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Knoxville City

Marion County, Iowa

Knoxville City Hall is located at 305 South Third Street, Knoxville, IA 50138.
Phone: 641-828-0550.


E.R. Hays House

Photo: Middlebrook, circa 1845, located at 4001 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Photographed by User: Brian Stansberry (own work), 2010, [cc-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons, accessed December, 2021.


Knoxville [†] is located in south-central Iowa, some 25 miles southeast of Des Moines. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans of the Sac and Fox tribes. At that time, prairie grass covered the countryside at heights of eight to 10 feet. In 1835, dragoons first explored the Des Moines River valley through this area. In 1842, the Sac and Fox Indians signed a treaty to sell lands in central Iowa to the new settlers known as the New Purchase of 1842. By 1843, settlers began moving to Knoxville, with the first Marion County Courthouse erected three years later.

Neighborhoods

Knoxville remained an unincorporated village until 1853, when a movement for incorporation began. A judicial order was issued after an election in which 64 votes were cast in favor of incorporation, with four votes against. Knoxville was duly incorporated as a city in 1855.

Key moments in Knoxville's history:

† City of Knoxville, Iowa, Knoxville Comprehensive Plan, 2017, www.knoxvilleia.gov, accessed November, 2021.