Council Bluffs, Iowa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Council Bluffs, Iowa
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Haymarket Historic District (2015)
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| Motto(s):
"Iowa's Spirit"
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Location in Iowa
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 Council Bluffs, Iowa
Location in Iowa
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Location in the United States
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  Iowa |
| County | Pottawattamie |
| Incorporated | January 19, 1853 |
| Area | |
| • City | 45.67 sq mi (118.29 km2) |
| • Land | 42.96 sq mi (111.27 km2) |
| • Water | 2.71 sq mi (7.02 km2) |
| Elevation | 978 ft (298 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • City | 62,799 |
| • Estimate
(2021)
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62,415  |
| • Rank | 10th in Iowa |
| • Density | 1,375.06/sq mi (530.890/km2) |
| • Metro | 967,604 (58th) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes |
51501-51503
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| Area code(s) | 712 |
| FIPS code | 19-16860 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2393650 |
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. Its population was 62,799 as of the 2020 census, making it the state's tenth most populous city, and the most populous city in Southwest Iowa. The Omaha metropolitan region of which Council Bluffs is a part, is the 58th largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 967,604 (2020). It is located on the east bank of the Missouri River, across from Omaha, Nebraska. Until about 1853 Council Bluffs was known as Kanesville. Kanesville was the historic starting point of the Mormon Trail. Kanesville is also the northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trails because there was a steam-powered boat which ferried the settlers' wagons and cattle across the Missouri River. In 1869, the first transcontinental railroad to California was connected to the existing U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs.
Contents
History
1804–1843 - Pottawatomi Reservation Caldwell's Camp
The first Council Bluff name (singular) was actually on the Nebraska side of the river at Fort Atkinson (Nebraska) about 20 miles northwest of the current Council Bluffs. It was named by Lewis and Clark for a bluff where they met with the Otoe tribe on August 2, 1804.
The Iowa side became an Indian Reservation for members of the Council of Three Fires of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi who were forced to vacate the Chicago area in the Treaty of Chicago in 1833/1835 clearing the way for that city to incorporate.
The largest contingent of Native Americans moving to the area were the Pottawatomi who were led by Sauganash ("one who speaks English") whose father was a British loyalist William Caldwell who founded Canadian communities on the north side of the Detroit River and whose mother was a Native American. The band of about 1,000 to 2,000 seeking to avoid confrontation with the Sioux who were natives of the Council Bluffs area initially settled further south in Indian Territory on the east side of the Missouri River between Leavenworth, Kansas and St. Joseph, Missouri.
When this area was bought from Ioway, Sac and Fox tribes in the Platte Purchase to become part of Missouri in 1837, Sauganash and the Pottawatomi were forced to move to their official reservation in Council Bluffs. Sauganash's English name was Billy Caldwell and the village came to be called Caldwell's Camp. The group was sometimes called the Bluff Indians. The U.S. Dragoons built a small fort nearby.
In 1838–39, the missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet founded St. Joseph's Mission to minister to the Potawatomi. De Smet was appalled by the violence and brutality caused by the whiskey trade, and tried to protect the tribe from unscrupulous traders. However, he had little success in persuading tribal members to convert to Christianity and resorted to secret baptisms of Indian children.
During this time, De Smet contributed to Joseph Nicollet’s work in mapping the upper midwest. De Smet produced the first European-recorded, detailed map of the Council Bluffs area; it detailed the Missouri River valley system, from below the Platte River to the Big Sioux River.
De Smet wrote an early description of the Potawatomi settlement, which captures his bias:
As more native Americans were pushed into the Council Bluffs area by pressure of European-American settlement to the east, inter-tribal conflict increased, fueled by the illegal whiskey trade. The US Army built Fort Croghan in 1842, to keep order and try to control liquor traffic on the Missouri River. However that fort was destroyed in a flood the same year.
By 1846 the Pottawatomi were forced to move again to a new reservation at Osawatomie, Kansas.
1844–1851 - Mormon Community of Kanesville
In 1844, the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party crossed the Missouri River here, on their way to blaze a new path into California across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Beginning in 1846, there was a large influx of Latter-day Saints into the area, although in the winter of 1847–1848 most Latter-day Saints crossed to the Nebraska side of the Missouri River. Initially, the area was called "Miller's Hollow", after Henry W. Miller, who would be the first member of the Iowa State Legislature from the area. Miller also was the foreman for the construction of the Kanesville Tabernacle.
