15 unique Iowa town names

[Lone Clone]

I always thought this was neat:

How Delmar Got Its Name

On its inaugural run, rather than continuing straight through into Maquoketa as did the Davenport and St. Paul line, the Midland train paused to name the new station. In keeping with the alphabetical order of stations coming from Clinton (Almont, Bryant and Charlotte,) the conductor wanted this stop to begin with the letter "D". There were six ladies on the train with the first names of: Della, Emma, Laura, Marie, Anna, and Rose. Using the first letter of each ladies' name, they came up with the pronounceable name of "Delmar".

The same thing happened in NW Iowa, where a group of ladies from Cedar Rapids were on a train excursion to a new community. The founder of the village asked the ladies to name it. They couldn't agree, so they decided to use the first initials of each of their names. Then they voted on whether to make it Selmar or Lemars. The latter won.

 

[jellyfish10]

Tripoli says hi.

Trip-Ohl-Ah

 

[LifelongHawk]

Same thing happened to California Junction in Harrison County and (I think) Oxford Junction in Cedar County.

Ah, the well-known LC precision, Oxford Junction remains the name of a town in Jones County.

Delmar carried on their rich naming legacy upon merger with Elwood - Delwood HS.

 

[Lone Clone]

Ah, the well-known LC precision, Oxford Junction remains the name of a town in Jones County.

Delmar carried on their rich naming legacy upon merger with Elwood - Delwood HS.

Ah, the well-known reading disability of LifelongHawk. We can just guess as to what he thought was intended by the parenthetical qualifing phrase "I think" in my statement.

I got Oxford (Johnson County) confused with Oxford Junction (Jones County) and misplaced the result into Cedar County. Not my finest hour. Which was why the qualifier was in there.

 

[DanL53]

Oooooh! LifelongHawk vs. Lone Clone! Two men enter, one man leaves! DanL tosses a weapon into the dome....

Fight! Fight! Only and hour before the game!!!!

 

[Lone Clone]

Oooooh! LifelongHawk vs. Lone Clone! Two men enter, one man leaves! DanL tosses a weapon into the dome....

Fight! Fight! Only and hour before the game!!!!

No fight. I expressed an opinion, clearly labeled as such, which he pointed out was incorrect, as it was. I have learned something.

 

[DanL53]

You insulted each other!!!!! Now hurry, slap his face or he slaps yours and start dueling!

Bunch of lumpish fat-kidneyed bugbears!

 

[HawkFantastic]

How did they leave Maquoketa off the list? There is no other City of Maquoketa in the world and a quick search shows there are 5 cities named Ionia, 4 cities named Jamaica, 4 cities named Agency, 3 named Doon, 3 named Defiance and at least 2 other cities named Carbon just in the U.S., plus as mentioned above there is a City of Fertile in a neighboring state.

Yeah, not a real impressive list.

Didn't know that about Maquoketa. Thanks for that info.

Glad somebody brought up Tripoli; that's a good one.

Does Sigourney count? Seems we have good amount of communities that are easy to mispronounce.

 

[Hawk Supreme]

Let's not forget "Anne Kenny."

 

[pepsicock]

Frogmore SC ,Cat Hole, SC; Cheddar, SC; Coosawatchie, SC; Cowtail, SC; Coward, SC; Cowpens, SC; and Climax, SC

 

[Herkmeister]

• Ocheyedan
• Royal
• Buckeye
• Sac City
• Early
• Massena
• Barn City
• Arion
• Yale
• Quimby
• West Point
• Livermore
• Ute
• Valeria
• Aspinwall
• M-I-L-Ford
• Boxholm (Near Beaver)
• Fonda (Inside Beaver)
• Hancock (A long way from Beaver. Long long way.)
• Cincinnati
• Toledo
• Rome
• Denver
• Manilla
• Panama
• Gruver
• Moscow
• Coin
• Conesville
• Melvin
• George
• Floyd
• Le Roy
• Lester
• Lewis
• Elma
• Ollie
• Cylinder
• Keystone
• Pacific Junction
• Le Roy
• Quasqueton
• Deep River
• Gravity
• Jolley
• Rake
• Zwingle
• Yetter
• Swan
• Popejoy

 

[longliveCS40]

I once drove through Booger Hollow, Arkansas...

 

[uniFIGHTuniFIGHT]

Spillville is home to a cuckoo-clock company and one of a few towns on that list I visited as a child-carney. Where is there another "Iowa City" if we're talking unique?

 

[SiouxCyty]

Yes. There's also a Fertile, MN. Like Beaver, IA, this list isn't all it's cracked up to be.

C'ville is named for the geographical correction line that is Main Street. It's "jog" in the middle of town is the "correction".

