1890 - Ottumwa, Iowa: The nation's only Coal Palace has just finished its first season, with another exhibition scheduled for 1891. Finishing touches are being put on the Opera House at the corner of Main and Jefferson. The new post office has just gone into service. Churches, schools, businesses and hotels are busy; houses from simple to grand march up the hills on the north side of the Des Moines River and spread across the plain on the south bank. Originally published in 1890, Illustrated Ottumwa is a time capsule of the city's progress and history just decades after its founding. More...

Though early settlement in Iowa followed the rivers, it was the advent of the railroads, starting in the late 1850s, which opened up the remainder of the state for development -- bringing goods to residents and sending their crops and products out to the world. Railroads formed the backbone of middle America, with dozens of trains -- freight and passenger -- reaching out to nearly every small town in the region. This collection of photographs from the 1800s to the present day celebrates the railroads and railroaders of southeast Iowa.