Council Bluffs, Iowa

Although now a modern city of 58,000, Council Bluffs retains much of the feel of
a Western frontier town. Attractions such as the Western Historic Trails Center
and the Union Pacific Railroad Museum enhance the city's pioneer ambiance.

Council Bluffs originally was called Kanesville by the Mormons who first settled
here in 1846. In 1847, they built the Kanesville Tabernacle to officially name
Brigham Young leader of the church. The tabernacle was destroyed, but a
replica built near its original site opened to the public in 1996.

The Lincoln Monument stands on the
hill the future president visited in
1859. He was to recall his visit to this
site when he selected Council Bluffs
to be the eastern terminus of the
transcontinental railroad, completed
in 1869.

Although many of the Mormons
departed Kanesville the same
year the tabernacle was built, the
new community continued to
attract new settlers and became
an important supply point for
people moving farther west. In
1859, one year before being
elected president, Abraham
Lincoln visited Council Bluffs. He
would later select the city to be the
eastern terminus for the
transcontinental railroad. While in
Council Bluffs, Lincoln met railroad
engineer Grenville Dodge. The two
men became friends, and when
the Civil War broke out, Dodge
went to work for the Union Army,
building bridges and railroad lines.
He eventually became a major
general. After the war, he served in
Congress. He built a mansion on
a hill in Council Bluffs, now open to
the public as the Historic General
Dodge House.

One of the more unusual tourist
sites in the Loess Hills area is the
Squirrel Cage Jail, so named
because of its revolving-cylinder
design.

Speaking of squirrels, Council Bluffs is famous for its many black squirrels.
Though also found in other parts of the country, black squirrels are relatively
rare.

Speaking of black, The Black Angel is what Council Bluffs residents call the
Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial, a solid bronze statue along Lafayette Avenue. It is
the work of renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French, who sculpted Lincoln
for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was commissioned by the two
daughters of General Dodge to honor their mother and was inspired by a
dream the general's wife had three nights before her death.

Council Bluffs is home of the Iowa School for the Deaf founded in 1854. Until
1952, students attending the school were required to live on campus.