Durant, IA

Durant is a city spread across Cedar, Muscatine, and Scott counties, two miles south of Interstate 80 between the Quad Cities and Iowa City–Coralville. The 2020 census counted 1,871 residents. Benjamin Brayton platted the town in 1854 after helping redirect the railroad through Cedar County with John Dix and Thomas Durant; Brayton named the place for Durant, who donated money for its first schoolhouse. The depot arrived soon after, and Durant incorporated in 1867. Historic Highway 6 still runs through downtown.

ATTRKen Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0

The Tri-County Heritage and Genealogy Museum keeps that railroad, schoolhouse, and three-county story together, while Durant Community School District brings pre-K through 12th grade onto a connected campus and sends Wildcats teams into the surrounding rural area. The Lamp Memorial Community Center and the downtown blocks add present-day civic landmarks. Durant’s local scoop is a railroad town whose name honors a railroad builder, whose school grew with the town, and whose county lines still meet in the same small Iowa grid.