Martensdale, IA

Martensdale is a Warren County city of 421 residents in the 2020 census, about 20 miles southwest of Des Moines at the junction of Iowa Highways 28 and 92. John F. Martens and Walter H. Beam founded the town in 1913, and its location between three railroads—the Des Moines, Osceola and Southern, Rock Island, and Great Western—made it a busy transportation place. The lines once handled as many as 30 trains a day; the last train service ended in 1986.

ATTRPopePompus / CC BY-SA 4.0

The railroad corridor now gives Martensdale a different kind of connection. The Great Western Trail follows the former Great Western route toward Des Moines, with a trailhead at the south edge of town, and the Middle River runs along the community. Farm roads and the highway still lead toward the Warren County seat in Indianola, while the trail brings walkers and cyclists through the old rail landscape. Martensdale is a small Warren County place where a rail junction has become a river-and-recreation corridor.