Ok, one more thing. I love all the towns, they are all very nicely kept. I also love seeing all the old playground equipment you show in all these towns, takes me back!!
@@TravelwithaWiseguy pretty interesting imo, I also recently just walked the entire Heritage trail end to end in July and before I started, I chilled and talked to a nice man in DURANGO! Cool Spot
@@TravelwithaWiseguy it took me, since I remember I used a stopwatch, 2 hours and 46 minutes long. Another question for you John, what about delphos? Is it unincorporated because it also has 26 and on Wikipedia it says former city, are former towns not in lists either? I know Donnan isn’t, it’s population is 7!!! They said it’s the smallest incorporated town in Iowa, but it’s become unincorporated a few years ago
We really enjoyed your visits to Iowa's smallest towns. While in school at Iowa State I helped my Rural Sociology Professor conduct a large research project that took me all over Iowa. Even though I was born, and now live, in Missouri I consider Iowa my adopted State. Go Cyclones! But most of all we enjoyed your Bussards Belly t-shirt! Been there. Keep up your great work.
I attended school in that old school house in Leroy 28:59 from 1st grade through 6th in the late sixties early seventies. Back then LeRoy had a few businesses like the grocery store/ post office all in one. The owner use to literally change hats when he would go from store clerk to post master. They also had feed stores and repair/ welding shops plus other. The town has remained active by the members of the church where have an annual LeRoy Harvest Festival celebration with a parade and big meal sponsored by the church and more.
I went to school there too ! 1972-74 (we moved to MO in 1974) Rode a shuttle bus over from Humeston. That was such a cool building ..makes me sad to see it run down. When I was there, K-2 were in Humeston with 7-8, 3-6 in LeRoy, and HS in Garden Grove
I am from Iowa, born & raised Lee County, Iowa! Lee County has two County seats, Keokuk & Ft. Madison. Only County in Iowa with two. I’m from Ft. Madison, but moved about 5-7 miles to rural Donnellson, Iowa in 1968. I went all through school in Ft. Madison. My husband moved me across the Mississippi River, into Illinois in 1990. We’ve since moved back to Ft. Madison in 2021. Bought a home here! (Southeast Iowa). Ft. Madison used to be bigger population, now down to 10,000 or so. Thank you for putting up the smallest towns here in my home State. Never heard of them before, and I’m almost 64. Yetter, Iowa intrigues me, as my husband works for an agricultural factory called Yetter Manufacturing, based in Colchester & Macomb, Illinois! He’s been there nearly 36 years this year!
Pretty cool cruising all the small towns in Iowa, I have been to every town in Iowa on 2 wheels (bicycle or motorcycle). 1588 towns this includes ghost towns and unincorporated towns.
All of the small towns were so clean and well kept. Shows pride in their small burgs. Bigger towns could take a lesson. Beautiful churches, you wonder if folks from other areas come to worship there. Wouldn't be a video without playgrounds and puppy dogs.😊 Enjoyed the journey, stay safe and GOD bless
Hi john thanks for the tour i enjoyed seeing the places an when you show a old gas station i think about what they were back in the day when open how they looked . Cheers mate🇦🇺
Thank you so much for highlighting our small town Iowa. I’m one of these people that avoid the big cities and love to travel through small town areas, off the beaten path. I’ve been an Ouwejan all my life.
The difference is an incorporated town has a form of government (mayor, city council, etc) where an unincorporated one doesn’t and is just an area where people live and are usually part of a different postal code and such. Thanks you!!
Some of the small towns are well kept and very impressive I loved seeing the old barn. imagine the stories they could tell. Nice Muriel’s in Elliston. What a wonderful video thanks for the ride along stay safe until the next adventure
Thank you so much for the video. I have lived in Iowa all of my life, and really enjoy learning 30:08 about Iowa’s towns. Also appreciate that you are so respectful about the communities. Too many videos are just cruel when talking about towns that have gone through hard times.
"You'll be able to see that the town is on a hill in the drone footage"..... LOL!!! Of note is how well those "small towns" maintain a civil standard of upkeep. Great episode. Thanks for sharing. Always enjoy the vintage merri-go-rounds actually moving. One was pretty old. "I died once when I was 5, but my mom made me get up and walk it off". Better times, stronger people.....
I used to drive thru the town of Knoke. Don't know where it lands or if it's incorporated but they have the largest sign the state probably allows. Has populations from censuses, elevation, etc. Has "Next 3 Exits" and three gravel roads off the highway. Always makes me chuckle
You have captured the look of the small Iowa town very well. Or anyhow, how I knew them before moving away from the tall corn state. Most have been kept up fairly well. I believe many of the residents are either "lifers" or at least have a good amount of years involved to where there is much pride. There are some that look like the junkyard from Hades, but those are an exception. The joy of visiting these little bergs is the occasional diamond you fond in the rough. The people are usually friendly and a joy to chat with. And little snips of history is alive in these remote Uowa areas. I really enjoyed your tour of small town Iowa. I have been removed from Iowa for over thirty years now, but I guess my heart never left! Thank you again for a wonderful trip!
