Polk City, Iowa

Polk City was settled in eighteen forty-six, when pioneers arrived and laid out the town. The town square is kept as a park, and Polk City still has the only town square in Polk County. Early on, the town was a rival of young Des Moines, boasting a flour mill, five shoe shops, three general stores, and five saloons.

A railroad later came through, linking Ames and Des Moines right past the town. Local tradition holds that when planners designed the Saylorville Reservoir, one option would have flooded Polk City, and that Big Creek Lake just to the north was built in part to spare the town. Either way, the town now has the recreation water you can see today.