Random Iowa

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While summer may now be officially over (especially weather-wise) we still have one more installment in our series documenting some of the cities along U.S. Route 30 in Iowa. Our last destination is Nevada, Iowa ! Like its central Iowa counterpart Madrid, which we also visited back in March , the pronunciation of Nevada is different from that of the well-known Western U.S. state . The county seat of Story County with almost 6,700 residents, Nevada proudly identifies itself as the "26th best small town in America"! 9 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Nevada, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Nevada, Iowa article on Wikipedia City of Nevada official website

After indicating back in May that this city was on our list, we finally made it last month to Brooklyn, Iowa! Fortunately on the day of our visit it was very windy, which helped show off this "Community of Flags" . In addition to the central display of flags from all 50 states there are also flags from other nations throughout the downtown area. I discovered two (of I am sure many) interesting stories about Brooklyn while researching for this post. Firstly, that the community (again, of about 1,400) raised $52,000 in one month to save the William Manatt house, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Secondly,, that the editor of The Brooklyn Paper spent a week in the city covering the Iowa Presidential caucuses . 9 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Brooklyn, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Brooklyn, Iowa article on Wikipedia "Frie...

Has it really been this long since we've posted? Where did the summer go? Apologies to our loyal readers! The fourth stop on our U.S. Route 30 tour was the city of Lowden, Iowa! Incorporated in 1869 and yet another city of around 800 residents, Lowden showed evidence of a prosperous past and present with an impressive & well kept City Hall (built in 1902), a restored train depot, and even a disc golf course! 4 shots were uploaded to Wikmedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Lowden, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Lowden, Iowa article on Wikipedia

Just a quick note that in addition to following us on Twitter you can now become a fan of this site on Facebook! You can either search for us from within Facebook or click on the link in the left hand menu. As always, we would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future destinations. No matter which method you use, thanks for following our travels! Commons / Steven Walling

The third stop on our trip along U.S. Route 30 was Wheatland, Iowa! Another smaller city (800 inhabitants as of 2000), it was certainly not quiet the evening we arrived, including an ice cream parlor off downtown that was particularly popular. Wheatland is also home to an old city hotel which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Unfortunately it currently appears to be in a state of disrepair, but certainly made for some interesting photos! 5 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with one added to the updated article on Wikipedia (one other photograph was already present). Here are a couple of my favorites: And here are a couple of the more artistic shots taken of the Wheatland City Hotel Links Wheatland, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Wheatland, Iowa article on Wikipedia

Our second stop along U.S. Route 30 was the city of Calamus, Iowa! With a population of around 400 (as of 2000), we were unfortunate to arrive just after the end of their weekend summer festival! 5 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on WIkipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Calamus, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Calamus, Iowa article on Wikipedia

The first in our series of cities located along U.S. Route 30, Grand Mound is a city of almost 700 people (as of 2000) located in Eastern Iowa, near the larger communities of De Witt & Clinton. Several things caught our eye in this city, including a neat city park, older style water tower and a building (previous City Hall perhaps?) from 1880. 9 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with one added to the updated article on Wikipedia (one other photograph was already present). Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Grand Mound, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Grand Mound, Iowa article on Wikipedia

I'm happy to introduce our summer series of posts, which will be focused around the Iowa cities located along U.S. Route 30 ! Wikimedia Commons / Fredddie Running parallel to Interstate 80 from Missouri Valley in the West to Clinton in the East, this stretch of roadway was first designated in 1926, replacing the Lincoln Highway . Major communities along the route include Cedar Rapids , Ames & Carroll . Do you have any interesting facts around or memories of U.S. Route 30? Any suggestions on cities we should visit or sights we should photograph? We would love to hear about them via the comments section below or on Twitter ! Links Detailed information on U.S. Route 30 in Iowa

As posted on Twitter , for last weekend's trip we headed to Dallas County, Iowa and here (finally!) is the trip report! Traveling along Highway 141 was not only a quick method of getting to Dallas county, but also provided several interesting cities to photograph. We managed to visit Granger (with it's "Hot" and "Cold" water towers), Woodward (with a really nice sculpture outside the High school and distinctive yellow water tower), Bouton (with it's Sauerkraut days!) and Perry (with an historic hotel & Carnegie Library , unfortunately neither of which we had time to get good shots of!) Granger, Iowa Woodward, Iowa Bouton, Iowa Perry, Iowa 27 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with eight added to Wikipedia. Links Granger, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Granger, Iowa article on Wikipedia Woodward, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Woodward, Iowa article on Wikipedia Bouton, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated ...

