Ghost Towns: Athelstan, Iowa

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Ghost Towns is a relatively new category for the Rural Resurrection website. Our last posting in this category was on Taconite Harbor, Minnesota. There’s an old saying, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It is important to learn from these ghost towns to help us avoid our communities becoming one as well. However, some of the stories in this category are just interesting tales to read.

The Ghost Towns series is still relatively young, but since I’ve starter writing these posts there’s been one town that has been on my mind. The town of Athelstan, Iowa. Like most of the communities in this series, the name likely won’t ring a bell for most people. Even for many of those in southern Iowa. But it holds a place in my heart due to my connection to its demise.

Early History

Athelstan started in the same way that many towns in the Midwest did, as a stop along a railroad line. For this town it was the Chicago Great Western Railroad. But the town didn’t start out as Athelstan. It didn’t even start out in Iowa. This community actually started as the town of Iona along the northern edge of the Missouri State Line. But the post office was eventually moved into Iowa. At that time, the town’s name was changed to Athelstan (presumably after an old English king).

Probably the community’s biggest claim to fame isn’t exactly something the town would want to claim. According to the stories handed down, a resident by the name of Bill Hedrick left towards Council Bluffs to join the Union Army. He was chased down by some southern sympathizers on the way, then brought back and forced to dig his own grave, before he was murdered in it. The land that Mr. Hedrick owned was then split up between the southern sympathizers.

The Demise of Athelstan

The population of the town jumped to over 250 by 1900, but slowly declined over the following century. The Chicago Great Western Railroad, which was the reason for the creation of Athelstan, merged with the Chicago and North Western Railway in 1968. The Chicago and North Western would then shut down many of the least productive lines, including the one running through Athelstan. There was a number of small businesses that lined the streets in the late 1800’s, but those were long gone, like the railroad. Hence, there wasn’t much left for jobs and not much of a reason to stay other than the low cost of living. By 2000 the population hit rock bottom at 18 hold outs.

The downward spiral got worse by 2002. Athelstan hadn’t held elections or levied taxes for four years. Without funding through property taxes, the City of Athelstan couldn’t pay to provide services to its residents.

Petition to Disincorporate

This is when the Taylor County Board of Supervisors reached out to the Southern Iowa Council of Governments (SICOG). They requested SICOG to submit a petition to the City Development Board of the State of Iowa to allow for the discontinuance of Athelstan, placing the properties under the County’s jurisdiction.

So what employee at SICOG was given the task to draft the petition?

Christopher Solberg, Community Development Specialist

Yes, just two years out of college I was tasked of putting together the paperwork to disincorporate a city. I was hired as a “Community Development Specialist”, but I was doing just the opposite. My coworkers jokingly gave me the moniker of “Destroyer of Towns”.

The petition was essentially a report on the current status of the community and what entities (if any) will take over certain services like plowing the streets or paying for electricity to the streetlights. The petition itself didn’t take much to compile, but the process didn’t get completed until 2004.

Although the preparation of the petition may be an interesting chapter of my career, it also added to my drive to create this blog. Nobody that loves their community wants what happened to Athelstan. Part of the goal of Rural Resurrection is to help keep that from happening to other towns.

Special thanks to Tim Ostroski, Executive Director of Southern Iowa Council of Governments, for his assistance in drafting this post.

You may know of a ghost town with an interesting history. One that may be a helpful example to other communities, don’t keep it to yourself! Let us know through our contact form.