Awesome words - thanks so much! I really did enjoy finding these towns and for someone interested, many of them are not too far from each other in the SW part of the state. Fun trip!
Thanks again John really enjoyed your video I live in a small town and consider myself very fortunate . Have you ever considered incorporating a gravel bike into your visits you being a track coach I am a 62 year old gravel bike rider and ride around small towns in south west Missouri it’s a very relaxing thing for me to do have met a lot of wonderful people in my adventures!
Thank you! I used to be a reasonably decent bike rider and someone stole my mountain bike 🤷🏼♂️ But I haven’t done much of it in a while. I was a sprinter so the long distances aren’t always my thing 😂😂
I've done a lot of traveling through Iowa. It's a beautiful state, especially when the corn is at its peak. Curious what time of year this video was shot?
Really good video. I'm an Iowan. I'm from the eastern side of the state and the only town I've been through was Durango. There are lots of small towns in Iowa, but I didn't know how small some where. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for the very beautiful video on my home state ❤... actually probably my favorite video I've watched on iowa and I am thinking about taking a little trip from busy west des Moines and going to these places ❤
I was mayor of Hepburn many years ago. The town once had a rail line, I believe the CB&Q, with a cattle yard where they shipped cattle. They even had their own. One cell jail.
Glad to see you getting up North. I first watched one of your videos about ghost towns in Texas, since I live in that state. But I was born in Minnesota (New Ulm), and was hoping you'd take a trip up North. Searles was a tiny, nearby town when I was a kid there in the '60s, with one gas station, one bar/town store combo, a Cathodic church/school, & a post office run out of somebody's home. Even THAT sounds huge next to these in Iowa. 🙂
My uncle, who lives in Iowa, was a regional manager for Hy-Vee for a number of years. He's retired now though. I remember being quite impressed when it came to Missouri as well. Interesting to see where it started off.
I know Hepburn, Iowa, well. I owned a farm a few miles south of Hepburn, on the way to Clarinda. There are several small towns in the Clarinda area that are pretty darned cool, like College Springs. Enjoyed your journey this time, too. Always a pleasure.
@@donnaemslie5729 My wife and I owned a small farm near Clarinda. I know Gravity, and shopped at the Hy-Vee store in Clarinda. Good town, good area, especially for Sunday morning motorcycle backroads rides.
My favorite is Bankston. The church is gorgeous, and the playground looks nice. Everything is neat. They all looked cared for. Nice old buildings. Great video. Thanks.
Should've stopped and saw jo at Jerico in Chickasaw county. A bar and church and co-op. But it's unincorporated so that's fitting why it didn't make the list. Great video!
Coach,good job as usual.These small towns have a surreal vibe in their quiet clean setting. Just a thought, when those playground rides start moving by themselves,it might be time to get to a slow sprint on out of there, just saying. Thanks for the research and effort put forth.
Cool video! Lived in Northeast Iowa my whole life and haven’t seen alot of these places. If you ever get back check out the great river road, especially up here in the north east :)
I'm originally from the NE part of Iowa too. We took a trip to the far SW part to see some freedom rocks. It was our fist time in that area and it looks & feels so different. Lots of small ghost like towns and even the main roads are not kept up 😢
If they were north of Des Moines, ive been there. Used to mark down old tiny towns if they had any cars or buildings of interest. Hauled a few cars out of those little towns and cleaned them up, sold them to collectors back around 1999 to 2006. Grew up in a town called Bode, and babysitter was in Ottesen. The first 5 months of my life were lived in the town of Thor. Yove been minutes from all of those places, if not been there. Pioneer was a place i worked on many cars. There's a good number of tiny towns that no longer exist, because of the railroads and the abilities of transportation to get crops further and not have them spoil.
Ok, gotta admit, Ellston was the highlight. Looks like a nice little town to retire to. I wonder, what do small towns like these do in the winters when the streets need to be plowed? Great video!
It was probably the most “livable” of these towns. Very well kept and a big lake nearby. A lot of these small towns don’t have much winter plowing available. Probably done by a local.
I'm from the Ellston, Sun Valley Lake area, and when the roads get snowed over really bad, Ellston usually has to either wait for the snow removal service from a nearby town such as Kellerton or Mount Ayr, but also, a lot of us have personal snow plows that we put on the front of our vehicles that is able to do most of the work.
I went to school from kdg. through sophomore in Le Roy. Then it merged with 3 other towns to form Mormon Trail schools and I graduated from there. My mother was a school teacher, spent her entire life teaching in Le Roy then Mormon Trail and still was teaching when she died. My dad born and raised in the area was a farmer. I loved growing up in southern Iowa. I was married in that church in 1962 and it''s still a very active church. Don't know that I'm particularly proud that my hometown is the smallest in Iowa, but I'm still proud to have grown up there. The people were great and there was more to the town, but not a lot, when I was growing up.
