Hawarden, IA

Hawarden is a Sioux County city on the Big Sioux River, near Iowa's northwestern edge. The 2020 census counted 2,700 residents. The town was platted in 1882 and named for Hawarden Castle in Wales, linking this prairie place to the home of statesman William Gladstone. The river is not just a line on the map: it shapes the town's recreation, floodplain, and local identity, with the Big Sioux Recreation Area just outside town. Labor Day weekend brings Big Sioux River Days, with the kind of all-in community schedule that turns the river into a meeting place: music, food, activities, and the historical society's doors open for visitors.

ATTRMagicpiano / CC BY-SA 4.0

Hawarden also has a manufacturing base, while the surrounding farmland gives the city its broader working landscape. The town's neighborhoods and business streets sit within that agricultural region, but the river corridor provides a different texture with trees, water, trails, and open space. Hawarden's local scoop is an Iowa city named for a Welsh castle whose annual festival and daily geography both begin with the Big Sioux.