By 1848, the town had become known as Kanesville, named for benefactor Thomas L. Kane, who had helped negotiate in Washington, DC federal permission for the Mormons to use Indian land along the Missouri for their winter encampment of 1846–47. Built at or next to Caldwell's Camp, Kanesville became the main outfitting point for the Mormon Exodus to Utah, and it is the recognized head end of the Mormon Trail.
Edwin Carter, who would become a noted naturalist in Colorado, worked here from 1848–1859 in a dry goods store. He helped supply Mormon wagon trains.
Settlers departing west from Kanesville, into the sparsely settled, unorganized parts of the Territory of Missouri to the Oregon Country and the newly conquered California Territory, through the (eventual) Nebraska Territory, traveled by wagon trains along the much-storied Oregon, Mormon, or California Trails into the newly expanded United States western lands.
After the first large organized wagon trains left Missouri in 1841, the annual migration waves began in earnest by spring of 1843. They built up, thereafter, with the opening of the Mormon Trail (1846) until peaking in the later 1860s, when news of railroad's progress had a braking effect.
By the 1860s, virtually all migration wagon trains were passing near the renamed town. The wagon train trails became less important with the advent of the first complete transcontinental railway in 1869, but while trail use diminished after that, their use continued on at lesser rates until late in the nineteenth century.
The Mormon Battalion began their march from Kanesville to California during the Mexican–American War. This was where plural marriage first began to be openly practiced. Orson Hyde began publishing The Frontier Guardian newspaper, and Brigham Young was sustained as the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church). The community was transformed by the California Gold Rush, and the majority of Mormons left for Utah by 1852.
1852-1900 Council Bluffs and Beginning of Railroad Era
In 1852, the town was renamed Council Bluffs. It continued as a major outfitting point on the Missouri River for the Emigrant Trail and Pike's Peak Gold Rush, and entertained a lively steamboat trade.
Council Bluffs (rather than Omaha) was designated by Abraham Lincoln as the official starting point of the transcontinental railroad which was completed in 1869. The official "Mile 0" start is at 21st Street and 9th Avenue which is now marked by a gold spike that was used for the promotion of the movie Union Pacific Council Bluffs physical connection to the Transcontinental Railroad was delayed until 1872 when the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge opened (railroad cars had to be ferried across the Missouri River from Council Bluffs to Omaha in the early days of the Transcontinental).
The Chicago and North Western Railway arrived 1867. Other railroads operating in the city came to include the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, Chicago Great Western Railway, Wabash Railroad, Illinois Central Railroad, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.
1900–present
In 1926, the portion of Council Bluffs west of the Missouri River seceded to form Carter Lake, Iowa. Carter Lake had been cut off by a change in the course of the Missouri River.
By the 1930s, Council Bluffs had grown into the country's fifth largest rail center. The railroads helped the city become a center for grain storage, and massive grain elevators continue to mark the city's skyline. Other industries in the city included Blue Star Foods, Dwarfies Cereal, Frito-Lay, Georgie Porgie Cereal, Giant Manufacturing, Kimball Elevators, Mona Motor Oil, Monarch, Reliance Batteries, Woodward's Candy, and World Radio. During the 1940s, Meyer Lansky operated a greyhound racing track in Council Bluffs.
Restructuring of the railroad industry caused the loss of many jobs after the mid-20th century, as did the restructuring of heavy industry. Many jobs moved offshore. By the late 20th century the city and region were suffering economic stagnation and a declining population, as they struggled to develop a new economy. Downtown urban renewal was undertaken to create a new future while emphasizing the strengths of heritage.
Geography
Council Bluffs is located at 41°15′13″N 95°51′45″W / 41.25361°N 95.86250°W (41.253698, −95.862388).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 43.62 square miles (112.98 km2), of which 40.97 square miles (106.11 km2) is land and 2.65 square miles (6.86 km2) is water.
Council Bluffs covers a unique topographic region originally composed of prairie and savanna in the Loess Hills with extensive wetlands and deciduous forest along the Missouri River. Excellent vistas can be had from KOIL Point at Fairmont Park, the Lincoln Monument, Kirn Park, and the Lewis and Clark Monument. Lake Manawa State Park is located at the southern edge of the city.
For the 1820s era United States Army outpost, see Fort Atkinson (Nebraska).