I actually prefer Vinje. Lol just kidding. I had the bars all you could eat chicken and ribs years ago and boy it hit the spot when we were working on the road in the area. Never tried Vinje bar but I heard it was a great time years ago anyways.
Our farm was near the little, now dying, of Ruthven Iowa. These towns started going down hill with the end of passenger train service... then as the Baby Boom passed the local schools consolidated, then again... and again.
Funny, it wasn't a bridge of Madison County. Great video, very interesting. I wonder what people do in those small towns and where they work? I would think it would be very boring living there.
Yetter is 5 miles from Lytton, where I grew up. I knew someone who moved from Lytton (population 376 at the time) to Yetter... probably for the "peace and quiet"! Also, I recognize some of the family names on that rock.
Well, first time ever, have been shown a railroad diesel switcher at a grain elevator in an out of the way place. Green liveried 6974 at the Farmers Coop elevator, Yetter, IA. Have travelled from the UK just to see such on many occasions, and this one is new to me. The number of times I have wished that the blogger would show me the rail siding, to see whether there is switcher there !! Thanks a lot, don't forget us crazy railfans in the future. Will have to try to find the identity and history of 6974 now.
Has taken me a few hours, but 6974 is an EMD SD40-2, built by GMD Canada A2310/1968 as Canadian National SD40 5058. Was rebuilt by Alsthom, Canada in 1999, becoming Burlington Northern Santa Fe SD40-2 7314, later renumbered 6974. Subsequently sold out of service, and becoming Farmers Cooperative Co, FARX 6974 at Yetter.
I live in Charleton, IA. We are not on the map, but there is one sign saying our name. We do not have a post office. We do have a bar/grill. There are two small businesses, a woodworking and a private one that sells barrels and small storage units. Our school is a county collection is one mile away. In the history, we were the county seat. There was a large hotel that was a convention building. I believe our population is about 20 now. The town was brought together in 1839 by a family who owned a trucking company. Nice and quiet.
I kinda liked Bankston a lot. Church was specular. Although the fact several of them had parks and play grounds makes them fun to see. 11 people...Leroy. I'll bet the city council meeting draw the whole town
I've enjoyed your trips to the small towns. Growing up in a small town in North Dakota where my grandparents homesteaded at the turn of the 20th century, I learned how the area developed. You might wonder why people settled along the railroads. There are a few reasons, the homestead act, the soil suited to agriculture, the immigration from Europe at the time, etc. Your maps show that the counties were laid out in near perfect rectangular layout. So, why did the railroads develop in such areas, and why did the immigrants settle along the railroad lines. The settlers were primarily immigrants, some with agricultural background who were looking for land to farm, others with shopping keeping or professional experience that these farmers would need to buy the clothes, food, and other necessities and services they would need. It was not unlike the development of communities around mines in other areas of the country. The government and the homesteading act provided the land. Railroads came because they were given land on either side of the tracts, every ten miles of so, so it could be sold to the immigrants to develop a townsite. The farmers needed places to market their grain and the grain elevators to buy it, since the mills were located in cities further east, the case of North Dakota, in Minneapolis. So why every ten miles or so? That was the distance a team of horses pulling a grain wagon could travel forth and back from the grain elevator. As time passed, some immigrants couldn't make a go it, so they sold their land to adjacent farmers who could, after their homestead obligations were fulfilled. As farms and farming equipment grew in size to handle more farmland, farmers income improved so they afford the new equipment. With trucks replacing the horses and wagons they could reach the grain elevators over a longer distance and the small towns in between the new terminals shrunk in size while the more distant towns with larger elevators grew in size. This has been the way the plains states have developed. The little towns survive because the survivors there can afford to live there, possibly because they sold their land, and the location has become endeared to them.
I can’t say my favorite town - it keeps getting autocorrected. I love when people leave signs to share history. The churches were beautiful. Lovely to see on a Sunday morning.
I did land surveying in SW Iowa based in Atlantic and spent a week working in Coburg mapping the place. Numerous small towns. We did wind mills farms north of Mason City and South of Sac City and cell phone towers everywhere. We had supper one time in Sac City and our boss came down and we hit the stripper bar, only because of him and I remember sitting on a 4 wheeler and this girl drove by. She was one of the dancers. Another time. We also mapped out a lot of these airports for weels and saw like one plane. I was near Sac City on some dirt road by myself and dug a 3 ft deep hole 6 ft in diameter right in the middle of the road and a deputy came by and didn't say a thing, just waved
I grew up in Mount Carroll Illinois and lots of people have never heard of it unless you are from there or nearby. That’s probably the case with many of these places in Iowa.
It seems that the southern part of Iowa has lots of small towns. It’s similar to the northern part of Missouri. There’s probably more life in the cemetery than in the actual towns.
The owner of the Ellston Theater House and the big blue shed in Beaconsfield are married. The two towns are less than 5 miles apart. If you move to either town, dont expect to recreate at Sun Valley Lake. It is a private lake. I used to blow that stop sign at 4am in Leroy every moring on my way to work! We lived about 10 miles south of Leroy on the same road.
