Origin of the the Name of Squash Bend - From the "History of Johnson County, Iowa" 1836 to1882, page 624

Bryan Dennis relates: "Dr." Josiah Crawford, from whom the name of Squash Bend (now called North Liberty) originated, lived in this township in the spring and summer of 1842. He was a quack doctor of the original type. Being hard pushed for a living, he moved to Sugar Bottom, in Penn township, and occupied a shanty vacated by a bachelor named Waterson, a farmer from Illinois. Waterson made a claim out on the prairie, now a part of the Donner farm (1882). He broke up a few acres and planted sod corn, pumpkins, and squashes, which was the sole subsistence of the doctor's family for four or five months. The whole crop was packed in sacks by an old man by the name of Pettis. It occupied nearly his whole time. Crawford spent his time in visiting his "ager" (ague) patients, and in the woods gathering "roots and yarbs" (herbs). He was very fond of the good things in life, and never in a hurry to leave his patients as long as there was a prospect of grub ahead. The family at home, meanwhile, enjoyed their change of diet which was from squash and corn to corn and squash.

New York Paper Mourns Passing of Picturesque Names; Cites North Liberty - From the Iowa City Press-Citizen (from Mattie Myers Stoner's book of clippings)

An editorial, recently printed in the New York Sun tells of the change from the picturesque name of "Squash Bend" to the present town of North Liberty, in Johnson County.
The editorial, in speaking of the present town of North Liberty, states: "Squash Bend in Johnson County was named for Josiah Crawford, who settled there in 1842 and proceeded to live on a diet of pumpkin and squash. In 1857 a post office was established there and the sensitive residents managed to get the name of the town changed to North Liberty."
The editorial in the New York newspaper is reprinted as follows:

Lost Squash Bend

"Are American place names too much of a piece? It would seem so when a whole article in American Speech can be devoted to a discussion of the place name, Liberty, in Iowa. Allen Walker Reed, the writer of this article, has discovered that in 1845, there were 44 Libertys and 78 Unions in the territory....
Inevitable as the name of Liberty may have seemed to pioneers in a fresh country, it displaced names with more tang and individuality....Squash Bend in Johnson County, was named for Josiah Crawford, who settled there in 1842 and lived on a diet of pumpkins and squash. In 1857 a post office was established there and the sensitive residents managed to get the name of the town changed to North Liberty."

Onetime hub of N. Liberty life now 'a survivor' -by Suzan Erem, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, February 26, 1984

NORTH LIBERTY- The building that housed Henry Alexander White's general store and residence sits quietly on the corner of Cherry and Front Streets, no longer the "hub of the village" it was in 1876.

    In mid-January the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places after White's granddaughter, Delma Dale Dever of Iowa City, called it to the attention of the Iowa Historical Department.

    "The building has survived -- essentially as it was -- because it has been owned by members of the same family since its construction 107 years ago. It was lived in by some members of that family for 105 years," Dever said in her application to the state.

    White was a carpenter, a meat-cutter, the postmaster and a shoemaker. He was just about everything a young town needed to help it grow, and as North Liberty sprang up around his store White supplied his services and merchandise to the townspeople -- for almost 25 years.

    The house has been termed "a survivor" by National Register Coordinator Jim Jacobsen. But Dever just remembers it as "the old house" where, as a child, she played with the wood shavings left over from one of her grandfather's woodworking projects.

    "I would put those little pieces up to my hair and pretend they were my curls," she remembered with a smile.

    The general store was also one of the businesses in town that would allow buying on credit.

    "His account book shows that many families were extended on credit, some were carried on the books for a long period of time, and a few were never able to pay their bills," she said.

    Dever still has the candlestick holders one customer brought into the store one day to pay a bill he didn't have cash for.

    White mended shoes at his cobbler's bench at the north end of the store. Behind the store, on the back lot, he eventually built a row of sheds -- among them a smokehouse, butcher shop, icehouse and carpenter shop.

    In 1877 White was appointed postmaster of North Liberty, becoming only the second holder of that office.

    The southwestern corner of the store served as the post office, with pigeon hole boxes that were still intact in 1937.

    In 1882 White became a Notary Public, fulfilling many of the roles a lawyer would today. Since the courts, county offices and lawyers were eight miles away in Iowa City, the Notary Public would certify deeds, loans, wills and mortgages in their place.

    White expanded his carpenter trade about 1893, after which he built the Madison Township No. 2 School and many large homes in the area.

    Concerning White's own house: "It is a building constructed with an eye to function, using locally produced material, not factory-made," Jacobsen said.

    The H.A. White grocery store and residence no longer has fish line, nails, coffee and flour sitting on its shelves. Looking through the original double-hung 12-pane windows, no one will see wood stoves in the corner or kerosene lamps on the counter.

    But for Delma Dever, who has spent years compiling this information about her grandfather and his life, those shelves and counters may always be there, and the house, which will be passed on to her children, may last another century.