Amber is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
in
Jones County,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, United States. It is located northeast of
Anamosa, northwest of
Center Junction, south of
Monticello and north of
Olin Olin may refer to:
People
Organizations
* OLIN, American landscape architecture firm
* Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis
* Olin College, an undergraduate engineering college in Massachusetts
* Olin Corporation, a chemical ...
. Amber is located approximately in the center of Jones County.
History
What would become Amber started with the Midland railroad depot of the Chicago & North-Western Railway. The founders of Amber were the Hartmans, the Sanfords and J.C. Ramsey. Mrs. C.E. Sanford & son opened a general store and J.C. Ramsey was the agent for the Midland depot. The post office was established in 1873 with T. Hartman being the first postmaster, he was also a trustee for Wayne Township. Originally called Blue Cut, due to a wide strip of blue clay nearby, the name was changed to Amber on July 1, 1878. Amber was named after a character in a novel that a resident had read.
Hula Hoop Tree
Amber was the home of the Hula Hoop Tree from 2015 until it was cut down in 2020. The lifeless tree which was made so after having been set ablaze not long after the first hula hoops were hoisted upon it, was decorated with hundreds of the plastic
hula hoops
Hula Hoops are a snack food made out of potatoes and corn in the shape of short, hollow cylinders. Created by KP Snacks in the United Kingdom in 1973, they are sold in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. Hula Hoops ...
before it was felled. The tree had its own
Facebook page, which remains up despite the tree being down.
Nobody knew why the first hoops came to rest upon the tree but after the initial plastic rings many more hoops made their way onto it. Moreover, though the first two hoops appeared after a 2015 storm there remains the possibility that a guest of wind carried them up there.
Education
Anamosa Community School District
The Anamosa Community School District (ACSD) is a rural public school district headquartered in Anamosa, Iowa.
It encompasses part of Jones County and a small portion of eastern Linn County. The cities of Anamosa, Martelle and Morley are in ...
operates local area public schools.
In popular culture
During her research for her book ''
Culture Warlords'' Amber was chosen by the journalist
Talia Lavin as the residence of "Ashlynn", a persona which was a honey pot for the
white nationalist dating site WhiteDate. A parody of the perfect Aryan female, Lavin had simply plopped "Ashlynn" in the Midwest.
References
Unincorporated communities in Jones County, Iowa
Unincorporated communities in Iowa
{{JonesCountyIA-geo-stub