I was expecting to see Mederville (with maybe 10 people if that) but when I didn't, I went looking and it is unincorporated. But if you ever decide to do the small uninc's check it out because it's got a lot of history.
Very nice video. My three decades working for a regional electric power cooperative in Iowa put me at or working with power lines near around 2/3 of those small towns. It brought back memories.
Ok, one more thing. I love all the towns, they are all very nicely kept. I also love seeing all the old playground equipment you show in all these towns, takes me back!!
Thank you very much! 😊
Yay! Finally! Thank you so much John
I appreciate it John! What is your next list? I’m just kidding! THANK YOU SO MUCH JOHN!!!
Great video! Especially on beaconsfield! My great grandfather lived in beaconsfield and grew up in Coburg.
Yeah Beaconsfield is one of the best! Wow he lived in 2 of them!
@@TravelwithaWiseguy pretty interesting imo, I also recently just walked the entire Heritage trail end to end in July and before I started, I chilled and talked to a nice man in DURANGO! Cool Spot
Oh wow how long was that walk?
@@TravelwithaWiseguy it took me, since I remember I used a stopwatch, 2 hours and 46 minutes long. Another question for you John, what about delphos? Is it unincorporated because it also has 26 and on Wikipedia it says former city, are former towns not in lists either? I know Donnan isn’t, it’s population is 7!!! They said it’s the smallest incorporated town in Iowa, but it’s become unincorporated a few years ago
I've spent a lot of time in Iowa. I love every inch of it. Thanks for sharing it with us.
You bet!
Did that street sign say cookie monster? I'm enjoying these videos of places I'll probably never see. Thanks for the window on the tiny towns world 😊
Yes it did! Someone had a good sense of humor in Berkley 😂
@@TravelwithaWiseguy indeed they did!
We really enjoyed your visits to Iowa's smallest towns. While in school at Iowa State I helped my Rural Sociology Professor conduct a large research project that took me all over Iowa. Even though I was born, and now live, in Missouri I consider Iowa my adopted State. Go Cyclones! But most of all we enjoyed your Bussards Belly t-shirt! Been there.
Keep up your great work.
Sounds like a fun project! Haha yes! Cisco, Utah!! 😊
Yessss, go iowa state 😊
I love looking at all these older slower going towns. Very interesting to hear their history.
My step fathers family is from Iowa. The family farm is in Waterloo outside of Gilbertville. My brother lives in Cedar Falls.
Beautiful state!
I ate in Gilbertville a couple days ago! A young local girl opened a new restaurant. 1854 ... the old Cobblestone.
The quiet of the small towns in Iowa is a breath of fresh air. Thanks for the great video!
Couldn't agree more! Thanks so much!!
This is another wonderful video of history. I bet it was a beautiful drive through that part of America. Thanks for what you do with these videos.
It was definitely a beautiful drive! Glad I went there in October! Thank you very much!
Good ole towns, I can see where the population went, 😥 in the grave yards. I enjoyed this venture. 😎
Thank you! Yes indeed 😞 It was a fun adventure!
I attended school in that old school house in Leroy 28:59 from 1st grade through 6th in the late sixties early seventies. Back then LeRoy had a few businesses like the grocery store/ post office all in one. The owner use to literally change hats when he would go from store clerk to post master. They also had feed stores and repair/ welding shops plus other. The town has remained active by the members of the church where have an annual LeRoy Harvest Festival celebration with a parade and big meal sponsored by the church and more.
Love that! Thanks for the info!
I went to school there too ! 1972-74 (we moved to MO in 1974) Rode a shuttle bus over from Humeston. That was such a cool building ..makes me sad to see it run down. When I was there, K-2 were in Humeston with 7-8, 3-6 in LeRoy, and HS in Garden Grove
I am from Iowa, born & raised Lee County, Iowa! Lee County has two County seats, Keokuk & Ft. Madison. Only County in Iowa with two. I’m from Ft. Madison, but moved about 5-7 miles to rural Donnellson, Iowa in 1968. I went all through school in Ft. Madison. My husband moved me across the Mississippi River, into Illinois in 1990. We’ve since moved back to Ft. Madison in 2021. Bought a home here! (Southeast Iowa). Ft. Madison used to be bigger population, now down to 10,000 or so.
Thank you for putting up the smallest towns here in my home State. Never heard of them before, and I’m almost 64. Yetter, Iowa intrigues me, as my husband works for an agricultural factory called Yetter Manufacturing, based in Colchester & Macomb, Illinois! He’s been there nearly 36 years this year!
Very interesting thanks for sharing!
I really enjoyed this small towns journey so much!! I had no idea about any of this, so thank you for the historical info and all of it
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much!!
Pretty cool cruising all the small towns in Iowa, I have been to every town in Iowa on 2 wheels (bicycle or motorcycle). 1588 towns this includes ghost towns and unincorporated towns.
