Guest Speakers

​Doors open 4:30 p.m.

Program starts 5:00 p.m.

​The Lewis farms were homesteaded in 1839 which was part of the first 50 miles west of the Mississippi opened to settlers with the Blackhawk purchase. The ancestors left Ohio in 1832 taking seven years before they reached Iowa, purchasing lands in Indiana and Illinois, and establishing a grist mill in Stephenson County, Illinois. They followed a trail from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids, and erected a log cabin west of the Cedar River, the cabin being 10 x10 and housing 10 people. All the Lewis kinsman laid claim to land along the Cedar River, eventually totaling over 2,000 acres, and it was known as Lewis Bottoms. "Lewis" for the first family to settle there, and "Bottoms" for the rich bottomland near the Cedar River. A church, a school, and a cemetery were soon established. This family and community history has been carefully preserved by the Lewis family for generations. Eloise Dennis has given tours to hundreds of people, even wearing a costume and doing living history interpretation as her ancestors. Enjoy a documentary about the history of the family, land, and home.