Essex, IA

Essex grew around the railroad. The Page County city was platted in 1870, and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line reached town in 1871; the city history identifies it as the first railroad built in Page County and the only one still operating there. The tracks helped make Essex a farm-service town, with a grain elevator, banks, hotels, churches, and an opera house appearing around the line. The 2020 census counted 722 residents, down from 884 in 2000. The East Nishnabotna River runs near town, giving the compact grid a watery edge as well as its rail-and-farm setting.

The downtown still has places that carry both eras. The Iowan's Hotel, now called the Railroad Inn, was listed on the National Register in 2009, and the remodeled Essex Opera House reopened as an event venue in 2023. Lied Public Library and the Essex Community School District give the city everyday institutions, while the railroad remains the clearest physical reminder of why the town formed where it did. Essex is a small Page County center whose current map still reads from the depot outward: school, library, grain country, and the old commercial street.