That’s amazing!
All of the small towns were so clean and well kept. Shows pride in their small burgs. Bigger towns could take a lesson. Beautiful churches, you wonder if folks from other areas come to worship there. Wouldn't be a video without playgrounds and puppy dogs.😊 Enjoyed the journey, stay safe and GOD bless
Absolutely! Thank you very much! Always love finding the playgrounds and dogs 😊
May 6,1971 the town of Conway was hit by a tornado. There were no fatalities, but every building sustained some damage from it
Iowa has some beautiful churches.
I feel in love with that church ⛪️
The Basilica in Dyersville is beautiful
I remember going to Beaconsfield as a small boy with my family, they would go fishing (I was too young) and we'd also go camping. Fun times.
Hi john thanks for the tour i enjoyed seeing the places an when you show a old gas station i think about what they were back in the day when open how they looked . Cheers mate🇦🇺
I do too! Interesting to see some old photos of what it used to be!
Remember free maps
@@suzannewhitaker3507 yes an match books an esso had tigers
Thank you so much for highlighting our small town Iowa. I’m one of these people that avoid the big cities and love to travel through small town areas, off the beaten path. I’ve been an Ouwejan all my life.
Whats the difference between incorporated and corporated? I know i live in an unincorporated town in az and ive always wondered?
❤ your vids!!
The difference is an incorporated town has a form of government (mayor, city council, etc) where an unincorporated one doesn’t and is just an area where people live and are usually part of a different postal code and such. Thanks you!!
Some of the small towns are well kept and very impressive I loved seeing the old barn. imagine the stories they could tell. Nice Muriel’s in Elliston. What a wonderful video thanks for the ride along stay safe until the next adventure
Thank you! Ellston was a great little town!
I live in Southern California. These little towns in the video are so peaceful Thank you for your video..
Thank you 😊 Iowa has so many great small towns!
Welcome to Iowa..by wat of video!
All of them were clean and seemed to be well taken care of. As always, another great video!👍
I agree! As a whole, these were some of the best I’ve seen! Thanks 😊
Thank you so much for the video. I have lived in Iowa all of my life, and really enjoy learning 30:08 about Iowa’s towns.
Also appreciate that you are so respectful about the communities. Too many videos are just cruel when talking about towns that have gone through hard times.
Glad you enjoyed it! I loved visiting these towns!
My mom graduated from Leroy Iowa. I will have to show her this video.
My mom taught school there or Mormon Trail her entire career. Nice to see your comment.
@@lindawicker2225my mom’s younger siblings graduated from Mormon Trail.
I grew up near Bankston and Durango. Lots of memories came to mind watching your video.
Born and raised in Iowa. My oldest son’s name is LeRoy, so LeRoy is on the list of towns to visit!
Would be a great photo next to the sign!
"You'll be able to see that the town is on a hill in the drone footage"..... LOL!!!
Of note is how well those "small towns" maintain a civil standard of upkeep.
Great episode. Thanks for sharing.
Always enjoy the vintage merri-go-rounds actually moving. One was pretty old. "I died once when I was 5, but my mom made me get up and walk it off". Better times, stronger people.....
Thank you! Some great go-rounds for sure. That one in Ellston might STILL be spinning 😂
I used to drive thru the town of Knoke. Don't know where it lands or if it's incorporated but they have the largest sign the state probably allows. Has populations from censuses, elevation, etc. Has "Next 3 Exits" and three gravel roads off the highway. Always makes me chuckle
Great videos of small towns. Only one town I really knew was Durango. I'm from Monona Iowa. Thank you very much
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! 😊
I love this video, thank you.
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Makes me wish for the peaceful and quiet life.❤
You have captured the look of the small Iowa town very well. Or anyhow, how I knew them before moving away from the tall corn state. Most have been kept up fairly well. I believe many of the residents are either "lifers" or at least have a good amount of years involved to where there is much pride. There are some that look like the junkyard from Hades, but those are an exception. The joy of visiting these little bergs is the occasional diamond you fond in the rough. The people are usually friendly and a joy to chat with. And little snips of history is alive in these remote Uowa areas.
I really enjoyed your tour of small town Iowa. I have been removed from Iowa for over thirty years now, but I guess my heart never left!
Thank you again for a wonderful trip!
Awesome words - thanks so much! I really did enjoy finding these towns and for someone interested, many of them are not too far from each other in the SW part of the state. Fun trip!
They are all probably family in some of those towns.
@@Jruth68 Many times you will find many families in the area are related. Just part of small town life.
I spent my teenage years living in a town called Oakville. couple hundred at the time. its a shell of itself after a flood.
Thanks again John really enjoyed your video I live in a small town and consider myself very fortunate . Have you ever considered incorporating a gravel bike into your visits you being a track coach I am a 62 year old gravel bike rider and ride around small towns in south west Missouri it’s a very relaxing thing for me to do have met a lot of wonderful people in my adventures!
