Britt, IA

Britt is a Hancock County city whose identity is tied to railroads and the people who rode them. A depot went up in 1870, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul line ran east-west through town before later railroad operators took over. That rail connection helped make Britt a place where traveling workers could arrive, find jobs, and move on. The West Hancock school district now serves the community, but the older railroad map still sits underneath the streets.

ATTRKen Ratcliff / CC BY-SA 3.0

Every August, Britt turns that history into its own tradition. The National Hobo Convention has met here since 1900, and the National Hobo Museum occupies the former Chief Movie Theatre on Main Street. The museum grew from a 1970s effort by three lifelong hobos and former Hobo Kings to keep the stories, art, photographs, recordings, and keepsakes of hobo life together. Around town, the Hobo Cemetery, Hobo Jungle boxcar, and Queen's Garden add physical stops to the story. Britt is a north-central Iowa city where a railroad past became a yearly gathering and a museum people can actually walk into.