Chester C. Cole


Chester Cicero Cole was a Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court from March 1, 1864 to January 19, 1876 appointed from Polk County, Iowa. He became Chief Justice in 1869. Cole was a founder of both Iowa law schools.

Early lfe and family

He was born in Oxford, New York to Samuel Cole and his wife, Alice,. Cole graduated from Harvard Law School.
He married Miss Amanda M. Bennett on June 25 1848, a daughter of Egbert and Gertrude Richtmyer Bennett The couple had seven children:
Following graduation, Cole practiced law in Marion, Kentucky, before moving to Iowa in 1857.
With Justice George Grover Wright, Cole co-founded Iowa Law School in 1865, in Des Moines, which, in 1868, relocated to Iowa City, becoming the law department of the University of Iowa, later the University of Iowa College of Law.
In 1875, Cole left the University of Iowa and founded Iowa College of Law in Des Moines, which joined Drake University, upon its founding in 1881, later becoming Drake University Law School.