Thank you! I used to be a reasonably decent bike rider and someone stole my mountain bike 🤷🏼♂️ But I haven’t done much of it in a while. I was a sprinter so the long distances aren’t always my thing 😂😂
I've done a lot of traveling through Iowa. It's a beautiful state, especially when the corn is at its peak. Curious what time of year this video was shot?
I filmed this in mid-October
Makes me want to travel. Thank you!
Go for it! 😊
Nice peaceful music to go with peaceful little towns!
Thanks, I always try to find music that fits the tone of the video 😊
Thanks for making this video, I live in fort dodge iowa. I've never heard of a few of these town. I appreciate all the info!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you 😊
Shout out to Dubuque. Love from Iowa! Was hoping Durango would be on here didn’t realize banks ton would be too!
Great video! Ellston looks well kept and clean. Interesting history 😊
Thanks! Yes Ellston was really nice!
Really good video. I'm an Iowan. I'm from the eastern side of the state and the only town I've been through was Durango. There are lots of small towns in Iowa, but I didn't know how small some where. Thanks for the video.
I will never see these places myself. So thanks for showing them off. Have a great weekend
Thank you! You as well!
Thank you for the very beautiful video on my home state ❤... actually probably my favorite video I've watched on iowa and I am thinking about taking a little trip from busy west des Moines and going to these places ❤
Awesome! Some great small towns to check out. Thanks for the nice comment!
I was mayor of Hepburn many years ago. The town once had a rail line, I believe the CB&Q, with a cattle yard where they shipped cattle. They even had their own. One cell jail.
Glad to see you getting up North. I first watched one of your videos about ghost towns in Texas, since I live in that state. But I was born in Minnesota (New Ulm), and was hoping you'd take a trip up North. Searles was a tiny, nearby town when I was a kid there in the '60s, with one gas station, one bar/town store combo, a Cathodic church/school, & a post office run out of somebody's home. Even THAT sounds huge next to these in Iowa. 🙂
Thank you! I’m hoping to continue to explore different areas - Minnesota is definitely on the list! I’m actually going down to Texas this weekend 😊
I drive through galt all the time ,i live in a nearby metropolis sporting 540 people ( if some of us have company staying)
My uncle, who lives in Iowa, was a regional manager for Hy-Vee for a number of years. He's retired now though. I remember being quite impressed when it came to Missouri as well. Interesting to see where it started off.
Kind of amazing it started in that little town!
Really nice video. I like how you covered 13 different small towns, quite well too. Yard work/trees today (before hard winter). Be good, be safe !!
Thanks! It was a lot of fun and a beautiful time of the year to do it!
I know Hepburn, Iowa, well. I owned a farm a few miles south of Hepburn, on the way to Clarinda. There are several small towns in the Clarinda area that are pretty darned cool, like College Springs. Enjoyed your journey this time, too. Always a pleasure.
Thank you! Beautiful area to visit!
My dad when he was younger worked at the Hy-Vee in Clarinda.
He grew up in Gravity, Iowa
@@donnaemslie5729 My wife and I owned a small farm near Clarinda. I know Gravity, and shopped at the Hy-Vee store in Clarinda. Good town, good area, especially for Sunday morning motorcycle backroads rides.
My favorite is Bankston. The church is gorgeous, and the playground looks nice. Everything is neat. They all looked cared for. Nice old buildings. Great video. Thanks.
That one really stood out to me too. The drone shot of the town is really incredible!
@@TravelwithaWiseguy 👍
Should've stopped and saw jo at Jerico in Chickasaw county. A bar and church and co-op. But it's unincorporated so that's fitting why it didn't make the list. Great video!
Coach,good job as usual.These small towns have a surreal vibe in their quiet clean setting. Just a thought, when those playground rides start moving by themselves,it might be time to get to a slow sprint on out of there, just saying. Thanks for the research and effort put forth.
Haha yeah it felt like someone else might have been spinning that 😂😂
Great video, Coach Wise!!
Thanks!!
Great video! I knew HyVee started in Iowa but didn't realize it was on a town so small. Thanks for sharing
I didn’t either! Was surprised when I rolled up and found that out!
Loving your videos❤ thanks for sharing
You are so welcome!
South East Iowa is interesting. Towns along the Des moines river, Keosauqua, bentensport. And Bonaparte and few in the area. Enjoy the channel
We live just north of Yetter in Sac City
Some amazing small town!! I love your odd ball videos 😂!!
Haha thanks! It was a fun trip!
Awesome video!
Glad you liked it!
Cool video! Lived in Northeast Iowa my whole life and haven’t seen alot of these places. If you ever get back check out the great river road, especially up here in the north east :)
Thanks for the tip!
I'm originally from the NE part of Iowa too. We took a trip to the far SW part to see some freedom rocks. It was our fist time in that area and it looks & feels so different. Lots of small ghost like towns and even the main roads are not kept up 😢
I sure love the music during your films!
Thank you 😊
very awesome. great video, sir.
