Springville, IA

Springville is a Linn County city with a founding story that still has the paperwork attached. Samuel W. Durham surveyed the town on March 22, 1856, under the direction of Hosea White, Moses P. Wynans, J. P. Hoffman, and Joseph S. Butler. The plat sat south of the creek with Mill Street as its northern edge, and early businesses included stores, a hotel, and a blacksmith shop. A flouring mill on Big Creek, built by Zephney Stone in 1855 just west of town, helped set the area's early working rhythm. Springville is now part of the Cedar Rapids metro, but the original outline still reads like an Iowa town: creek, mill road, and a carefully filed plat.