Nora Bramwell

I set out to write Only in Iowa: Strange But True Tales from the Hawkeye State, a book about unusual stories from across Iowa.

Then Woodbury County got in the way.

The deeper I dug through old newspapers, county histories, archives, and local records, the more remarkable stories I found right here at home.

Eventually I realized something:

Woodbury County had enough strange-but-true history for a book of its own.

And that’s how Woodbury County, Iowa: Strange But True began.

History Happened Right Here

It’s easy to think of history as something that happened somewhere else.

But some of the best stories are attached to places we drive past every day.

While researching Woodbury County, I found stories involving familiar communities such as Sioux City, Lawton, Salix, Anthon, Correctionville, and many of the smaller places scattered across the county.

Some were funny.

Others were tragic.

And quite a few made me stop researching long enough to think:

Wait. That actually happened here?

A County Judge Locked in His Own Jail

Take one of Woodbury County’s earliest political disputes.

In the late 1850s, controversy erupted over a proposed courthouse purchase in Sioux City. The disagreement became so heated that opponents of County Judge John L. Campbell did something rather extraordinary.

They locked the judge in the county jail.

A jail the county had only recently built.

It’s the sort of story that sounds like a local legend—until you discover versions of it recorded in early histories of the county.

When Livestock Roamed Lawton

Then there’s Lawton during the Farm Holiday movement of 1932.

Farmers struggling through the agricultural crisis attempted to keep produce and livestock from reaching market in hopes of forcing prices higher.

Woodbury County became part of that story.

The events around Lawton included stopped shipments, spilled milk and livestock turned loose—an extraordinary chapter from the Depression years that is rarely mentioned when we talk about local history today.

A Cyclone at Salix

Salix has its own remarkable—and heartbreaking—weather history.

A devastating cyclone tore through the area, destroying property and taking lives.

Contemporary accounts contain details that sound almost unbelievable, including objects carried and deposited by the storm and the unusual methods used to transport the injured afterward.

Behind those dramatic details were real Woodbury County families whose lives changed in minutes.

And Those Are Only a Few

The more I researched, the more stories appeared.

Fires.

Disasters.

Forgotten settlements.

Unusual characters.

Local legends.

Crimes.

Prairie life.

Railroads.

Places whose names remain on maps—and others that have nearly disappeared from memory.

That’s what fascinates me about local history.

You don’t necessarily have to travel to a famous battlefield or historic landmark to find it.

Sometimes history is beneath the road you’re driving on.

Sometimes it’s inside an old newspaper.

And sometimes it’s sitting in a county history that hasn’t been opened in decades.

Woodbury County, Iowa: Strange But True

Woodbury County, Iowa: Strange But True grew out of my attempt to collect some of those stories before they disappear completely.

I didn’t want simply to repeat legends. I wanted to go back to old newspapers, county histories, public records, and other historical sources and find out what could actually be documented.

And I discovered something along the way:

I don’t think I’ve reached the bottom of Woodbury County’s stories yet.

There are probably more waiting to be found.

Sometimes the strangest history isn’t somewhere far away.

Sometimes it happened right down the road.

If you enjoy strange, forgotten, and surprising stories from Woodbury County, you can find Woodbury County, Iowa: Strange But True on Amazon.