Pekin is a small

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 northwestern Jefferson 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.

History

The

Burlington and Western Railway The Burlington and Northwestern Railway (B&NW) was a Narrow gauge railways, narrow gauge railroad system in Iowa that operated during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It connected Burlington, Iowa with branches to Washington, Io ...

arrived in Pekin in late 1882. This was a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

line, widened to

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

in 1902 and taken over by the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

, and then sold to the Minneapolis and St. Louis in 1934. Pekin's population was 32 in 1902. In 1909, Pekin was just one city block with a church and 14 vacant lots, a vacant block north of the Depot and passing siding. The lack of development may be due to the fact that Pekin was not much more than a mile (2 km) northwest of

Linby Linby is a small village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. The nearest town is Hucknall which is immediately to the south-west. The village grew up around the mills on the River Leen, from which Linby's name is derived. Small strea ...

, a village founded in 1902 at the point where a new Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul line crossed the Burlington and Western. Pekin's population in 1925 was 109.

Education

Pekin is the location of a regional school system, Pekin Community School District, which draws students from

Hedrick Hedrick may refer to: * Hedrick, Indiana * Hedrick, Iowa * Hedrick, Missouri Hedrick is an unincorporated community in Dent County, Missouri, Dent County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. History A post office called Hedrick was established in 18 ...

, Martinsburg,

Ollie Ollie is a given name and a nickname, often as a shortened form of Oliver, Olive, Olympia, Olga or Olivia. Variants include Olie, Oli, Oly and Olly. People Given name * Ollie Marie Adams (1925–1998), American gospel and R&B singer * Ollie B ...

, Packwood, Richland, and Farson, as well as from the surrounding countryside. The school is built upon the former Linby Naval Outlying Landing Field (OLF # 07815 / Auxiliary Field #6 (Ottumwa)), built in 1943 for training purposes.1948 Des Moines Sectional Chart
"

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD) ...

: Western Iowa", see section on Pekin for US Government pictures, plots and history of the airfield. This airfield was one of 15 satellite airfields used during WW2 by Naval Air Station Ottumwa, which conducted primary flight training from 1942 to 1947. There are four concrete runways in a diamond shape, each about 200' wide by 2000' long. Prevailing winds made take-off and landing difficult so it was little used. It was closed at some point between 1948 and 1955. Sale of the airport to the regional school system was contingent on the runways being retained in case the government ever needed them again. The high school was built on one of the runways and the first classes were in 1961. Today, some of the runways are used for school parking and maintenance equipment, and is also used for training practice for surrounding police departments. The school teaches math, science, English, and other subjects common in public schools. For eighteen years, only the high school students went to the regional school, which is located a mile south of Pekin, but in 1978, all grades, K-12, began to study at the regional school, with local buildings being permanently closed.

References

External links

Pekin Schools

Wikimapia satellite view
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Iowa Unincorporated communities in Jefferson County, Iowa