ABANDONED TOWNS, VILLAGES AND POST OFFICES OF IOWA

BLACK WALNUT. A post office from 1868 to 1871 and from 1879 to 1881 in the
southern part of Walnut Township, near the West Fork of Des Moines River. 

BLAIRGOWRIE. The name first given, and for a short time only, to the present
village of Osgood. 

CARY. A place in the western part of Highland Township, as shown on maps of
1878.

ELLENTON. A former railroad station near the northwest corner of Freedom
Township, four miles north of Emmetsburg.

FAIRVILLE. A former hamlet and post office (1888-1906) in section 2,
Fairfield Township. 

FERN VALLEY. A post office (1862-82) in Fern Valley Township near where now
stands the town of Rodman.

FORSYTH. A former railroad station and post office (1890-1906) in the
northeast part of Independence Township on the Emmet County line.

GREAT OAK. A post office (1866-76) in the southwest corner of section 36,
Emmetsburg Township, on the west side of the West Fork of Des Moines River. 

IVES. The name first given by the B., C. R.  N. Railroad to the station
at West Bend, but name changed before the building of the town began. 

LAKE VIEW. A post office (1872-83) in the western part of section 21, Silver
Lake Township. 

LOST ISLAND. A post office (1871-79) near the southwest corner of section 30,
Lost Island Township. 

OLD TOWN. The name popularly given to the hamlet which began in 1868 on the
east bank of the West Fork of Des Moines River, one and one-half miles west of
the present city of Emmetsburg. It grew into a prosperous business village, but
in 1874 yielded to the newly laid out railroad town of Emmetsburg. 

PAOLI. Laid out in 1869 for a town in the northern part of section 6, Nevada
Township, about two miles south of the present city of Emmetsburg. It was the
nominal county seat from 1869 until 1876, although it never contained more
buildings than an almost worthless court house and a small school house, and the
county business was transacted in rented rooms, principally at Old Town. Post
office, February 6, 1859, to December 27, 1859. 

POPLAR GROVE. A post office (1872-73) in the western part of West Bend
Township. 

RUSH LAKE. A post office from 1869 to 1871 in the southern part of Booth
Township. 

SAGE. The original name given the railroad station at Emmetsburg by the
Milwaukee road in 1874, but retained but briefly.

SHERLOCK. A post office (1871-82) in the northeastern part of Silver Lake
Township. 

SODA BAR. A post office (1866-76) in section 33, Nevada Township, on the West
Fork of the Des Moines River. 

STAKETOWN. The local name by which the prospective town of Emmetsburg was
known from 1868 to shortly after the coming of the Milwaukee railway in 1874. 

WEST BEND. A post office in the central part of West Bend Township some three
miles southwest of the present town of West Bend and on the east side of the
West Fork of Des Moines River, as shown on maps from 1863 to 1881.


From Annals of Iowa Volume 18, No. 1 July, 1931