Center Junction, IA

Center Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in Jones County, Iowa, United States. The 2020 census counted 100 residents. Center Junction is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. Center Junction was once an incorporated city, but following a special election that served as a referendum on the plan, the city council voted in 2015 to sell off its assets, disband, and turn administration over to the county. That mix gives Center Junction a clear local shape within Iowa, with older layers still visible in current places. The local scoop is a place whose streets, landmarks, and institutions keep its earlier story close to the present. When the council took the action, then-Mayor Sandy Ricklefs cited the town's ailing finances as the primary reason for disbanding. Center Junction was laid out in 1871. The town promoters hoped the place would become a junction near the geographical center of Jones County, hence the name.