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Keokuk, Iowa

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Keokuk, Iowa
City
Main Street, Keokuk
Main Street, Keokuk
Location of Keokuk, Iowa
Location of Keokuk, Iowa
Country United States
State Iowa
CountyLee
IncorporatedDecember 13, 1848[1]
Area
 • Total10.6 sq mi (27.4 km2)
 • Land9.2 sq mi (23.7 km2)
 • Water1.4 sq mi (3.7 km2)
Elevation
571 ft (174 m)
Population
 (2000)
 • Total11,427
 • Density1,247.5/sq mi (481.7/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
52632
Area code319
FIPS code19-40845
GNIS feature ID0458054

Keokuk (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˈkiːəkʌk/) is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park. It is located in the extreme southeast corner of Iowa where the Des Moines River meets with the Mississippi. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 61, 136 and 218. Just across the rivers are the towns of Hamilton and Warsaw, Illinois, and Alexandria, Missouri.

Keokuk, along with the city of Fort Madison, is a principal city of the Fort Madison–Keokuk Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Lee County, Iowa and Clark County, Missouri.

History

Keokuk in 1865.

Situated between the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers, the area that became Keokuk had access to a large trading area and was an ideal location for settlers. In 1820, the US Army prohibited soldiers stationed along the Mississippi River from having wives who were Native American.[2] Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon stationed at Fort Edwards (near present-day Warsaw, Illinois), instead resigned his commission rather than leave his Indian wife and crossed the river to resettle. He built a log cabin for them at the bottom of the bluff, and became the area’s first white settler.

As steamboat traffic on the Mississippi increased, more European Americans began to settle here. Around 1827, John Jacob Astor established a post of his American Fur Company at the foot of the bluff. Five buildings were erected to house workers and the business. This area became known as the “Rat Row.”

One of the earliest descriptions of Keokuk was by Caleb Atwater in 1829:

The village is a small one containing twenty families perhaps. The American Fur Company have a store here and there is a tavern. Many Indians were fishing and their lights on the rapids in a dark night were darting about appearing and disappearing like so many fire flies; the constant roaring of the waters, on the rapids the occasional Indian yell, the lights of their fires on the shore, and the boisterous mirth of the people at the doggery attracted my attention occasionally while we were lying here. Fish were caught here in abundance.[3]

The settlement was part of the land designated in 1824 as a Half-Breed Tract by the United States Government for allotting land to mixed-race descendants of the Sauk and Fox tribes.[4] Typically children of European or British men (fur traders and trappers) and Native women, they were often excluded from tribal communal lands because their fathers were not tribal members. Native Americans considered the settlement a neutral ground.[5] Rules for the tract prohibited individual sale of the land, but the US Congress ended this provision in 1837, creating a land rush and instability.[4]

Centering around the riverboat trade, the settlement continued to grow. The village became known as Keokuk shortly after the Blackhawk War in 1832. Why residents named it after the Sauk chief is unknown. Keokuk was incorporated on December 13, 1847.

In 1853 Keokuk was one of the centers for outfitting Mormon pioneers for their journey west; more than 2,000 Mormons passed through the city.[6]
Keokuk was the longtime home of Orion Clemens, brother of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Samuel's visits to his brother's home led him to write of the beauty of Keokuk and southeastern Iowa in Life on the Mississippi.[7]

During the American Civil War, Keokuk became the embarking point for Union troops heading to fight in southern battles. Injured soldiers were returned to Keokuk for treatment, so several hospitals were established. A national cemetery was designated for those who did not survive. After the war was over, Keokuk continued its expansion. A medical college was founded, along with a major-league baseball team, the Keokuk Westerns, in 1875.

In 1913, Lock and Dam No. 19 was completed nearby on the Mississippi River. The population of Keokuk reached 15,106 by 1930.[8] During the last half of the twentieth century, Keokuk has become less engaged in Mississippi River trade and more dependent on jobs in local factories. The town celebrated 150 years in 1997.

Geography

Keokuk's longitude and latitude coordinates in decimal form are 40.402525, -91.394372. Template:GR According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.6 square miles (27 km2), of which, 9.2 square miles (24 km2) of it is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2) of it (13.42%) is water. The lowest point in the state of Iowa is located on the Mississippi River in Keokuk, where it flows out of Iowa and into Missouri and Illinois. The confluence is located about a mile west of downtown.

Demographics

Keokuk
Historical Populations
CensusPop.Note%±
18502,478—
18608,136228.3%
187012,76656.9%
188012,117−5.1%
189014,10116.4%
190014,6413.8%
191014,008−4.3%
192014,4233.0%
193015,1064.7%
194015,076−0.2%
195016,1447.1%
196016,3161.1%
197014,631−10.3%
198013,536−7.5%
199012,451−8.0%
200011,427−8.2%
Iowa Data Center

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 11,427 people, 4,773 households, and 3,021 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,247.5 people per square mile (481.7/km²). There are 5,327 housing units at an average density of 581.6 per square mile (224.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city is 92.9% White, 3.9% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.5% Asian, < 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.5% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. 1.1% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 4,773 households out of which 29.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.8% are married couples living together, 13.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% are non-families. 32.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 16.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.35 and the average family size is 2.97.

