Missouri Valley: Where Three Railroads Met

The town that became Missouri Valley started in eighteen fifty-six as a settlement in a hollow along the Missouri River bluffs in Harrison County. For years it went by St. John's, then Findley, then Old St. Johns, names that came and went with different postmasters and plat claims.

The defining moment came in the late eighteen fifties, when residents relocated closer to a railroad junction where three lines converged: the Chicago and North Western, the Sioux City and Pacific, and the Fremont Elkhorn and Missouri Valley. A town at that junction was almost guaranteed to grow.

Missouri Valley incorporated and took its geographic name from the great river valley all around it. Harrison County itself honors President William Henry Harrison. The town today serves as the main commercial hub for the Iowa side of the Missouri River south of Council Bluffs.