This week in Altoona
About Altoona
Altoona started as farm country east of Des Moines: Anthony Yant settled here in 1854, and in 1868 the Davis family had surveyor Julian Bausman lay out a town, which he named for the Latin word for high because it sat at the top of the rail line between Des Moines and Keokuk. The railroad and a post office arrived that same summer, the town incorporated in 1876, and by about 1900 coal mining had made it nearly a mining camp, with a miners' union local counting close to a fifth of the residents. Early mayors left marks people still use, like Haines Park on land given by brick-maker Thomas Haines and the Sam Wise Youth Complex named for the mayor who paved the streets. Since 1974 Adventureland's rides and Ferris wheel have drawn families from all over Iowa, and Prairie Meadows has run horse races here since 1989. Today nearly 20,000 people call Altoona home, with a library on 8th Street SW, a historical museum in the town's oldest building, and kids who grow up as Southeast Polk Rams.