Bach Grove

Bach Grove - Hamilton County

Batch Grove - sometimes spelled Bach Grove - was a very small settlement located along the Boone River in 1100 acres of timberland in the northeast corner of Sec 3-89-26. It was located in the northwest corner of the county, just south of the county line, in Fremont Township. It was a favorite hunting ground for the Indians living along the Boone River. The settlement got its name for three bachelor trappers who lived in cabins here. Bach Grove (or Batch Grove) is a contraction of the term Bachelor's Grove.

A post office was established here on June 19, 1858, with J. D. Sell as postmaster. The post office was located in a log house on the southwest side of the river as it flows east. The Bach Grove School operated from about 1876 to about 1881. It was located further east in about the center of Sec. 2-89-26, on the south side of the Boone River. Many of the students lived on the north side of the river. Some crossed the river by rowing a boat, but later the parents constructed a swinging bridge to allow their children to cross the river safely, even when the river was high.

Between Bach School and the Bach Grove post office, there was a ford that crossed the Boone. It was at one time called Olmstead Ford, named for the man who lived there. In the early days, a stage coach line passed through here connecting Newton, Nevada, Webster City, and Goldfield. It crossed the river at Olmstead's Ford. Another ford across the Boone River was in Section 3 where the county line road crossed the river. It was was given the name Rocky Ford, so named for the rocky bottom at that place. At a much later time, a bridge was built at this point and it was called the Rocky Ford Bridge. That bridge has been torn down and both Rocky Ford and Olmstead's Ford have been discontinued.