNee was paid $25.00 a month to teach. By 1894 the school became an independent school district ,and a two story wooden building was built in 1898. By then the school was graded, with two teachers handling the eight grades.

Creation of a consolidated district took place in 1914 and a four year high school was added. By 1918 there were nine teachers as the school worked to become accredited. Since the district now had pupils from 26 sections, school "hacks" were employed to haul the children to school. The drivers blew whistles to alert the children they were coming. Music and sports were introduced in 1918, and a third floor was added to the school. In 1952 a west portion was added and a gymnasium was completed.

A reorganization of the school was completed in 1962 when Blairsburg, Kamrar, and Williams were merged. The first graduating class of Northeast Hamilton occurred in 1963. The school now has 375 students in grades K-12, employs about 30 teachers (some part-time) and runs six bus routes.

U. S. Highways 20 and 69 intersect at the southeast corner of Blairsburg. For many years this was a busy spot with travellers stopping at restaurants and service stations. The bus depot was located at the Standard gas station for many years. This intersection was known as "Blairsburg Corners."

In recent years, the Opera House has been restored and is a source of pride for the community as plays and other activities take place here. The highway travel has diminished with the creation of Interstate 35 and U. S. 20, so the activity level has slowed down. Someone in Blairsburg has laughingly said, "When the buses unload the pupils at Northeast Hamilton, the town population more that doubles." A high school student was heard saying, "If I see one car on Main Street when I drive to school I know that we are going to have a busy day." It is hard to imagine that at one time the business district stretched for several blocks, and on Saturday nights it was a thriving center of activity.