Old meets new on the Iowa prairie

By Katie Mills Giorgio
For Iowa.com

“Let the good times roll in Hamilton County,” as they like to say. And roll

Visitors to Hamilton County can take a self-guided Mill Tour to learn more about four of the county's mills that operated along the Boone River/Photo courtesy of Hamilton Count S.E.E.D.

they do…across the prairie, that is.

A rural county in central Iowa, Hamilton County has a very flat prairie landscape thanks to glaciers that passed over the area thousands of years ago. Those same glaciers also left behind Little Wall Lake, two miles south of Jewell (a town of about 1,200), that offers outdoor recreation opportunities to residents.

Hamilton County also offers the opportunity to experience the county’s rich history. There’s the Hemken Collection (a vintage car museum in Williams), the Swedish Immigrant Museum and Swedish American Log Cabin in Stratford, and the Kendall Young Library in Webster City.

Not only that, but local tourism officials have created guided audio tours for Hamilton County visitors (that can be downloaded or picked up on CD from the Hamilton County S.E.E.D office) including the Stagecoach Tour and the Mill Tour, which focuses on four mills that operated along the Boone River that flows through Hamilton County.

Another interesting back roads tour takes visitor to see Hamilton County’s barn quilts. The county-one of 13 in Iowa with a barn quilt program-started the project in 2005. A trek across the county to see all 16 Hamilton County quilts will take you from Stratford, to Stanhope, Jewell, Ellsworth and Blairsburg.  

And while they celebrate their history, Hamilton County strives to be modern, too. Residents and visitors with the need for speed can enjoy races at the Hamilton County Speedway from April through the beginning of October. And Hamilton County is part of MidAmerican Energy Company’s Wind Farm project -boasting 135 turbines between it and nearby Wright County.

The largest employer in Hamilton County is Electrolux Home Products (formerly Frigidaire Company), who currently employees 1,300 at their Webster City plant alone. Another large employer VanDiest Supply-a fertilizer production and distribution company-connects the county to its agricultural roots.

Sources: Catherine Bergman, Hamilton County S.E.E.D., www.hamiltoncounty.org and Hamilton County Conservation

Cities in Hamilton County

Blairsburg pop. 235
Ellsworth pop. 531
Jewell pop. 1239
Kamrar pop. 229
Randall pop. 148
Stanhope pop. 488
Stratford pop. 746
Williams pop. 427