Central City, IA

Central City is a Linn County city whose name came from where it sat in relation to the railroads, not from being the center of some larger town. Founded in the 1850s, it later pulled in the Illinois Central Railroad, whose tracks reached town in 1887 after local business leaders worked to bring the line through. The Central City Commercial Historic District preserves the older business core, while the Wapsipinicon River runs along the city’s edge. Central City is a compact Iowa place with a railroad-shaped name, a river nearby, and a downtown that still carries the outline of its first growth.