The Making of a Small Town

Walnut Creek Station became a water stop on the main line of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad in 1869.  It grew into a town by 1871, and was incorporated as an Iowa city in 1877.
Like many small towns in Iowa, Walnut was also formed in part due to:
-Federal Land Grants to States for Railroad construction
-Federal push for westward expansion, and the idea of a Transcontinental Railroad
-Federal Bounty Land Grants to soldiers
-The attractiveness, to those in the “east”, of western Iowa’s rich agricultural lands and promise of prosperity for all.
-The desire by the citizens of Iowa to expand, to grow and attract settlers, the railroad, and industry.