Moscow, IA

Moscow sits on the east side of the Cedar River in northern Muscatine County, twelve miles north of Muscatine and just north of U.S. Route 6. Henry Webster and Dr. Charles Drury laid out the community in 1836, and a post office opened the next year. The railroad arrived in 1855, bringing a burst of growth and placing Moscow on a transportation line that crossed the river and connected the farms with Muscatine and the wider Iowa network.

ATTRPopePompus / CC BY-SA 4.0

The river remains the town's strongest geographic feature. A dam was built in 1866, a mill followed in 1867, and the old plat bent around the river and railroad tracks. Hinkeyville sits across the Cedar, while nearby roads lead toward Davenport and Iowa City as well as Muscatine. The post office, bridge, railroad, and surrounding farms give Moscow the feel of a settlement built around crossings. It is an unincorporated community with a long memory of water, rail, and small businesses, and the Cedar still shows why the town occupies this particular bend in the county.