Afton, IA

Afton is a Union County city of 874 residents at the 2020 census, established in 1854 as a railroad community in southwest Iowa. Its present-day map has an unusual two-lake relationship: Three Mile Lake, an 880-acre recreation area, lies northwest of town, while 640-acre Twelve-Mile Lake lies west. Afton sits at the eastern edge of both, with a nine-hole golf course along Afton Lake. The city name comes from Robert Burns's poem "Sweet Afton," giving this farm-country place a literary thread alongside its railroad beginnings.

Town life gathers around the square and the services that serve the wider county. New Cooperative has an office there, and local businesses include restaurants, a bank, post office, repair shops, a meat locker, bait shop, and veterinary clinic. East Union Community School District serves Afton and several nearby towns, while volunteer fire and rescue cover the local emergency map. The lakes bring fishing, boating, camping, and water sports; the square handles everyday errands. Afton sits at the center of Union County, with town streets, farm roads, and lake roads meeting around its old railroad foundation.