Valeria, IA

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Situated among the rolling hills of western Jasper County, the town of Valeria is located just north and east of the South Skunk River approximately one mile east of Poweshiek Township and just west of the Polk/Jasper County line.

A small rural town, Valeria was originally platted on land owned by the Henderson W. Johnson (m. Jane Humphreys) family in 1883. The Johnson family left North Carolina to escape the entrapments and attitudes of the American Civil War. Both a son, Nicholas, and daughter, Edna Valeria, went on to play key roles in the birth of the town and its official incorporation in 1912.

Nicholas, entering into a real estate venture, signed the official plat of the town and that signature can be found on the abstracts of much of the present property owned in Valeria.

Edna Valeria, born on February 1, 1862, would fall in love with General L. McBride who was hired by the Chicago and Great Western Railroad as a civil engineer to determine where to place rail line in western Jasper County. Edna and McBride convinced her father to allow the railroad to be placed on the Johnson land and Henderson Johnson agreed under the condition that the town (and depot) be named after his daughter.

Although records of the Johnsons are difficult to find, it was understood that Edna Valeria was the youngest daughter in the family. It is unclear as to the number of children Henderson and Jane had. McBride would later retire from the railroad to become a dentist. Sometime after the town was officially incorporated, Edna married George W. Wright. She passed on March 18,

McBride would later retire from the railroad to become a dentist. Sometime after the town was officially incorporated, Edna married George W. Wright. She passed on March 18,