Born October 23, 1861, near
Steamboat Rock,
Grundy County, Iowa, to Martin and Margaret Coleman Quick, he was afflicted with
polio as a child. He married Ella Corey in 1890. When he was eight, Quick's family moved to
Grundy Center, where he lived until 1880. Around that time he became a teacher, an occupation he followed until he passed the bar exam and moved to Sioux City. In 1908 he was the associate editor of
Robert LaFollette's Weekly Magazine, in Madison, Wisconsin. From 1909 to 1916 he was the editor of the magazine
Farm and Fireside, published in Springfield, Ohio. Quick established a law firm in Sioux City, where he practiced for 19 years. He also became a businessman and later served as the
27th Mayor of Sioux City, Iowa from 1898 to 1900. An historical marker, Herbert Quick Ravine, can be found in Sioux City. The plaque reads "Named in Memory of Herbert Quick. Statesman, Writer, Mayor of Sioux City. He Knew and Loved the Prairie's of Iowa, 1861-1925." His best known works are the Midland Trilogy of ''Vandemark's Folly
(1922), The Hawkeye
(1923), and The Invisible Woman'' (1924). The fictional stories describe the life of an Iowa pioneer. Quick died on May 10, 1925, in
Columbia, Missouri. ==Legacy==