Germantown view from the East

Pictures taken March 2014

Street view

Germantown, six miles to the southwest of Paullina, in Caledonia Township, was founded in 1876, prior to the time families began to settle in the location that later became Paullina. In that year settlers from Cooper Grove, Illinois, came by rail to Marcus, then walked 11 miles north to learn, if the stories were true about the famed Iowa soil. They were impressed by what they saw and they found the prairie land could be purchased for $3.50 per acre or railroad property for $5.00 per acre.

Returning to Illinois, the grasshopper plague prevented their settling here until the year 1878, when they established the community that was to becme known as Germantown. A post office was established there in 1892, but was abandoned for rural free delivery later.