Lakeside, IA

Lakeside is a tiny Buena Vista County city on the east shore of Storm Lake. Its 0.18-square-mile footprint makes it Iowa's most densely populated city, so a small number of blocks carry an unusually concentrated town pattern. Storm Lake's water is the central landscape, with Lakeside directly beside the larger city and its lakefront parks. The community is part of the Storm Lake Community School District.

Juvenile Beach Park puts a public sand beach inside Lakeside, while Storm Lake's LakeTrail connects many lakefront parks and reaches toward town. The result is a local map where residential streets, beach, water, trail, and larger-city services overlap. Lakeside has its own municipal address, but daily life shares the county-seat, school, shopping, and recreation network of Storm Lake. It is an Iowa place defined by a very small footprint beside a very large lake. The lakefront also brings visitors for fishing, boating, swimming, and seasonal events. Those activities give the city room for both residents and day trips.