bigpigeon.us webpage History > Big Pigeon Area > Nearby Towns > Crescent, updated by RAC 18 Oct 2023.
Crescent was officially known as Crescent City and predated railroad construction by ten years. In 1867 Chicago and Northwestern Railroad construction bypassed Crescent City. Ordinarily a new town would have sprung up along the railroad and the older town would have withered away. However, because the railroad was built through the Missouri River flood plain, Crescent City, nestled at the edge of the loess hills, survived.
From the 1884-85 Iowa Gazetteer and Business Directory, Volume 3, pp. 318-319