Ainsworth, IA

Ainsworth is a Washington County city laid out in 1858 and named for its founder, D. H. Ainsworth; it incorporated in 1892. The railroad reached the town during that same 1858 push across the county, making Ainsworth part of the route between Washington and the Mississippi River. County history remembers one memorable argument over seats: after a train left Ainsworth passengers behind, residents covered the track with soft soap so the return trip had to stop. The story has stuck because it turns a railroad stop into a glimpse of how strongly the town expected to count.

ATTRFarragutful / CC BY-SA 4.0

Today the Ainsworth Opera House sits on the north side of the main business street and serves as a community center. The town's school connection runs through Highland Community School District: Highland Elementary is in Riverside, while the middle and high school building stands in the rural area between Riverside and Ainsworth. That arrangement keeps school life spread across the two communities, while the opera house keeps a gathering place on Ainsworth's business street. Ainsworth comes through that pairing of a railroad-era main street and a shared rural school system.