 

[Hawk Supreme]

Ummmmmmmmm...how about Iowa City?

Probably not too many of those around anywhere else.

 

[hawkssox1]

I had relations in college with a girl from Spillville.

She was freaky.

Probably wound a little tight.

 

[QChawks]

 

[jellyfish10]

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Denver? Wtf man!

 

[Bro D]

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Charlotte, IA would like a word

 

[Bulldogs1974]

Fertile and Manly are right next to each other.

 

[Jimmy McGill]

Not a town, but there was a creek that ran through Story County named Long Dick Creek

 

[Hans81]

• Ocheyedan
• Royal
• Buckeye
• Sac City
• Early
• Massena
• Barn City
• Arion
• Yale
• Quimby
• West Point
• Livermore
• Ute
• Valeria
• Aspinwall
• M-I-L-Ford
• Boxholm (Near Beaver)
• Fonda (Inside Beaver)
• Hancock (A long way from Beaver. Long long way.)
• Cincinnati
• Toledo
• Rome
• Denver
• Manilla
• Panama
• Gruver
• Moscow
• Coin
• Conesville
• Melvin
• George
• Floyd
• Le Roy
• Lester
• Lewis
• Elma
• Ollie
• Cylinder
• Keystone
• Pacific Junction
• Le Roy
• Quasqueton
• Deep River
• Gravity
• Jolley
• Rake
• Zwingle
• Yetter
• Swan
• Popejoy

What Cheer

 

[lucas80]

Correctionville is aptly named.

 

[joelbc1]

Well, there is a town called Fonda.

When they mentioned Fertile they should have at least brought up Manly, which isn't too far away. Manly man marries Fertile woman.

Dike is good name.

Madrid is confusing to pronounce for many.

(There was a girls basketball player from SE Iowa of considerable renown, named Fonda Dicks…
What were her parents thinking? )

 

[joelbc1]

What Cheer

It’s Barnes City, I believe…located north of New Sharon towards Montezuma…

 

[Igor Stravinsky10]

It’s Barnes City, I believe…located north of New Sharon towards Montezuma…

Barnes City and What Cheer are 2 separate towns just a few miles apart

 

[joelbc1]

Barnes City and What Cheer are 2 separate towns just a few miles apart

Yes they are!
Back in the day, in Pony League summer baseball, I made an unassisted triple play at the ball field in Barnes City. Runners in first and second, no outs… I was playing shortstop, batter hit a line drive towards second base, I caught the line drive, and at the same time stepped on second base doubling of tge runner there, momentum carried me past second towards first base, where the runner there took off with the hit and wasn’t paying attention, and I took another another step or two and tagged him out…All before Chris Berman and Sports Center!
So yes….Barnes City…I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Barnes City!

 

[Hawk_4shur]

What Cheer

I can't believe it took 9 years to mention What Cheer.

 

[Igor Stravinsky10]

Yes they are!
Back in the day, in Pony League summer baseball, I made an unassisted triple play at the ball field in Barnes City. Runners in first and second, no outs… I was playing shortstop, batter hit a line drive towards second base, I caught the line drive, and at the same time stepped on second base doubling of tge runner there, momentum carried me past second towards first base, where the runner there took off with the hit and wasn’t paying attention, and I took another another step or two and tagged him out…All before Chris Berman and Sports Center!
So yes….Barnes City…I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Barnes City!

In between What Cheer and Barnes City, there is an unincorporated area called Indianapolis.

 

[joelbc1]

I can't believe it took 9 years to mention What Cheer.

Back in the day before I-80, going to Iowa City on game day, we used to stop in What Cheer for brunch….I remember there were churches in these small towns that offered “breakfast” to game travelers on Saturday. Used to take “the back way” to IC up to HiWay 6 or else east on 92 and up to IC. That had to be in the late ‘50’s.

 

[MitchLL]

(There was a girls basketball player from SE Iowa of considerable renown, named Fonda Dicks…
What were her parents thinking? )

Didn't she marry Jeff Beaver?

 

[Hawk-A-Doodle-Doo]

Does Doon have a Thane? ... the Thane of Doon? It has a nice poetic ring to it.

No. But it has a Lorna.

Thank you. Thank you. You've been a great crowd. Ol' Doodle will be here all week. Two shows on Friday and Saturday night. Don't forget to tip your waitress. Try the veal. Thanks for comin' out everybody. Get home safely. Goodnight!!

 

[Twoooooooo]

Loved those short bread cookies as a kid

 

[BonzoFury]

Not sure if it's still a thing, but every year RAGBRAI had a day with a "century loop" where you could do an extra bit if you wanted to claim a 100 mile day. The year I rode that loop went through Joice. So you had to "rejoice" to do the 100 mile day.