Thank you kindly!
I love ghost towns and your amazing videos!!
Much appreciated- thank you!
Everything did seem better in Yetter! Just sayin- I’m really enjoying your videos Wiseguy, keep them coming.
Thank you Michael! Much appreciated!
If they were north of Des Moines, ive been there. Used to mark down old tiny towns if they had any cars or buildings of interest. Hauled a few cars out of those little towns and cleaned them up, sold them to collectors back around 1999 to 2006. Grew up in a town called Bode, and babysitter was in Ottesen. The first 5 months of my life were lived in the town of Thor. Yove been minutes from all of those places, if not been there. Pioneer was a place i worked on many cars. There's a good number of tiny towns that no longer exist, because of the railroads and the abilities of transportation to get crops further and not have them spoil.
I'm from Iowa, but I live in Utah now, so I IMMEDIATELY recognized your shirt! I LOVE the Buzzard Belly in Cisco Utah!!!!!!!
Awesome! 😎
another cool production❤
Thank you 🙌
I enjoyed the video. I actually grew up in Galt.
Oh wow - interesting little town!
I grew up in Emerson, Iowa, Fontanelle, Iowa and Tabor, Iowa.
Thanks for video. Born and raised in Iowa.
Thanks for watching! 😊
Ok, gotta admit, Ellston was the highlight. Looks like a nice little town to retire to. I wonder, what do small towns like these do in the winters when the streets need to be plowed? Great video!
It was probably the most “livable” of these towns. Very well kept and a big lake nearby. A lot of these small towns don’t have much winter plowing available. Probably done by a local.
The county government usually provides services the towns need, like snow removal and law enforcement.
I'm from the Ellston, Sun Valley Lake area, and when the roads get snowed over really bad, Ellston usually has to either wait for the snow removal service from a nearby town such as Kellerton or Mount Ayr, but also, a lot of us have personal snow plows that we put on the front of our vehicles that is able to do most of the work.
I went to school from kdg. through sophomore in Le Roy. Then it merged with 3 other towns to form Mormon Trail schools and I graduated from there. My mother was a school teacher, spent her entire life teaching in Le Roy then Mormon Trail and still was teaching when she died. My dad born and raised in the area was a farmer. I loved growing up in southern Iowa. I was married in that church in 1962 and it''s still a very active church. Don't know that I'm particularly proud that my hometown is the smallest in Iowa, but I'm still proud to have grown up there. The people were great and there was more to the town, but not a lot, when I was growing up.
Thanks for the info! Much appreciated!
Check out Leland,Iowa
I actually prefer Vinje. Lol just kidding. I had the bars all you could eat chicken and ribs years ago and boy it hit the spot when we were working on the road in the area. Never tried Vinje bar but I heard it was a great time years ago anyways.
Our farm was near the little, now dying, of Ruthven Iowa. These towns started going down hill with the end of passenger train service... then as the Baby Boom passed the local schools consolidated, then again... and again.
The Interstate highways don't pass through towns like the old highways did.
My grandma is originally from the ruthven area
Funny, it wasn't a bridge of Madison County. Great video, very interesting. I wonder what people do in those small towns and where they work? I would think it would be very boring living there.
Thanks! Usually most of these small towns have an older population and most of the jobs are farming and rural.
They're mostly bedroom communities. It doesn't take long to drive to a bigger town for work.
Yetter is 5 miles from Lytton, where I grew up. I knew someone who moved from Lytton (population 376 at the time) to Yetter... probably for the "peace and quiet"! Also, I recognize some of the family names on that rock.
Grew up and still live in Pomeroy.
I lived on a farm about 4 1/2 miles N.E. of #3 Conway IA until 1976. Ever since, I have lived in and around the Cedar Rapids area.
Interesting trip, I noticed no wind generation, maybe too flat. Good to see the wheels of death & the pups. Be safe my friend
Thank you! Good point about the wind turbines. 🤔
Iowa contains more than 6,000 wind turbines, even after the tornadoes of this spring.
Well, first time ever, have been shown a railroad diesel switcher at a grain elevator in an out of the way place. Green liveried 6974 at the Farmers Coop elevator, Yetter, IA. Have travelled from the UK just to see such on many occasions, and this one is new to me. The number of times I have wished that the blogger would show me the rail siding, to see whether there is switcher there !! Thanks a lot, don't forget us crazy railfans in the future. Will have to try to find the identity and history of 6974 now.
Has taken me a few hours, but 6974 is an EMD SD40-2, built by GMD Canada A2310/1968 as Canadian National SD40 5058. Was rebuilt by Alsthom, Canada in 1999, becoming Burlington Northern Santa Fe SD40-2 7314, later renumbered 6974. Subsequently sold out of service, and becoming Farmers Cooperative Co, FARX 6974 at Yetter.
Awesome stuff! It’s just dumb luck that I included it - I just thought it looked cool 😂😂 Thanks for the great info!