As you may have noticed things have been a bit quiet on the site for the past couple of weeks. Well I'm happy to report that we are still dedicated to bringing you photographs of random Iowa places, and now that "real life" is no longer in the way we will be back on the road again! Thanks for your patience and look for new content coming soon!

Our biggest apologies to the city of Brooklyn! Due to a miscalculation we arrived there on Sunday with the sun too low to take any good pictures. We also tried to stop by on Tuesday but ran into a storm. Hopefully the third time will be the charm!

This week we will be heading to Brooklyn, Iowa ! View Larger Map Sharing a name with one of the five boroughs of New York City , this city of around 1,400 people (as of 2000) is known as the Community of Flags , and I'm sure you will be seeing a few flags in our photographs! Aerial View of Brooklyn, New York. Source: Commons / Flickr / Kris Arnold What sights do you think we should look to document in Brooklyn? Have your own interesting shots of this place? Feel free to share them via the comments section below! Links Brooklyn, Iowa website Wikipedia article for Brooklyn, Iowa (as it stands today)

I'm pleased to announce that we've launched a mobile version of the site, thanks to the folks at MoFuse ! Point your mobile/cell/smart phones to m.randomiowa.com to find out where we are headed and our most recent photos while on the go! Or, if you are so inclined, here is the QR code :

Our first trip to an Iowa county instead of a specific city yielded some great results. Firstly the weather was perfect for being outside, and secondly we were able to take photographs for not one but three different articles on Wikipedia! At this pace I'm sure we will be able to take care of those 1,300 or so articles needing photos in no time at all! Ankeny Regional Airport Elkhart, Iowa Alleman, Iowa 16 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with seven added to Wikipedia. Links Ankeny, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Ankeny Regional Airport article on Wikipedia Elkhart, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Elkhart, Iowa article on Wikipedia Alleman, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Alleman, Iowa article on Wikipedia

A change in tactics for this week! As it is getting more difficult to find places fitting our criteria within a "commutable" distance, we have decided to also start visiting different counties around Iowa looking for places to photograph. This has been helped by a kind person who divided up the list of needed photographs on Wikipedia by county! Today we will be visiting Polk County, Iowa ! Formed in 1846 and named after the 11th President of the United States , Polk County is home to Des Moines, the state capitol, and an estimated population in 2007 of 418,339. President James K Polk. Source: Commons / Mathew Brady Some of the requested photographs include: Ankeny Regional Airport Blank Park Zoo Elkhart, Iowa Living History Farms Runnells, Iowa What sights do you think we should look to document in Polk County? Have your own interesting shots of this place? Feel free to share them via the comments section below! Links List of Wikipedia requested photographs in Polk Count...

A quick programming note, there will be no updates this weekend. Thanks for your understanding and we look forward to taking you to more random Iowa places in the near future!

Here are this week's pictures from a sunny and windy Stratford, Iowa! It was great to see several references to their famous namesake in the United Kingdom (not one I called out in the original post of course!), Stratford-upon-Avon, including a Tudorbethan style Library and the main street through downtown being called Shakespeare Avenue. 14 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with three added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Stratford, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Stratford, Iowa article on Wikipedia

For tomorrow's trip we will be heading to Stratford, Iowa ! This city of around 750 in central Iowa shares it's name with several other locations in the United States, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, as well as the area of London which will play host to the 2012 Summer Olympics! View Larger Map Stratford Shopping Centre. Source: Commons / Pedleysd What sights do you think we should look to document in Stratford? Have your own interesting shots of this place? Feel free to share them via the comments section below! Links Stratford, Iowa website Wikipedia article for Stratford, Iowa (as it stands today)

Another week and another set of photos from a random Iowa city! This past Sunday we headed out to Oxford in eastern Iowa. Given Iowa's reputation for being flat I'm always pleasantly surprised to see how rolling that part of the state is when driving around No Rocky Mountains by any means, but still a nice change! Unfortunately our pictures did not turn out the best, which I attribute to a combination of the gloomy weather and windy conditions (hopefully you've seen by now that we can do better! :-)) but we were able to capture most of the major locations in town, including a neat view of the entire town as you drive to it from Interstate 80. 11 shots were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, with two added to the updated article on Wikipedia. Here are a couple of my favorites: Links Oxford, Iowa pictures on Wikimedia Commons Updated Oxford, Iowa article on Wikipedia