Urbandale, IA

Urbandale incorporated on April 16, 1917, after residents built a two-room schoolhouse and sought a separate school district. In its early years, it was a Des Moines streetcar suburb with four coal mines. The city now spans Polk and Dallas counties at Interstates 35 and 80 and Iowa Highway 141; 45,580 residents were counted in 2020. The 1904 Olmsted Family Farmhouse, acquired by the local historical society in 1987, entered the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. Living History Farms presents buildings and history from several periods of Iowa’s past and hosted Pope John Paul II before an estimated 350,000 people in 1979. Urbandale’s 54 miles of recreational trails connect to the wider Des Moines network.