Denmark is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in northeastern

Lee County, Iowa Lee County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,555. The county seats are Fort Madison and Keokuk: It is the only county in Iowa with more than one county seat. Lee County is part ...

, United States. It lies along Iowa Highway 16, north of the city of

Fort Madison Fort Madison is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk, Iowa, Keokuk. Of Iowa's 99 counties, Lee County is the only one with two county seats. The population was 10,270 at the time of ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Lee County. Its elevation is above sea level. Although Denmark is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with the ZIP code of 52624, that opened on April 7, 1846. The town also has a branch of Farmers Savings Bank that opened in 1935. The community is part of the

– Keokuk, IA- MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, its population was 425. Denmark was laid out ''circa'' 1837.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2020, there were 425 people, 175 households, and 117 families residing in the community. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 255.9 inhabitants per square mile (98.8/km²). There were 188 housing units at an average density of 113.2 per square mile (43.7/km²). The

racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

makeup of the community was 94.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.6% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.0% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.4% from other races and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino persons of any race comprised 1.9% of the population. Of the 175 households, 16.6% of which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 3.4% were cohabitating couples, 26.9% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present and 15.4% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 33.1% of all households were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals, 17.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older. The median age in the community was 41.3 years. 26.4% of the residents were under the age of 20; 5.4% were between the ages of 20 and 24; 21.4% were from 25 and 44; 21.9% were from 45 and 64; and 24.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the community was 48.0% male and 52.0% female.

History

In 1836, four families emigrated from the town and church of New Ipswich, NH to Denmark in what was then Wisconsin Territory, now in Iowa. Within a short time they were followed by eight other families. They all carried with them the same standard of right living and wise planning for the best interest of those who should come after them that they had known in New Ipswich. Those who "laid out the town of Denmark, which is three-fourths of a mile square, into town lots for building, donated one-half of those lots to the purpose of Education." In the building of a church and of an academy they followed as closely as possible the example set by the founders of New Ipswich. The church set up by the settlers is the oldest Congregational church in Iowa. They were early known as champions of freedom. "Under the leadership of their pastor, Rev. Asa Turner, they joined with others in the election of Governor Grimes in 1854, which changed the political history of Iowa and gave birth to the Republican party in the nation." Dr. Turner and Rev. Mr. Lee were classmates at Yale College and lifelong friends. His pastorate continued for thirty years; and his influence led to Iowa the eleven young men from Andover Seminary who formed the "Iowa Band," one of whom, their historian, was Rev. Ephraim Adams, a son of New Ipswich. The population was 200 in 1940.

Education

The

Fort Madison Community School District Fort Madison Community School District is a rural public school district headquartered in Fort Madison, Iowa.Home
Fort Madison Comm ...

serves Denmark, operating Lincoln and Richardson elementary schools, Fort Madison Middle School, and

Fort Madison High School The Fort Madison High School (FMHS) is located in Fort Madison, Iowa. As the only high school of the Fort Madison Community School District, it serves Fort Madison, Houghton, St. Paul, and West Point. It also serves the unincorporated area of ...

. Previously the district operated Denmark Elementary School in Denmark; in 1998 the school had about 305 students. It originated from the establishment of Denmark Academy in 1845. The original building was destroyed in a fire circa 1924. The district decided to demolish Denmark Elementary in 2012. Ken Marang, the superintendent, stated that the "outdated" building had problems with mold and water leakage and that the fact that "doors open out into the hallways" made it "unsafe".

Notable people

* Frank Leverett, geologist, was born near Denmark. * Catharine Van Valkenburg Waite, women's suffrage activist, lived in Denmark as a child.

References