Dike, IA

Dike is a Grundy County city ten miles west of Waterloo and Cedar Falls, close to Interstate 20 and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro. Chester Thomas Dike, a railroad construction engineer, chose the site and laid out the town in 1900; the city incorporated the following year. That origin still gives Dike a practical shape: a small civic center with businesses, a post office, a co-op, bank, repair shops, and other services along the main roads, with larger regional institutions and shopping to the east.

ATTRLorie Shaull from St Paul, United States / CC BY-SA 2.0

Dike-New Hartford Community School District keeps Dike connected to New Hartford, and the city's recreation map includes a 280-acre nature area around a 30-acre lake, an 18-hole golf course, swimming pool, tennis and pickleball courts, soccer fields, ball diamonds, and an all-weather track. The community center hosts gatherings near City Hall and the local business strip. Dike's railroad namesake is part of its history, while the nature area and school district show how the city functions in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls orbit today.