Calmar, IA

Calmar is a Winneshiek County city where three highways meet and a community college campus gives the town an outsized role in northeast Iowa. The town was platted in 1854 and named for Kalmar, Sweden. U.S. 52 and Iowa 150 and 24 all converge here, with the state routes ending in Calmar. Northeast Iowa Community College began its Calmar campus in the 1960s; the 210-acre site now includes agricultural technology facilities and Iowa’s Dairy Center. South Winneshiek schools serve local K–12 students. Calmar is a small crossroads with a distinctly practical mix of highway traffic, farm education, and Scandinavian place-name history.