Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
NUTWOOD
NUTWOOD. Nutwood was a 1,150-pound Kentucky trotting stallion owned by Henry L. STOUT and the source of the name of NUTWOOD PARK. In 1884 hoping to increase interest in horse racing in Dubuque, Stout purchased a 500-acre trotting and breeding at the present corner of Asbury and Carter and converted it into a trotting and breeding stable. He sent his son, Frank, to Kentucky to buy a well-known stallion. The son returned home with Nutwood, an unknown sixteen-year-old stallion who had been retired from racing for six years. Dubuque racing enthusiasts were sure Stout had been taken advantage of when they found the purchase price for the horse had been $22,000. (1)
By the time of his death in December 1896, Nutwood had earned $650,000 for the Stouts. (2) Brood mares were brought by their owners from across the United States with hope that a colt of the quality of Nutwood would be conceived. As many as sixty-five mares were annually bred for as much as one thousand dollars each. In 1891 he had eight producing daughters and fourteen producing sons. (3) The beautiful horse was the sire of 120 record-setting trotters and 25 pacers. Nutwood was credited with more standards and 2:20 performers in both the first and second generation than any other horse his age. In 1891 George W. Sherwood, of Sheldon, Iowa refused $35,000 for Lockhart, one of Nutwood's descendants. (4)
Nutwood's body was buried on the HIGHLAND STOCK FARM. It is thought the burial site lies in the wooden section near the intersection of Asbury and Carter. On the day of the burial, John Steiner, the sheriff, leaped into the grave and pulled hair from the mane and tail of the horse. This hair was then given to a prisoner who braided the strands into a two-foot long watch chain of quarter-inch ringlets. The ten thousand dollars Frank Stout left in his will for a monument over Nutwood's grave was never used for that purpose.
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Source:
1. Hendricks, Mike. "Races Were Run, a 'Fortune' Was Won: Dubuque, 1899," Telegraph Herald, April 19, 1984, p. 2
2. Kerker, Renae. "The Sage of the Sawdust: The Life of Henry L. Stout," Unpublished thesis, December 1, 1979, p. 8
3. "Another Nutwood Colt," Dubuque Daily Herald, October 25, 1891, p. 8
4. Ibid.
Len Kruse, "Dubuque Once Famous for Horse Racing," Julien's Journal May 1985
