William Gates, son of John Gates and Catherine Carrigan, was born in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1842. When he was three years old, his family emigrated from Ireland to Canada where his mother died that same year in 1845. He resided in Niagara in Ontario, Canada until he was twelve years of age. At that time he began a four year apprenticeship in the blacksmith trade in Hamilton, Ontario.
On March 3, 1864, William Gates married Agnes Malloy. The couple lived in Hamilton until the spring of 1865 when they removed to Nevada, Story County, Iowa. Being exceedingly skilled in profession, he became very well-known and successful.
Mr. Gates was naturalized and soon became a U.S. citizen. He was interested in public affairs and was an avid promoter of the community. As the owner of 280 acres of farm land four miles southwest of Nevada, he served as township trustee in Nevada township for several terms. He served two terms as mayor of Nevada from 1886 to 1887 and three more terms from 1894 to 1896 in addition to nine terms on the Nevada city council.
In 1895 he built a two story brick building to house his business. He retired from the blacksmith business in January 1900 passing his business on to his sons whom he had taught the trade, William R. Gates and Fred E. Gates. However in 1910, Fred removed to Beech, North Dakota and William ran the business on his own.
In 1909, William Gates was once more elected Mayor of Nevada, this time serving a two-year term until 1910.
William Gates died on September 7, 1914. He was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. However, William Gates’ legacy did not stop there. He so instilled that community spirit in his family that his daughter, Mabel Gates Wadsworth, even after being removed from Nevada for many years, left the city funds for construction of a hall to serve the school and the community. Those funds were used to construct Gates Hall in Nevada.