Origin of Town Names in Crawford County
CRAWFORD COUNTY, State of Iowa. The county was named for W. H. Crawford, secretary of treasure in 1817-1825 under President Monroe. The county was created in 1854 and organized in 1855.
ARION - was named form the celebrated poet and cithara player of Lesbos of ancient Greek history. This is supposed to be one of the myth names for the Grecian god Apollo.
BERNE - was named and platted by the Western Town Lot Company in 1899, and named from the city and canton, in Switzerland.
BOYER - was laid out by the Western Town Lot Company in 1889. The place was named from the stream that flows past the town. The stream was named for the Boyer family of Berks County, Pennsylvania, one of that family having been a hunter and trapper amongst the Indians in this part of Iowa. The stream is mentioned by Lewis and Clark and also by Maximilian, Prince of Weid, who explored this part of the country in an early day.
DELOIT - was platted by the Western Town Lot Company, in 1899, and was named Beloit from the city in Wisconsin. As another location had adopted this name, it was changed by using the initial "D" in the place of "B" and, thus the present name was made.
DENISON, County Seat - was named by Rev. J. W. Denison a Baptist preacher who organized the Providence Western Land Company, and who platted this town in 1856, and named it for himself.
DOW CITY - was named for Judge S. E. Dow, a prominent citizen of the county, who once owned the land on which the town site was platted. At first the town was called "Dowville," but afterwards was changed to its present form.
KIRON - was located by the Western Town Lot Company in 1899, and was named by Andrew Norelius, who had an interest in the place, from Kiron in Manchuria, in China.
RICKETTS - was laid out by the Western Town Lot Company in 1899 and was named for an early settler.
SCHLESWIG - was laid out in 1899 by the Western Town Lot Company and was named for the Province of Schleswig in Europe, because many of the nearby farmers had emigrated from that Province. Until recently the name of the postoffice here was called "Hohenzollern."
WEST SIDE - was so named because it was the first town on the railroad west of the high lands that divide the waters that flow into the Missouri and Mississippi Valleys respectively.
Abandoned Names
Dowville became Dow City
Hohenzollern was moved to Schleswig
Source: A history of the origin of the place names connected with the Chicago and North Western Railroad, 1908. William H. Stennett.