Population spread: 25.4% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 88.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 83.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $31,586, and the median income for a family is $39,574. Males have a median income of $31,213 versus $21,420 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,144. 11.9% of the population and 8.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 15.7% of those under the age of 18 and 13.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Education

The Keokuk Community School District has three elementary schools (George Washington, Hawthorne, and Wells Carey), Keokuk Middle School, and Keokuk High School. Several additional elementary schools have been closed over the years (Torrence, Lincoln, Garfield, and Jefferson). The middle school was damaged by a fire in 2001[9] and replaced by a new school on a lot next to the high school.

Private education is provided by Keokuk Catholic Schools and Keokuk Christian Academy.

Keokuk is also home to a campus of Southeastern Community College (Iowa).

A few miles north of Keokuk is the Galland School, a replica of the first schoolhouse constructed in Iowa.

Arts and culture

Attractions

Keokuk, Iowa at bottom, with the Mississippi River, lock and dam No. 19, power plant, rail bridge and highway bridge.

The Mississippi River lock and dam along with the hydroelectric power plant were built in 1913. They still use most of the original equipment. When the plant began operation in August, 1913, it was the largest single powerhouse electric generating plant in the world.[10] It is part of the Keokuk Lock & Dam, both of which are visible from a park at the foot of the commercial district. Built in 1913, the old lock was too small to serve the newer, larger barges. It was replaced in 1957 with a 1200' x 110' lock. At the time of construction in 1913, this was the longest dam in the world, with the longest transmission line and the highest voltage in the world. The Chief Engineer was Hugh L. Cooper.

Designed by Merle F. Baker, the Grand Theatre was constructed on the foundation of the Keokuk Opera House (c. 1880), which burned down in 1923. Modeled after theaters in Chicago, it was praised as one of the finest theaters in the country at the time. The Grand Theatre is owned by the city of Keokuk and used as a performing arts center. The theatre has housed many historically important performers over the years, including John Philip Sousa and Maynard Ferguson.

The Iowa Water Council has ranked the tap water produced at the Keokuk Waterworks Plant as the "Best Tasting Water In Iowa".

Keokuk is home to the Keokuk National Cemetery, the Keokuk Veteran's Memorial, the Miller House Museum, an annual American Civil War reenactment, and the George M. Verity River Museum.

Music

Each summer Keokuk is home to "Rollin' on the River," a local blues festival that attracts hundreds to Victory Park.

The Irish-themed McNamara's Band is a community concert band that has performed for decades. It regularly performs throughout the area.

Once a month the jazz big band, "Craig Bullis and Friends," performs at the local Hawkeye restaurant. The band is made up of area jazz musicians, as well as both collegiate-level students and professors of music. The band has featured such guest artists as Reggie Watkins, former lead trombone and music arranger for Maynard Ferguson and Big Bop Nouveau.

Theatre

Keokuk is home to the Great River Players, a thespian troupe that strives "to provide quality amateur theatrical productions for the tri-state area by encouraging members of the surrounding communities to express their creative abilities in all aspects of live theatre." The troupe performs a season of three shows, usually two plays and one musical.

  • Mentioned in an episode of The Simpsons where Krusty the Klown mentioned Keokuk, as a "funny" named places;
  • Nickelodeon's All Grown Up, episode in which a class project involved family trees with ancestors originating in Keokuk;
  • M*A*S*H in a story line involving Radar O'Reilly;
  • An episode of the New Zoo Revue in which Freddy the Frog was blurting out random answers for a trivia contest;
  • Dennis the Menace cartoon; and
  • subject of a joke on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.
  • It is also referred to in the Broadway musical, The Pajama Game, where the character Gladys says, "I know I'm beautiful, probably the most beautiful girl north of Keokuk."
  • In the novel, Water for Elephants, the circus travels the U.S. and Keokuk is one of their stops.
  • In the 1983 film Testament, which dramatises a nuclear war against the U.S., a ham radio operator states that he was unable to reach anyone east of Keokuk, Iowa.

Keokuk, and a fictional professional football team the Keokuk Colonels, are mentioned multiple times in the novel American Empire: The Victorious Opposition by Harry Turtledove.[11]

Notable people

See also

Local landmarks

References

  1. ^ "Keokuk, Iowa". City-Data. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
  2. ^ Sloat, Jerry. “Lee County, Iowa”.
  3. ^ Caleb Atwater (1831) Remarks made on a tour to Prairie du Chien: thence to Washington City, in 1829. p. 58-59. Columbus, Ohio: Issac Whiting
  4. ^ a b "The Half-Breed Tract", Lee County History. Retrieved 1/28/08.
  5. ^ Sloat, Jerry. “Lee County, Iowa”. p. 44
  6. ^ Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedia History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 398
  7. ^ Life on the Mississppi. Mark Twain. Ch. 57
  8. ^ Jensen. Encyclopedic History, p. 398
  9. ^ Radio Iowa: Fire damages Keokuk school, arson could be cause
  10. ^ Shaw, Albert (October 1913). "Dedicating the Great Keokuk Dam". The American Review of Reviews. XLVIII (4). New York: The Review of Reviews Company: 407Template:Inconsistent citations{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  11. ^ American Empire: The Victorious Opposition, pp. 331-332, Harry Turtledove. Del Ray Books / Random House Inc., Published 2003.
  12. ^ "Palmer Pyle". NFL. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  13. ^ "Jeremy Soule". Giant Bomb. Retrieved 2011-01-16.

Further reading

For a depiction of Keokuk during its early boom years see: Michael A. Ross, “Cases of Shattered Dreams: Justice Samuel Freeman Miller and the Rise and Fall of a Mississippi River Town,” Annals of Iowa, 57 (Summer 1998): 201-239.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Keokuk, Iowa.


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