Roland, IA

Roland has been a city since 1891, set in Story County's farm country and tied to the larger Ames area. Its civic map is straightforward: City Hall on North Main, parks and recreation, a municipal pool, and a shelter house used for local gatherings. The pool's summer season and swim lessons give the center of town a recurring warm-weather destination, while the city's comprehensive planning keeps Main Street, housing, streets, and public facilities in the same conversation. A municipal pool, shelter house, and parks give the town seasonal public spaces for scheduled activities.

School lines are part of the town's history. Roland–Story Community School District came from the 1969 merger of the Roland and Story City school systems, and the district now serves students across both communities and the surrounding countryside. Roland's character comes through in those links—an incorporated town with its own civic facilities, but a school map that has long crossed the boundary between Roland and Story City.