Clear Lake is a city in Cerro Gordo 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. The population was 7,687 at the 2020 census. The city is named for the large lake on which it is located. It is the home of a number of marinas, state parks and tourism-related businesses.

History

The region around the lake that would later be called Clear Lake was a summer home to the Dakota and Winnebago American Indians. During a land survey of northern Iowa done in 1832 by Nathan Boone, the son of the famous explorer

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...

, a map was made showing the lake and other bodies of water in the area. In 1851, Joseph Hewitt and James Dickirson brought their families to camp on the east side of Clear Lake, soon building a cabin, and began a friendship with the Winnebago natives. By 1853, many more white settlers had also came to settle in the area. By the year 1855, the first Clear Lake school was built as well as the first steam saw mill. In that year a hotel was built by James Crow. By 1870, the town had 775 residents and by 1871 the streets were graded and sidewalks were made of raised boards, sure signs of a thriving new city. The city of Clear Lake was incorporated on May 26, 1871. The first bandstand in Clear Lake was built in 1877 at the City Park. The town continued to grow and built its first library in 1889. In 1909, Bayside Amusement park opened for the first time. The first North Iowa Band Festival was organized by John Kopecky, among others, in 1932. In 1933, the Surf Ballroom opened up on the site of the old Tom Tom ballroom that had been destroyed by fire. The opening dance night saw approximately 700 couples attend. In 1947, the Surf Ballroom burned down; a new Surf Ballroom was built across the street the following year. The Bayside Amusement park closed down in 1958.

The Day the Music Died

In the early hours of February 3, 1959, a Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft carrying

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, who had been performing at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, took off from the local runway in nearby Mason City, on its way to the next show in

Moorhead, Minnesota Moorhead ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moo ...

. The plane crashed soon after take off, killing everyone aboard including the 21-year old pilot Roger Peterson. The event was later eulogized by folk singer Don McLean in his 1971 song " American Pie", which led to the crash being nicknamed "The Day the Music Died". In June 1988, around 600 people gathered to witness the dedication of the monument to the three musicians. Clear Lake also renamed Second Place North to "Buddy Holly Place".

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Climate

Clear Lake, Iowa has a hot/warm summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Dfa).

Demographics

Clear Lake is part of the Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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 7,687 people, 3,586 households, and 2,083 families residing in the city. 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 713.1 inhabitants per square mile (275.3/km²). There were 4,749 housing units at an average density of 440.6 per square mile (170.1/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 city was 92.6%

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 ...

, 1.3% Black or African American, 0.1% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.1%

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 ...

, 0.6% from other races and 4.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino persons of any race comprised 3.0% of the population. Of the 3,586 households, 21.7% of which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% 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, 5.9% were cohabitating couples, 29.6% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present and 17.8% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 41.9% of all households were non-families. 36.9% of all households were made up of individuals, 18.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older. The median age in the city was 49.1 years. 21.0% of the residents were under the age of 20; 4.1% were between the ages of 20 and 24; 21.0% were from 25 and 44; 27.4% were from 45 and 64; and 26.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.0% male and 52.0% female.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 7,777 people, 3,507 households, and 2,087 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,423 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.3%

, 0.5%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.1% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.2% of the population. There were 3,507 households, of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.9% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.5% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age in the city was 46.3 years. 20.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.2% were from 25 to 44; 31.9% were from 45 to 64; and 20.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.2% male and 51.8% female.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 8,161 people, 3,461 households, and 2,239 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 4,156 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.99%

, 0.27%

, 0.13% Native American, 0.92% Asian, 0.06%

, 0.75% from other races, and 0.88% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.86% of the population. There were 3,461 households, out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.86. Age spread:23.0% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $35,097, and the median income for a family was $45,589. Males had a median income of $30,266 versus $21,356 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,213. About 5.0% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over. Clear Lake Fire Museum

Arts and culture

* Surf Ballroom: Site of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper's last concert, the Surf Ballroom continues to host concerts and can be reserved as a convention hall or reception site. It is also a tourist attraction and holds a tribute to the three

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

singers each February. * Lady of the Lake: A sternwheeler ferry boat which takes passengers on a scenic cruise around Clear Lake. It has an enclosed lower level and an open upper level. * Clear Lake Fire Museum: Designed to resemble an early fire station, this museum's highlights include a 1924 Ahrens-Fox pumper truck, the city's 1883 hand-pulled hose cart, and the original fire bell used by the department. A memorial is dedicated to honor firefighters who have served Clear Lake.Attractions
* Guardian Angel Roadside Chapel: Built by Jack Kennedy, the Guardian Angel Chapel overlooks Interstate 35 and is open to the public daily. * Clear Lake Arts Center: This non-profit organization displays local and regional artists' work along with a sales gallery and art classes open to the public. * PM Park: Site of the Patriarchs Militant camp (a subgroup of the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Odd Fellows, Order ...