Demographics
| Historical population | ||
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| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1860 | 2,011 | — |
| 1870 | 10,020 | +398.3% |
| 1880 | 18,063 | +80.3% |
| 1890 | 21,474 | +18.9% |
| 1900 | 25,802 | +20.2% |
| 1910 | 29,292 | +13.5% |
| 1920 | 36,162 | +23.5% |
| 1930 | 42,048 | +16.3% |
| 1940 | 41,439 | −1.4% |
| 1950 | 45,429 | +9.6% |
| 1960 | 55,641 | +22.5% |
| 1970 | 60,348 | +8.5% |
| 1980 | 56,449 | −6.5% |
| 1990 | 54,315 | −3.8% |
| 2000 | 58,268 | +7.3% |
| 2010 | 62,230 | +6.8% |
| 2020 | 62,799 | +0.9% |
| 2021 (est.) | 62,415 | −0.6% |
| Iowa Data Center Source: U.S. Decennial Census |
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Council Bluffs is the primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area.
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 62,230 people, 24,793 households, and 15,528 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,518.9 inhabitants per square mile (586.5/km2). There were 26,594 housing units at an average density of 649.1 per square mile (250.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 90.9% White, 1.9% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 3.6% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.5% of the population.
There were 24,793 households, of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% were married couples living together, 15.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.4% were non-families. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.01.
The median age in the city was 35.9 years. 24.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.1% were from 25 to 44; 25.6% were from 45 to 64; and 13.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.7% male and 51.3% female.
Economy
The liberalization of Iowa gambling laws was followed by the opening of The Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in 1986. By 2005, Council Bluffs was the 19th largest casino market in the United States, with revenue equaling nearly $434 million. Casinos include Ameristar Casino Council Bluffs, Harrah's Council Bluffs, and the Horseshoe Council Bluffs.
Council Bluffs industry includes "frozen foods, robotics, dairy products, plastics, railroading, electrical products, and pork and beef packaging" per the city's website. American Games (a manufacturer of lottery gaming products), Barton Solvents, Con-Agra, Grundorf, Katelman Foundry, Omaha Standard Palfinger (a truck body manufacturer established in 1926), Red Giant Oil, and Tyson Foods have manufacturing plants in the city.
Griffin Pipe Products, established in 1921, closed its plant employing about 250 people in March 2014, when it was bought by U.S. Pipe and Foundry, based in Birmingham, Alabama. Griffin Wheels, a part of American Steel Foundries, was one of the largest US manufacturers of iron railroad-car wheels until it switched to pipes in the 1960s.
Mid-American Energy built a new coal-fired plant in 2007; the billion dollar investment was the single largest private investment in Iowa's history up until then.
In 2007, Google began construction of a server farm on the former site of the Council Bluffs drive-in theater on Veterans Memorial Highway. This first phase, completed in 2009, was to create "200 high quality jobs". The second Google campus, on Bunge Avenue, had an open house in October 2013, employing 50 people who are "installing and upgrading Google servers and providing maintenance on equipment". In March 2014, a third phase, the Southlands expansion, was announced, creating 35 additional jobs and bringing Google's investment up to $1.5 billion, the largest private investment in Iowa's history to date. The state increased its tax abatement of sales and use tax for Google from $9.6 million to $16.8 million. As of July 2014[update] Google stated it created 130 jobs and as of June 2016 "over 300 jobs" on site. In particular, the server farms are backing the entire "us-central1" region of the Google Cloud Platform.
Arts and culture
Council Bluffs is the location of the Pottawattamie County "Squirrel Cage" Jail, in use from 1885 until 1969, which is one of three remaining examples of a Rotary Jail. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was built as a rotary jail with pie-shaped cells on a turntable. To access individual cells, the jailer turned a crank to rotate the cylinder until the desired cell lined up with a fixed opening on each floor. According to the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County, the Squirrel Cage Jail is the only three-story rotary jail constructed. Although the rotary mechanism was disabled in 1960, the building remained the county jail for another 9 years. Similar, smaller examples of the concept can be seen in Crawfordsville, Indiana and Gallatin, Missouri.
The city's strong ties to the railroad industry are commemorated by three local museums. The Union Pacific Museum is located in the former Council Bluffs Free Public Library (a Carnegie library), at Pearl Street and Willow Avenue; the Grenville Dodge Home is on Third Street; and the RailsWest Railroad Museum is at South Main Street and Sixteenth Avenue. RailsWest is housed in an 1899 Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad passenger depot later shared with the Milwaukee Road, which was used by the Rocky Mountain Rocket, the Arrow, and the Midwest Hiawatha. RailsWest features an outdoor display of historic train cars, including a Railway Post Office car, two steam locomotives, two cabooses, a Burlington Lounge car, and a 1953 switcher produced by the Plymouth Locomotive Works.
