Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa, Iowa The Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa is listed on the National Register of Historic Places The Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa is listed on the National Register of Historic Places Location of Oskaloosa, Iowa Location of Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is positioned in Iowa Oskaloosa - Oskaloosa Website Official City of Oskaloosa website Oskaloosa is a town/city in and the governmental center of county of Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, it was a nationwide center of bituminous coal mining.
Oskaloosa coal mine.
Theodore Roosevelt campaigns in the Oskaloosa town/city square in the fall of 1912.
Oskaloosa derives its name from Ouscaloosa who, as stated to town lore, was a Creek princess who married Seminole chief Osceola.
The town was formally platted in 1844 when William Canfield moved his trading post from the Des Moines River to Oskaloosa.
On January 6, 1882, most of the buildings in the north half of Oskaloosa were severely damaged and most of the plate glass windows in the region were broken by an explosion.
By 1887, the report of the state mine inspector listed 11 coal mines in and around Oskaloosa. By 1895 the coal output of Mahaska County surpassed that of all other Iowa counties, and manufacturing had reached more than one million tons per year. In 1911, coal quarrying was reported to be the major industry in the region. In 1914, the Carbon Block Coal Company of Centerville produced more than 100,000 tons of coal, ranking among the top 24 coal producers in the state. Several primary coal-mining camps were positioned in the Oskaloosa area.
A miner setting shots to blast coal from the coal face re-used a hole left over from a previous floundered shot, and the result was a coal dust explosion that detonated barrels of gunpowder stored in the mine.
According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 7.45 square miles (19.30 km2), of which, 7.43 square miles (19.24 km2) is territory and 0.02 square miles (0.05 km2) is water. As of the census of 2010, there were 11,463 citizens , 4,715 homeholds, and 2,842 families residing in the city.
The ethnic makeup of the town/city was 93.3% White, 2.0% African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.9% from other competitions, and 1.8% from two or more competitions.
There were 4,715 homeholds of which 29.7% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 44.0% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female homeholder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male homeholder with no wife present, and 39.7% were non-families.
The median age in the town/city was 35.8 years.
As of the census of 2000, there were 10,938 citizens , 4,603 homeholds, and 2,863 families residing in the city.
The ethnic makeup of the town/city was 95.86% White, 1.16% African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.32% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from other competitions, and 0.97% from two or more competitions.
Population spread: 24.1% under the age of 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 18.5% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median income for a homehold in the town/city was $34,490, and the median income for a family was $42,138.
Oskaloosa Community Schools Education 375 Includes a high school, middle school, elementary school, preschool and alternative school.
City of Oskaloosa 1844 Municipal Government 199 A rare example of Cold War playground equipment at Edmundson Park in Oskaloosa The Southern Iowa Fair is one of the biggest traditional county fairs in Iowa and is held each July.
Art on the Square is held each June on the town/city square.
The City of Oskaloosa has a Mayor-City Council-City Manager form of government under a Home Rule Charter.
The City Council is composed of seven members who make decisions regarding rules and regulations pertaining to Oskaloosa.
The City Manager is appointed by the City Council.
The town/city is a sister town/city with Shpola, Ukraine.
In July 2015, Presidential candidate Donald Trump held a campaign event, a family picnic at Oskaloosa's George Daily Community Auditorium.
Oskaloosa was the home of the now-defunct Oskaloosa College.
The city's enhance system, Oskaloosa Community School District, operates a high school, middle school, elementary school, and an alternative school.
Oskaloosa Elementary opened in January 2005, merging five lesser buildings scattered athwart the city.
In the city's town square is a bronze statue of Chief Mahaska, the 19th-century prestige of a Native American tribe called the Ioway; he was memorialized by the name of Mahaska County.
He returned to Iowa the following summer to make preliminary drawings of Meskwaki at the close-by Settlement at Tama, Iowa, and to collect Indian artifacts and other reference materials.
Oskaloosa boasts two private homes designed in 1948 51 by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Oskaloosa hosted the Iowa State Fair in 1858 and 1859, before to the Civil War.
In 1934, Oskaloosa became the first town/city in the United States to fingerprint all of its people, including children.
About 1882 the town/city erected a double-deck bandstand in the center of the town/city park.
The band had started playing in the town/city park when it was just a field.
Barnhouse advanced the band "atmosphere" from the time he came to Oskaloosa in 1891.
His band garnered statewide acclaim, becoming the official band of the Iowa State Fair for four years.
In the ensuing years the band became prominent throughout Iowa and other states.
In 1907 and 1908 Oskaloosa had two bands playing concerts the Iowa Brigade Band and La - Rue's Band.
The merchants on High Avenue West working their own band to compete with the Iowa Brigade Band in the park on Saturday evenings.
In 1911 the people decided to beautify the town/city and voted to fund improvements for the town/city park.
Guy Vander Linden, Iowa state representative, U.S.
"Oskaloosa, Iowa".American Fact - Finder.
"Oskaloosa History".
Iowa Geologic Survey Annual Report for 1908, 1909, Des Moines, page 556.
Third Biennial Report of the State Mine Inspectors to the Governor of Iowa for the years 1886 and 1887, Roberts, Des Moines, 1888, page 87 Seventh Biennial Report of the State Mine Inspectors to the Governor of the State of Iowa for the two years ending June 30, 1895, Conaway, Des Moines, 1895, page 50.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oskaloosa, Iowa.
Official City of Oskaloosa website Oskaloosa Community School District Municipalities and communities of Mahaska County, Iowa, United States County seat: Oskaloosa Barnes City Beacon Eddyville Fremont Keomah Village Leighton New Sharon Oskaloosa Rose Hill University Park
Categories:
Oskaloosa, Iowa - 1835 establishments in Michigan Territory - Cities in Iowa - Cities in Mahaska County, Iowa - County seats in Iowa - Micropolitan areas of Iowa - Populated places established in 1835
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