Ghost Towns of Marshall County

Dave Baker of The 29th State will give a presentation at the Marshalltown Public Library on Sunday, August 20 at 2:00pm on Ghost Towns of Marshall County. The presentation will take place in the library's community meeting rooms. 

Baker will present a program about former communities in Marshall County. The program will explore what it means to be a "ghost town" as well as the different kinds of ghost towns and how they differ from unincorporated communities. Baker will discuss the histories of the former platted communities of Minerva, Marietta, Bromley, and Fredonia, as well as the ad hoc communities of Galvin, Luray, Capron, and Pickering. He will go on to discuss some communities in Marshall County that could fade away in the next few decades, including VanCleve, Dillon, and Dunbar. 

Since 2016, Dave Baker has been touring the state giving presentations about the history of Iowa. He runs a Facebook page called The 29th State, where he shares photographs and history of ghost towns around the state, as well as about the Civil War, railroads, and interesting people from Iowa. 

This program is sponsored by the library and is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the library's Information Desk at 641-754-5738 ext. 4.