I live in Charleton, IA. We are not on the map, but there is one sign saying our name. We do not have a post office. We do have a bar/grill. There are two small businesses, a woodworking and a private one that sells barrels and small storage units. Our school is a county collection is one mile away. In the history, we were the county seat. There was a large hotel that was a convention building. I believe our population is about 20 now. The town was brought together in 1839 by a family who owned a trucking company. Nice and quiet.
I kinda liked Bankston a lot. Church was specular. Although the fact several of them had parks and play grounds makes them fun to see. 11 people...Leroy. I'll bet the city council meeting draw the whole town
Haha yes! 6 votes passed new legislation 😂
I lived in Centerville . It's a wee larger than surrounding ones,being a county seat.
Very nice! What equipment are you using? Best wishes.
I’m pretty simple. Just my iPhone and a drone!
We go to Berkley for the annual BRR ride on bicycles in February from Perry Iowa
I've enjoyed your trips to the small towns. Growing up in a small town in North Dakota where my grandparents homesteaded at the turn of the 20th century, I learned how the area developed. You might wonder why people settled along the railroads. There are a few reasons, the homestead act, the soil suited to agriculture, the immigration from Europe at the time, etc. Your maps show that the counties were laid out in near perfect rectangular layout. So, why did the railroads develop in such areas, and why did the immigrants settle along the railroad lines. The settlers were primarily immigrants, some with agricultural background who were looking for land to farm, others with shopping keeping or professional experience that these farmers would need to buy the clothes, food, and other necessities and services they would need. It was not unlike the development of communities around mines in other areas of the country. The government and the homesteading act provided the land. Railroads came because they were given land on either side of the tracts, every ten miles of so, so it could be sold to the immigrants to develop a townsite. The farmers needed places to market their grain and the grain elevators to buy it, since the mills were located in cities further east, the case of North Dakota, in Minneapolis. So why every ten miles or so? That was the distance a team of horses pulling a grain wagon could travel forth and back from the grain elevator. As time passed, some immigrants couldn't make a go it, so they sold their land to adjacent farmers who could, after their homestead obligations were fulfilled. As farms and farming equipment grew in size to handle more farmland, farmers income improved so they afford the new equipment. With trucks replacing the horses and wagons they could reach the grain elevators over a longer distance and the small towns in between the new terminals shrunk in size while the more distant towns with larger elevators grew in size. This has been the way the plains states have developed. The little towns survive because the survivors there can afford to live there, possibly because they sold their land, and the location has become endeared to them.
Greta post! Thanks for the info - very interesting!
I can’t say my favorite town - it keeps getting autocorrected. I love when people leave signs to share history. The churches were beautiful. Lovely to see on a Sunday morning.
Thank you! I wonder why it keeps autocorrecting 🤔 🤷🏼♂️
Still autocorrects, but it’s better with a Y.
HY-Vee should seriously think about opening that store in a way that sells commemorative things and small amount of groceries.
Would be very cool 😎
Love small quite towns..thanks
My pleasure! 😊
Lot of little towns in eastern Iowa too. Some incorporated some not
These towns make my favorite super small town, Climbing Hill, in Woodbury Country, look like a metropolis by comparison!
Great film clip full of facts
Thanks!
I did land surveying in SW Iowa based in Atlantic and spent a week working in Coburg mapping the place. Numerous small towns. We did wind mills farms north of Mason City and South of Sac City and cell phone towers everywhere. We had supper one time in Sac City and our boss came down and we hit the stripper bar, only because of him and I remember sitting on a 4 wheeler and this girl drove by. She was one of the dancers. Another time. We also mapped out a lot of these airports for weels and saw like one plane. I was near Sac City on some dirt road by myself and dug a 3 ft deep hole 6 ft in diameter right in the middle of the road and a deputy came by and didn't say a thing, just waved
Very interesting!
Loved this
Lived in Iowa for my entire life, never heard of any of these towns.
I’ve lived in Illinois all my life and there are small towns here that I never heard of.
I grew up in Mount Carroll Illinois and lots of people have never heard of it unless you are from there or nearby. That’s probably the case with many of these places in Iowa.
It seems that the southern part of Iowa has lots of small towns. It’s similar to the northern part of Missouri. There’s probably more life in the cemetery than in the actual towns.
The city hall in so many of small towns look like an outdoor toilet.
The owner of the Ellston Theater House and the big blue shed in Beaconsfield are married. The two towns are less than 5 miles apart. If you move to either town, dont expect to recreate at Sun Valley Lake. It is a private lake.
I used to blow that stop sign at 4am in Leroy every moring on my way to work! We lived about 10 miles south of Leroy on the same road.
I was expecting to see Mederville (with maybe 10 people if that) but when I didn't, I went looking and it is unincorporated. But if you ever decide to do the small uninc's check it out because it's got a lot of history.
Thanks!
Very nice video. My three decades working for a regional electric power cooperative in Iowa put me at or working with power lines near around 2/3 of those small towns. It brought back memories.
Thank you! It was fun!