Earlham, IA

Earlham is a Madison County city of 1,410 residents in the 2020 census, about 30 miles west of Des Moines just south of I-80. The city was named for Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and its own story has a small Iowa twist: John Wayne spent part of his childhood here, attending school in the Earlham Academy Building, now used by the Earlham Historical Society. The old academy and the nearby farm country give Earlham a clear sense of place. Earlham Community School District remains one of the town's main institutions, and the city has a compact service center with dining, banking, groceries, health care, and the restored Bricker-Price Block.

ATTRPopePompus / CC BY-SA 4.0

That mix gives the town a practical rhythm: local businesses and school activities are close at hand, while Des Moines and the I-80 corridor sit within the wider working map. Earlham's most memorable details are a historic academy, a famous boyhood resident, and a small Iowa town named for a Quaker college in another state.