Swisher, IA

Swisher is a Johnson County city in the Iowa City metropolitan area, with 914 residents at the 2020 census. It was founded in 1903 and grew around the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway, better known locally as the Crandic. That railroad tied the small town to two larger neighbors and gave it a reason to exist between them; the line also left Swisher with the feel of a former rail stop rather than a town built around a county courthouse or a river crossing.

ATTRBillwhittaker at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0

The old connection has a modern counterpart in Interstate 380, which runs nearby between North Liberty and Cedar Rapids. Iowa City is part of the same daily orbit, while Swisher keeps its own city government, streets, and local identity. The story is a compact one: a 1903 town, a railroad stop, and a present-day location along the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City corridor. Swisher has kept its name and civic shape while the transportation network around it grew much larger, which is a pretty good explanation for how the city fits into Johnson County today.