Pigeon Creek Valley in Distance
View over the Pigeon Valley
bigpigeon.us webpage History © 2023 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 15 Oct 2023
Big Pigeon's History module contains aspects of the local history of Pottawattamie County and the surrounding Southwest Iowa area. Much of the content planned for this module currently is in 
Pottawattamie County, Iowa - An Historical Overview.
Links to Big Pigeon's History submodules​:
  • Iowa History - early Iowa history up to the time of statehood.
  • Southwest Iowa History - early historical information plus population data for the Southwest Iowa area.
  • Pottawattamie County History - general historical information for Pottawattamie County.
  • Big Pigeon Area - mostly very local Boomer and Hazel Dell Township history.
  • Avoca - Avoca, Iowa and vicinity history.​
  • LDS History - some aspects of Mormon history related to the Pottawattamie County area.
  • A House Divided - an extended Danish immigrant family with a connection to the Big Pigeon area.
  • More History - hardly any  content at this time. ​
Early Pottawattamie Area Residents
Before the Pottawattamie area was opened for general settlement in 1853, it temporarily housed two groups:
  • As a consequence of the 1833 Chicago Treaty, The Prairie Potawatomi bands of Native Americans, (with some Ojibawa and Ottawa) left the greater Chicago area beginning in 1835, briefly stopped in the Platte area of northwest Missouri, and came north to southwest Iowa in 1837 and 1838.
  • Faced with increasing hostility from the general population, most Latter Day Saints members (known familiarly as Mormons) abandoned the Nauvoo, Illinois area in early 1846 and began crossing southern Iowa. While preparing for the arduous journey to Utah, they lived in the Pottawattamie area. (Initially many stayed across the Missouri River in Winter Quarters, now Florence, Nebraska.)
Iowa and Nearby Counties
Iowa and Nearby Counties
Both groups began leaving the Pottawattamie area in 1847:
  • The Prairie Potawatomi to their new reservation in Kansas near Topeka. Most were gone by the end of 1848.
  • The Mormons across the plains and over the mountains to the Salt Lake area. The last company of Pottawattamie area Mormons left for Utah in the Spring of 1853.
Pottawattamie Area Political Organization
  • 24 Feb 1847 - Pottawattamie County created. The accompanying map shows the 1847 boundaries.
  • 21 Sep 1848 - Pottawattamie County fully organized.
  • 15 Jan 1851 - Pottawattamie County reduced to current boundaries by creation of nearby counties.
  • 18 Aug 1851 - adjoining Mills County fully organized.
  • 7 Mar 1853 - adjoining counties of Cass, Harrison, and Shelby fully organized.
  • 15 Aug 1853 - adjoining Montgomery County fully organized.
  • 1847 & 1876 - Attempts to split off twelve townships in eastern Pottawattamie County into a new county fail.
  • 1877 - Missouri River changes course creating an oxbow lake from the previous Saratoga Bend. Today's Carter Lake, on west side of Missouri River, remains part of Pottawattamie County.
Original Pottawattamie County
Original Extent of Pottawattamie County
13 Feb 1849 - The US Supreme Court disallowed Missouri's claim to the southermost 10 miles of Iowa. (See the dashed line on the above map.)
Pottawattamie County Railroads and Post Offices
Council Bluffs became a major railroad center, with the first railroad arriving in 1867. Until 1970, the US Postal system remained closely integrated with the railroad system.
  • The accompanying map shows the Pottawattamie County railroads and post offices in December 1897.  
  • This map shows distances between post offices. The Sources section has a link to the all-Iowa map.
  • Most post offices not on a railroad were located in a country store or farm home and had a short lifetime.
1897 Pottawattamie County Railroads and Post Offices
1897 Pottawattamie County Railroads and Post Offices
Sources for Big Pigeon's PottCo webpage
  • The webpage header photo, Pigeon Creek Valley in Distance, shows a view from Hitchcock County Park in the loess hills of Pottawattamie County, is courtesy of midwestwanderer.com.
  • The Counties - Iowa and Surrounding Area map is courtesy of the Page County, Iowa rootsweb site and was found at http://sites.rootsweb.com/~iapage/gifiles/ia-co.jpg.
  • The Original Extent of Pottawattamie County map is courtesy of https://www.mapofus.org/Iowa/.
  • The 1897 Pottawattamie County Railroads and Post Offices map is excerpted from the Iowa map at the Boston Public Library's webpage https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:cj82kk91g.
  • https://digital.newberry.org/ahcb/documents/IA_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm#Individual_County_Chronologies gives organization history for each Iowa county.