Tuttle Cabin — Honoring Pella’s First Pioneer Settlers The Tuttle Cabin is named for Thomas and Nancy Tuttle, the first pioneers to settle at what would later become the city of Pella. In 1842, the U.S. Government purchased eleven million acres of the Iowa Territory from the Sauk and Mesquakie Native American tribes. These tribes agreed to evacuate the eastern half of the session, marked by the “Red Rock” line, by May 1, 1843. The recently-wed Tuttles arrived here on Saturday, May 13, 1843, unaware of another settler within 20 miles. They decided to claim this land for their farmstead. The site lay along the “State Road,” a dirt route connecting Keokuk on the Mississippi River with the army outpost at Fort Des Moines. It stood about ten miles east of the western edge of the American frontier. Over the next few months, the couple staked out their land claim, broke the thick prairie sod, constructed shelter, and prepared to endure a lonely, harsh winter. When food ran low in midwinter, Thomas made an arduous nine-day solo journey for supplies. Nancy remained alone to guard the farm claim and tend the livestock. In 1844, the Tuttles planted and harvested their first crop. As other settlers arrived, the area was organized as Marion County in 1845. In 1846 Iowa became the 29th state admitted to the Union. In July 1847 itinerant Baptist minister and mail carrier Rev. Moses J. Post, led five Hollanders to visit the Tuttles. The group was led by Domini (Rev.) Hendrik Peter Scholte. This small Dutch committee represented 800 Hollanders then recuperating in St. Louis after an arduous immigration to America in search of economic, religious, and educational freedom. Scholte recognized that this area would make an excellent location for the Hollanders’ “City of Refuge.” Scholte negotiated the purchase of the Tuttles‘ farm and the committee quickly purchased additional land claims, livestock, farming implements, and crops from several other nearby pioneers. A month later, Scholte led the anxiously waiting band of Hollanders to their new Iowa home. One of Scholte’s first acts was to layout the center nine blocks of the city of Pella atop the Tuttle’s field. With the arrival of the Hollanders, the Tuttles resettled about twenty miles to the northeast, where they farmed for the next three decades. Constructed from native walnut timber cut from a nearby grove, the Tuttle Cabin is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Marion County. The cabin stands as a reminder of the courage, hardship, and hope that marked settlement on the Iowa frontier. It is preserved and maintained by the nonprofit Pella Preservation Trust.