Keokuk was once the home of cowboy actor John Wayne.

Keokuk was also home to New York Yankee greats Roger Maris and Jack Saltzgaver.

Keokuk is the home of the first national cemetery West of the Mississippi and the only one in Iowa..

One of the first buildings erected in what was to become later Keokuk was the American Fur Company's Trading Post.

By 1830 the settlement could count seventeen buildings and three dozen or so inhabitants.

1849 saw the establishment of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Keokuk was once home to a young Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Teddy Roosevelt visited Keokuk three times. He made a speech during the "Bull Moose" campaign of 1912.

The 1990 census listed a population of 12,451 residents, making it the largest community in Lee County.

The fort was home to the 1st Regiment U.S. Infantry from 1808-1813.

Richard Chaney moved from Keokuk to Prison Creek and both men's claim to the land overlapped and they fought about it. Soldiers from Fort Des Moines intervene. 

John Knapp and Nathaniel Knapp built their cabins in the fort and used the well that was used by the inhabitants of the fort. They opened trade with the Indians.

By fall of 1835 there were four cabins that composed the settlement and those settlers named it Madison.

The "Fort" part of the name was added because Wisconsin Territory already had a Madison and then  it made it easier to receive their mail by horseback.

The rails  reached Fort Madison in 1859 when tracks were laid from here to Viele.

Was home to a subdued and aging Chief Blackhawk.

The population of the city in 1990 was 11, 618.

Whitaker was one of  the first settlers in the year 1834.

Sold claim to John L. Cotton and John Howell. They in turn sold it to Abraham Hunsicker.

It acquired the temporary name of  "Cotton Town."

The first public sales of lots was held in September of 1836.

Location of the County Seat in 1843.

In 1879, economic boost with the completion of the Fort Madison and Northwestern Railroad line.

It reached its peak population of 1333 making it the largest inland town in the county. The 1990 census listed the population as 1,079.

In1836 three men settled here from New England and they were: Timothy Fox, Curtis Shedd, and Lewis Epps.

The settlement had earned the nickname of  "The Haystack"

Housed the Denmark Academy established in 1843.

Was an extremely active station on the Underground Railroad.

Gained fame through the establishment of the Denmark Dairy Association in 1875. Products from its plant took first place awards at the St. Louis Fair for the years 1875, 1876, and 1877.

The 1990 census lists the population of the town and the Denmark Township at 869 residents.

Lee County Fair was settled here in 1878

Once there were thirty towns located in the county.  They were places with such intriguing names as Ambrosia, Mooar, Camackville, Tuscarora, Belfast, Monterey, Nashville, String Prairie, Camargo, Jollyville, La Crew, Warren, Dover, Jeffersonville, White Lane, Viele, and Hinsdale. A drawing or two in old history books is all that remains of these towns.

Other small communities have either followed or shrunk so much that they disappeared from all but large scale maps. They are recognizable now as a cluster of dwellings and cling to their historic name for ease of identification. Such places as Summitville, Croton, Sandusky, New Boston, Argyle, Mt. Hamill, Vincennes, South Augusta, and Sawyer.

Some additional interesting facts on the history of  Lee County.