The Iowa West Foundation, the charitable wing of the local gambling industry, funded a public art planning process for Council Bluffs in 2004 which emphasized a 2015 goal for the city to become "a prosperous urban area known for its cultural enlightenment and public art collection." To this end the city renovated Bayliss Park in downtown, which was re-dedicated in early 2007 with a new fountain dubbed Wellspring. Its performance pavilion, known as Oculus, was designed by sculptor Brower Hatcher. This was the first installation of the Iowa West Public Art, a foundation established during the Public Art Master Planning process. The Iowa West Foundation then established IWPA along with a public art website.
In 2008 a 50-foot (15 m)-tall Molecule Man sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky was installed at the Mid-America Center; nearby sculptures were designed by William King and Jun Kaneko. Albert Paley designed elements of the nearby South 24th Street bridge at Exit 1B of the combined Interstate 29 and Interstate 80 at Council Bluffs and Ed Carpenter designed Gateway for the West Broadway viaduct. Artist Dan Corson and the Big Mo by Mark di Suvero are featured at Tom Hanfan's River's Edge Park along the banks of the Missouri River.
Council Bluffs is also home to the Chanticleer Community Theater, TVI Filtration Corporation (a major supplier of discount automotive products), and Hamilton College (Iowa) which is now part of Kaplan University – Council Bluffs.
The black squirrel is the city's mascot. John James Audubon wrote about these squirrels in 1843, along the Missouri River at Council Bluffs.
For one week in late July/early August, the annual Pottawattamie County Fair is held at Westfair grounds. There are carnival rides, concerts, gun shows, tractor races, and a queen contest.
Sports
The Iowa Blackhawks (later known as the Council Bluffs Express) of the American Professional Football League played at the Mid-America Center from 2004 until 2012. The Mid-America Center was also home to the Omaha Lancers from 2002 until 2008. Iowa Rampage Arena Football to kick-off in 2024 with relaunch of Arena Football League
Council Bluffs hosted two minor league baseball teams. The Council Bluffs Rails played in 1935 and were preceded by the 1903 Council Bluffs Bluffers. The Bluffers played as members of the Class D level Iowa-South Dakota League in 1903 and the 1935 Rails were members of the Class A level Western League. The teams hosted minor league home games at Broadway Park in 1935 and the Lake Manawa Ballpark in 1903.
Education
Public education in the city of Council Bluffs is provided by two school districts: Council Bluffs Community School District and Lewis Central Community School District. Most of the city is located within the Council Bluffs Community School District which operates these public schools: 10 elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools (Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson), Tucker Career & College Center, Anne E. Nelson Early Learning Center, and Kanesville Alternative Learning Center. As of the 2008–2009 school year, the district had a total enrollment of 9,246. The Lewis Central Community School District (one high school, one middle school, and two elementary schools) serves the southern portion of Council Bluffs and enrolled 3,047 students as of the 2008–2009 school year.
There are several private schools in Council Bluffs including Community Christian School, Heartland Christian School, Liberty Christian School, Saint Albert Catholic Schools (of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines), and Trinity Lutheran Interparish School.
The Iowa School for the Deaf moved to the south edge of Council Bluffs in 1870 along what is now Iowa Highway 92. It is open to all students in both Iowa and Nebraska who are younger than 21 and whose hearing loss places them at a disadvantage in the public schools.
Iowa Western Community College is located on the eastern edge of Council Bluffs near the intersection of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 6 and is the home of the radio station KIWR. Buena Vista University also has a location in Council Bluffs and partners with Iowa Western Community College to offer bachelor's degree completion programs to IWCC graduates.
Infrastructure
Transportation
The city is well served by Interstate 80, Interstate 29, U.S. Route 6, and the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway. The Union Pacific, BNSF, Iowa Interstate, and Canadian National Railroads all connect in Council Bluffs and carry important freight traffic. MidAmerican Energy has a large coal-burning power plant near the southern city limits.
An extensive system of off-street paved trails aids in walking and bicycling around the city, including the currently under construction FIRST AVE trail spanning the city's West End. Walking, bicycling, and other active transportation access across the Missouri River into Omaha currently exists at two points: the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge and a trail connection across the South Omaha Veterans Memorial Bridge on US-275.
