Farm country home  to ballparks, bridges, watersports

By Amanda Morgan
Iowa.com

Named for Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Carroll County, spanning 576 square miles, has several small towns and one larger city (Carroll) totalling a population of 21,421. Carroll is primarily a farming county.

More than 2,000 acres of parks, including Swan Lake State Park that includes a 510-acre park with a 130-acre lake; and Sauk Rail Trail  a multi-purpose 33-mile trail connecting Swan Lake to Black Hawk Lake in Lake View. Activities include swimming, fishing, boating, ice skating, environmental activities and camping. Swan Lake Conservation and Education Center is a recent addition to the park.

The 90-year-old Warren pony, or low-truss, bridge in Carroll is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge was adopted by the Iowa State Highway Commission (later IDOT) as a prototype for similar bridges in all of Iowa’s 99 counties. The bridge was moved to the park by the county. It had been on a county road south of the Carroll Airport.

Breda Memorial Park in Breda is the former home stadium of the Breda Eagles, the semi-pro team of the 1940s, and the 1975 St. Bernard High School State Baseball Champions. It features one of the few remaining wooden covered grandstands in the Midwest. Built in 1947 (totally restored in 2001), it was described as “one of the best baseball parks in the state” with grandstand seating for 600 and “lighting facilities equal to any in Iowa”.

Large employers include Farner-Bocken Co. , American Home Shield, and Pella Corporation.

Sources: http://www.carrolliowa.com; http://carrollcountyiowa.org/; http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=7210

Cities in Carroll County

Arcadia pop. 443
Breda pop. 477
Carroll pop. 10098
Coon Rapids pop. 1305
Dedham pop. 280
Glidden pop. 1253
Halbur pop. 213
Lanesboro pop. 152
Lidderdale pop. 186
Manning pop. 1490
Ralston pop. 98
Templeton pop. 334
Willey pop. 103