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History of Barkley House
 The Barkleys: Barkley House is proudly named for
Alonzo and Flora Barkley who built the house in 1893. Alonzo Barkley was a
self-made man. Born in 1842, the son of a pioneer family in Linn County
Iowa, he had little formal education.
With the Civil War raging in 1862, at the age of 20, Alonzo enlisted in the
Union Army. In 1864 he was seriously wounded at the Battle of Pleasant Hill
in Louisiana. After being held prisoner for two months, he was paroled as
one who could never be of service to the enemy. Discharged, he arrived home
on Christmas Day, 1864.
He attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa for one year but returned
home when his father died. He was elected County Recorder in 1866 and
served four years in that position. Thereafter he was variously engaged in
real estate and telephone development. He as a founder and served as first
vice-president and later as president of the Boone County Bank. He was
elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1899 and reelected in 1901.
Before she married Alonzo, Flora taught in the public schools of Valparaiso,
Indiana, Waukon and Boone, Iowa. In Boone, she founded the Lowell Club, a
study group for Boone ladies; was elected as the first president of Boone's
City Federation of Women's Clubs; served as vice-president of the Iowa Federation of Women's
Clubs and secretary and president of the Iowa State Library Commission. She
lobbied for laws to establish the Iowa State Library Commission and to
institute statewide compulsory education.
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Barkley
House
326 Boone Street
Boone, Iowa 50036
1-877-376-5600
(515) 433-1424
Mark & Shelene
McDermott, Proprietors
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