DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for the Town of Iowa Park, Wichita County — here's how I tell it. Now, the railroad didn't just lay track across Texas. It conjured towns out of the plains, sometimes before the iron rails even caught up.
Iowa Park is one of those towns — born of ambition, land deals, and a whole lot of people who'd never set foot in Texas until somebody talked them into it. It started in 1885, when the spot was known as Daggett's Switch — named for a prominent rancher and railroad official — sitting right on the Fort Worth and Denver City Line. But the man who really put this place on the map was General G.
M. Dodge, a contractor for the F. W. and D.
C. railroad, already famous as the builder of the Union Pacific. Dodge owned land here, and he wasn't shy about promoting it. He spearheaded the founding of the town, actively working to bring settlers in.
And settlers came — from the Midwest, especially from Iowa. Land promoters D. C. and A.
J. Kolp, themselves from Iowa, drew up a plat in 1888 that featured many parks. The name Iowa Park, when you look at it that way, starts to make a certain kind of sense.
The town grew fast in that first rush, then settled into something steadier — more than twenty years of prosperity built on a thriving farm economy. Quiet, dependable, maybe a little predictable. And then, in 1918, lightning struck.
Not figuratively. Well — actually, yes, figuratively. Oil was discovered on a farm south of town, and speculators flooded in like a summer storm on the Red River.
Land prices sky-rocketed. The Iowa Park Producing and Refining Company was chartered in 1921 and operated until 1932. But booms, as Texas knows better than most, carry the seeds of their own ending.
The resources here were gradually exhausted, and by 1925, it was over. What was left? The same thing that was there before the roughnecks arrived — the land.
In 1924, the Wichita Valley Agriculture Experiment Station was built, and when this marker was placed in 1969, it was still functioning. A steady farm economy had settled back in, just like it always had. Iowa Park.
Founded on a plat full of parks, built by Iowans on a Texas railroad line, briefly set ablaze by oil, and still standing on the strength of the soil. Some towns burn bright and vanish. This one just kept farming.
What the marker says
One of many small towns that sprang up ahead of the railroads as they crossed Texas in the 1800s. Located on the Fort Worth and Denver City Line, this town was first named Daggett's Switch in 1885 for a prominent rancher and railroad official. F. W. & D. C. contractor Gen. G. M. Dodge (already famous as builder of the Union Pacific) spearheaded the founding of Iowa Park by actively promoting a town on land he owned here. Many people from the Midwest--especially Iowa--were recruited to settle the infant town. Land promoters D. C. and A. J. Kolp, from Iowa, drew up a plat which featured many parks, in 1888. After this first period of rapid growth, Iowa Park settled down to more than 20 years of prosperity based on a thriving farm economy. Lightning struck, however, in 1918 when oil was discovered on a farm south of here. Speculators flooded the city and land prices sky-rocketed. The Iowa Park Producing and Refining Company was chartered in 1921 and operated until 1932. The boom itself gradually exhausted the resources here and was over by 1925. In 1924 the Wichita Valley Agriculture Experiment Station was built and is still functioning. A steady farm economy prevails again today.