Martensdale, Iowa

Martensdale holds an unusual distinction: it is one of Warren County's younger communities, a railroad-era town of the early twentieth century. What made this spot attractive was a convergence of railroads running close together, including the Great Western. A railhead where lines nearly met was exactly the kind of place where a small trading town could take root in early twentieth-century Iowa. The rails are gone now, but Martensdale endures as one of those quiet Warren County communities just south of the Des Moines metro.