West Liberty, Iowa

The West Liberty Commercial Historic District in West Liberty, Iowa, United States, is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. At that time, it included 41 contributing buildings, six other contributing structures, and eight non-contributing buildings. West Liberty was established in the Iowa Territory as Wapsipinoc Settlement after near-by Wapsipinoc Creek. The town itself was platted when the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad was built here in 1855. The railroad later became the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific. The town was first incorporated on January 1, 1868. By the early 1870s the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railroad was also built through town. It became part of the Rock Island system in 1903. The presence of the railroads led to the town's prosperity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the buildings in the district were built by 1922. Four of the infill buildings were completed in the 1940s, and largely replaced older buildings that were lost to fire. Two more buildings were built in the 1970s and the 1980s. Most of the buildings are masonry construction, and a majority of those are brick, with only a couple of frame buildings. Structures with Italianate and Neoclassical features predominate in the district. Generally, the buildings are two stories in height, with none taller than three stories. Large corner buildings anchor each block. Most of the buildings have housed retail establishments, but others housed banks, fraternal halls, a movie theater, and an opera house. There are also a few houses in the district on West Fourth Street. Five of the contributing structures are the streets that were paved with brick in 1915. There is a small portion of Calhoun Street near the railroad tracks that is now asphalt with the original bricks being removed. The sixth contributing structure is the grain elevator that anchors the southwest corner of the district. It is of an older crib style construction.

George H. and Loretta Ward House, also known as the Cline House, is a historic residence located in West Liberty, Iowa, United States. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1997.

The Muscatine County Fairgrounds are located in West Liberty, Iowa, United States. It hosts the annual Muscatine County Fair. The Muscatine County Historic Preservation Commission received a grant from the State of Iowa to study the fairgrounds in 2014. Most of it was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places as the West Liberty Fairgrounds Historic District in 2015. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 42 resources, which included 16 contributing buildings, two contributing sites, two contributing structures, 16 non-contributing buildings, and six non-contributing structures. Historic tax credits will be used to rehabilitate the historic buildings on the fairgrounds.

The West Liberty Community School District is a rural public school district headquartered in West Liberty, Iowa.The district is mostly in Muscatine County, with smaller portions in Cedar County and Johnson County. The district serves the city of West Liberty, and the surrounding rural areas, including the towns of Atalissa and Nichols.Mr. Shaun Kruger was hired as superintendent in 2021.

Wapsinonoc Township is a township in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States.

The Bridge near West Liberty is an historic structure located west of the town of West Liberty in rural Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The welded steel rigid frame bridge was built in 1937. It was designed by Otto Wendling of the Iowa State Highway Commission. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 as a part of the Highway Bridges of Iowa MPS. The bridge was demolished and replaced by a culvert in 2020.

The Beers and St. John Company Coach Inn is a historic building located west of West Liberty, Iowa, United States. The company was granted the U.S. Mail delivery contract between Iowa City and Muscatine in 1839 and began service in 1841. Beers and St. John and Egbert T. Smith built this two-story frame structure the following year. At the time, Iowa was still a territory and Iowa City was the capital. It was a swing station where horses and drivers were switched, and it was a crossroads where the Muscatine-Iowa City route crossed with the Davenport-Iowa City route. Smith's wife died in 1854 and is buried on the property, as is a family who died while staying here. The inn closed in 1855 with the arrival of the railroad, and the building was converted into a house. The basic design of the structure was a copy of Smith's previous home on Long Island, New York. The siding, windows, doors and interior millwork were constructed in Cincinnati and shipped by steamboat to Iowa. At one time it had an octagonal glass cupola on the roof where they hung a lantern at night so the stagecoach drivers could find the inn. A foyer, a large gathering room and two dining rooms were located on the first floor. The kitchen was in a separate building, and no longer exists. The second floor features four large bedrooms and a smaller room that was used by the stagecoach drivers. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Centerdale is an unincorporated community in Cedar County, Iowa, United States.

Springdale Township is one of seventeen townships in Cedar County, Iowa, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 2,857.

Downey School is a historic building located in the unincorporated community of Downey, Iowa, United States. Built in four months in 1905, it was designed by Waterloo, Iowa architect J.G. Ralston and built by Frank Chapman, also of Waterloo. The two-story brick structure features quoins on the corners and Roman arches as its main decorative elements. The building had a cupola, but that was taken down at some point. It is believed that the building originally housed 1st through 12th grades. After 20 years the high school grades were moved to West Branch, Iowa. The school itself closed in 1955. The Wapsie Valley Grange Society acquired the building and they used it for their meetings into the 1970s. Tim and Madonna Rex bought the building from the Iowa Grange Society in 2017 and since then have been in the process of converting it into a bed and breakfast inn. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

Downey is an unincorporated community in Cedar County, Iowa.

Springdale is a small unincorporated community in Cedar County, Iowa, United States. Historically, the town was predominantly settled by Quakers, and was one of Iowa's most important stations on the Underground Railroad.Starting in 1857, Springdale was the western base of operations for the militant abolitionist John Brown, who lived in John Hunt Painter's house while training the 10 men who came with him in preparation for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. The 10 were his son Owen Brown, John Kagi, Aaron D. Stevens, John E. Cook, Richard Realf, Charles W. Moffitt, Luke J. Parsons, Charles H. Tidd, William Leeman, and Richard Richardson. In 1858 they departed east. In February 1859 Brown appeared with 12 enslaved men and women from Missouri.: 192–193 In July, 1859, two local boys, Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, joined Brown in his raid.: 194  The first was captured, tried, and executed; Barclay escaped and died later serving in the Union army.Springdale was also the home of Lawrie Tatum, a farmer who served as a frontier Indian agent and the legal guardian of future President Herbert Hoover. The main street through the town is the Herbert Hoover Highway.No downtown business district remains in Springdale; it is a cluster of houses with a United Methodist church. William Maxson's home, where Brown's men were quartered, was razed in 1938, but its location is marked by a plaque provided by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Although often described as Quaker, Maxson was raised in the faith but at the time of Brown's visit considered himself a follower of spiritualism.