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Council Bluffs Chapter, NSDAR
Council Bluffs, Iowa



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Welcome to Council Bluffs Chapter, NSDAR

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Welcome to the Council Bluffs Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR or DAR). The chapter comprises the area of Cass, Harrison, and Pottawattamie Counties. The chapter was organized on June 26, 1897, in Council Bluffs. We celebrated our 125th anniversary on June 18, 2022.

The Council Bluffs Chapter, NSDAR, promotes historic preservation, patriotic education, and veterans.

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Morman Trail Marker in Bayliss Park, Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 14, 1918

The ending of the pioneer trail across Iowa is now officially marked with a boulder that was transplanted to Bayliss Park from its original location. It bears a bronze tablet commemorating the achievements of the men and women who passed through to the Golden West, silently symbolizing an epoch in American history that will live in our memories forever.

Morman Trail Marker in Lewis, 1923

On the site of the old Pottawattamie Indian village of Indiantown, a mile west of the town of Lewis, a marker was erected in 1923. Marking the location of the Old Morman Trail that went through there, was a combined effort of the Iowa Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution together with the Atlantic Deborah Franklin Chapter, NSDAR, and the Iowa State Historical Society. At some point, the granite bolder with the bronze plaque was moved to the city park in the center of the town of Lewis. Today it stands by the World Wars Memorial and a picnic shelter.
Morman Trail Boulder
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First House in Atlantic

In 1931, through the efforts of the Deborah Franklin Chapter, NSDAR, chapter regent, a marker was placed on the site of the first house in Atlantic, Iowa. On September 24, 2018, the Council Bluffs Chapter, NSDAR,  re-dedicated the original marker and placed a smaller bronze plaque next to it.

The Lincoln Monument

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Two members of the Council Bluffs Chapter, NSDAR, originated the plan of erecting a memorial that would defy time and be to future generations a lesson in patriotism. Largely through their efforts, the plan was successfully carried out and on October 19, 1911, the beautiful granite shaft, the gift of the chapter to the city of Council Bluffs, was unveiled.

It was singularly fitting that the impressive ceremony took place in the presence of the surviving members of the Army of the Tennessee, the men who fought that the Union might be maintained, supporting President Lincoln during the dark struggles of the Rebellion. Before the unveiling, General Dodge spoke briefly, giving the circumstances that had brought the gift of the monument.

The Vice-President General from Iowa of the Daughters of the American Revolution made the presentation speech. She said in part: “Council Bluffs has been the most generous of the Iowa chapters in its gifts and contributions to the beautiful Memorial Hall of the Daughters in Washington. But always in their hearts has been the wish to do something for their own community. Today, that desire is fulfilled in a larger way than they had dared to hope, by the completion of this splendid monument, which crowns this memorial as the life of Abraham Lincoln crowned the period in which he lived."

(Google Books, Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, Volume XL111, page 387, July-December 1913)



Photographs have been provided by members of the Council Bluffs Chapter, NSDAR.


The content contained herein does not necessarily represent the position of the NSDAR.
Hyperlinks to other sites are not the responsibility of the NSDAR, the state organizations or individual DAR chapters.

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Last Updated November 8, 2023
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