Sharing a boundary with Cedar Rapids, Marion is an historic city with its own personality and a burgeoning population that has doubled since 2000. The city is named after Francis Marion (1732-1795), the “Swamp Fox” who helped swing the Revolutionary War in the United States’ favor in South Carolina. Historic Uptown Marion is a fabulous …
Home to the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), Cedar Falls shares a metropolitan area with its neighbor Waterloo. The two cities are linked by the Cedar River, as well as a massive network of trails, adding up to more than 100 miles and making this a convenient place to discover on foot or by bike. …
Resting in gently rolling farmland in east central Iowa, Marshalltown is a city of 27,500 on the south bank of the Iowa River. The city developed suddenly from the 1870s onwards, and in 1913 was connected to the Lincoln Highway, America’s first improved transcontinental road. The refrigeration products manufacturer, Lennox International, was founded here in …
The third-largest and fastest-growing city in the Quad Cities sits opposite Moline and east of Davenport, moments from the area’s best attractions and entertainment venues. On this stretch, the Mississippi flows east to west, and Bettendorf has a lot of ways to enjoy that great river. There’s a trail along the waterfront delivering you to …
Often listed among America’s top architectural destinations, Mason City has a rare wealth of Prairie School landmarks. This is the only place in the world where you can stay in a hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), part of a complex with one of the last remaining bank buildings by the architect. Wright’s contemporaries …
Named for a short-lived fort constructed by the Des Moines River in 1850, the seat of Webster County quickly became a center of commerce, mining and agriculture for North Central Iowa. Now, there’s a great outdoor museum documenting Fort Dodge’s origins, and downtown Fort Dodge has tons of grand turn-of-the-century buildings across some 33 blocks. …
On both banks of the Des Moines River, the seat of Wapello County grew up on the back of coal mining, which powered the economy into the early 20th century. In the 1890s the giant Coal Palace, a temporary exhibition center, was built by the river to showcase the local coal industry, and 23rd President …
Settled in 1846, the very year Iowa became a state, Johnston is a northern suburb of Des Moines that has tripled in population since 2000. The city grew up around a station on the Des Moines & Central Iowa Railway, and was incorporated in 1969. Around that time Saylorville Lake was constructed, and this giant …
In a stunning location just downstream from the widest stretch of the Mississippi River, Clinton is a city that has always depended on that great waterway. In the final decades of the 19th century, the town was dubbed the “Lumber Capital of the World”, and it was here that sawmills processed the monumental amounts of …
Growing at high speed, the small city of Waukee is on the western fringe of the ever-expanding Des Moines metropolitan area. In Waukee you have the best of both worlds: All the shopping, culture and landmarks of a regional urban center are close by. Meanwhile rural Iowa rolls out to the west, and can be …