Transit access around Council Bluffs is available via two Metro bus lines, the blue and yellow routes. Each route originates in downtown Omaha and provides access across the Missouri River as well as between various points around Council Bluffs. According to city plans it is possible that a streetcar line may be constructed along the First Avenue right-of-way. The streetcar line would terminate near Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital in the east and in downtown Omaha in the west; it would have a connection to the planned Omaha Streetcar. In order to facilitate streetcar access across the Missouri River, plans call for a new multimodal bridge to be constructed just south of the existing I-480 bridge. The multimodal bridge would be built approximately where the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge once stood and carry multimodal traffic between Council Bluffs and Omaha.
Commercial air travel for Council Bluffs occurs primarily out of Omaha's Eppley Airfield. The Council Bluffs Municipal Airport also serves the general aviation needs of Council Bluffs and surrounding areas.
Notable people
Academics
- Nathan M. Pusey: educator and former president of Harvard University
Arts
- Walter Cassel: opera singer
- Janet Dailey, romance novelist
- John Durbin: actor
- Addison Farmer: jazz musician
- Art Farmer: jazz musician
- Louise Fitch (1914–1996): actress
- Joan Freeman: actress, co-starred with Elvis Presley in Roustabout
- Peg Hillias: actress
- Harry Langdon: silent movie star
- Sagan Lewis: actress (St. Elsewhere)
- James Millhollin: character actor
- Lula Greene Richards: poet
- Charles Roscoe Savage: photographer
- Ernest Schoedsack: film director, including the original King Kong and Mighty Joe Young
- David Yost: actor
Business
- Abraham Harry Blank (1879–1971), founder of the Central States Theater Corporation and a major philanthropist
- Jonathan Browning: gunsmith
- Martin Burns: championship wrestler, founder of mail-order "Farmer Burns Scientific School of Wrestling"
- Millard Seldin (1926–2020), real estate developer, banker, basketball investor, and horsebreeder.
Journalism
- William Pfaff: journalist
- Jack Lawrence Treynor (February 21, 1930 – May 11, 2016): editor of Financial Analysts Journal
Military
- Frank F. Everest: Air Force general and Commander in Europe during the Cold War
- John S. McCain Jr.: Navy Admiral, father of U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John S. McCain III
- Raymond R. Wright: Marine Corps General during World War II
Religion
- Gladden Bishop: contender for the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after Joseph Smith's death on June 27, 1844.
- Phineas F. Bresee (1838–1915): founder of the Church of the Nazarene
- Pierre-Jean De Smet: Jesuit missionary
- Arnold Potter: leader of an LDS splinter group and self-proclaimed Messiah
Science and engineering
- Lee De Forest: inventor, the "Grandfather of Television"
- William Harrison Folsom: architect
- J. Chris Jensen: architect
- Hans Schlegel: astronaut
Sports
- Stan Bahnsen: pitcher for six Major League Baseball teams
- Don Chandler: NFL football player
- Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen: diver, 1948 Summer Olympics silver medalist, 1952 Summer Olympics bronze medalist
- Ben Leber: professional football player
- Jon Lieber: professional baseball player
- Carlos Martinez: professional football player
- Ted Monachino: outside linebackers coach for the Atlanta Falcons
- Brian O'Connor: National Championship-winning baseball coach at the University of Virginia
- Bob Smith: football player
- Jerry Smith: professional golfer
- William Smith: Olympic gold medalist in wrestling at 1952 Summer Olympics
- Ron Stander: boxer, the "Bluffs Butcher" who fought Joe Frazier in 1972 for the heavyweight title
- Joshua Turek (born April 12, 1979) is an American wheelchair basketball player and a member of the United States men's national wheelchair basketball team.
- Jake Waters: football player
- Max Duggan: football player and 2022 Heisman Trophy Finalist
- Cole Jensen, soccer player in Major League Soccer
Other
- Sauganash or Billy Caldwell: Potawatomi spokesman, son of William Caldwell
- Marjabelle Young Stewart: etiquette expert
- Watseka: niece of Potawatomi Chief, married to Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard and Noel Le Vasseur
- Farrah Abraham: reality television star, known for MTV's 16 And Pregnant and Teen Mom
- Shawn b: local rail fan Of Union Pacific
Sister cities
Council Bluffs' sister cities are:
El Hajeb, Morocco
Herat, Afghanistan- Kandahar, Afghanistan
Karrada (Baghdad), Iraq
Prizren, Kosovo
Tobolsk, Russia
See also
In Spanish: Council Bluffs para niños
