Charleston 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 ...

in Lee County,

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, United States, in the state's southeastern corner.

History

Charleston, a town in Charleston Township, was laid out by George Berry on September 23, 1848, for Jacob Hufford, and the plat was registered in the office of the County Recorder on June 1, 1849.The History of Lee County, Iowa, Nelson C. Roberts & S.W. Moorhead, eds; Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1914. The original plat was 48 small and 3 large lots, with Hackberry, Main, and Elm Streets crossed by numbered streets east and west. The population in 1914 was 65, with three churches, public school, post office, express and telegraph offices, telephone connections, a hotel, a general store, and depot. By 1925, the population of Charleston had increased to 105 persons. The population was 40 in 1940. File:CharlestonIowaWaterTower.jpg, The water tower and restaurant which was constructed at the site of the Prairie House, which burned in 2009 In 2010 the unincorporated town of Charleston consisted of 32 people living in 15 homes. The Lee County owned square is managed by Lee County Conservation Board where there is a shelter with a picnic table. The Rathbun Regional Water Association water tower #33 is a local landmark. A fire on Sunday, July 5, 2009, destroyed the Prairie House restaurant under the tower. Five fire departments from nearby communities – Donnellson, Des Moines Township, Montrose, Fort Madison, and West Point – were unable to save the building. South of Charleston is the Charleston Cemetery.

References

Unincorporated communities in Iowa Unincorporated communities in Lee County, Iowa Fort Madison–Keokuk, IA-IL-MO Micropolitan Statistical Area {{LeeCountyIA-geo-stub