). Established in 1914, turned into a historical eating and lodging venue. * Central Gardens of North Iowa, Inc. has over 20 themed gardens on nearly 3 acres of land and is the only free public garden within 90 miles of Clear Lake. It is open daily, dawn to dusk, May 1 through October 31 and offers over 50 free activities, events, and programs each year. * Lake Theatre: Historic single screen movie theatre showing current titles. Originally an Opera House, converted to movie theatre in 1935. Clear Lake Rowhouses

Education

There are three schools in the local

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

, Clear Lake Community School District. Clear Creek Elementary School hosts preschool, kindergarten, and grades 1–5; Clear Lake Middle School hosts grades 6–8; and Clear Lake High School hosts grades 9–12. Lakeside Alternative, an

alternative school An alternative school is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional. Such schools offer a wide range of philosophies and teaching methods; some have political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, wh ...

program, is run jointly with the

Garner–Hayfield–Ventura Community School District Garner–Hayfield–Ventura Community School District is a rural state school, public school district headquartered in Garner, Iowa. In addition to the cities of Garner and Ventura, Iowa, Ventura, it also serves the unincorporated areas of Dun ...

in neighboring Ventura, Iowa. Clear Lake Classical, a preK–8 Classical Christian school, is the only

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

in the city.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Clear Lake is located along

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

approximately halfway between the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

and

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

. U.S. Highway 18 runs east–west through the northern side of the city until it meets Interstate 35; at this interchange, Iowa Highway 122 begins and continues to the east. U.S. 18 proper continues to the south, overlapping an approximately 3.5-mile stretch of Interstate 35 and Iowa Highway 27 (part of the Avenue of the Saints). Just south of the city, U.S. 18 and Iowa 27 break from Interstate 35 and continue to the east. The North Iowa Area Council of Governments operates Region 2 Transit, which provides city and regional demand responsive public bus transit.

Jefferson Lines Jefferson Lines (JL or JLI) is a regional intercity bus company operating in 14 states in the Midwest and the West of the United States. History The company is operated by Jefferson Partners L.P., located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jefferson P ...

, a private

intercity bus service An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public t ...

, maintains a stop in Clear Lake with service to locations throughout the Midwest. Mason City Municipal Airport is located immediately to the east of Clear Lake. Two freight rail lines run through the city.

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

operates a line parallel to U.S. 18, which stops at a minor grain facility; trackage rights are given to the Iowa Northern Railway. Progressive Rail maintains the Iowa Traction Railway, a

shortline railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

which runs between Clear Lake and Mason City.

Utilities

The city's

electric power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

utilities are provided by Alliant Energy. Since 2004, Alliant Energy has operated a natural gas—fired electricity generation plant southeast of the city.

Sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...

treatment is provided by the Clear Lake Sanitary District, a local government entity separate from the city government. Wastewater travels through pump stations within the city before being routed to a treatment plant to the south. There, it is filtered, processed through a

sequencing batch reactor Sequencing batch reactors (SBR) or sequential batch reactors are a type of activated sludge process for the wastewater treatment, treatment of wastewater. SBRs treat wastewater such as sewage or output from anaerobic digesters or mechanical biolog ...

, and disinfected with ultraviolet light. Some of the resulting treated effluent is routed to the nearby Alliant Energy plant for cooling purposes.

Telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

, and

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

services are provided by local provider CL Tel and

Mediacom Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth-largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a sig ...

Water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...

services are provided by the city. The city's water is drawn from shallow wells in the Cedar Valley Formation.

Waste collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclabl ...

services are also provided by the city and operated by local company Absolute Waste Removal. Further processing is performed at the Landfill of North Iowa to the east.

Health care

MercyOne Medical Center North Iowa in neighboring Mason City is the nearest hospital. Both MercyOne and Iowa Specialty Hospital operate clinics within the city. In September 2020, construction began on a wellness center near Clear Lake High School for joint use by Clear Lake Community School District and the community.

Notable people

* Carl S. Bates (1884–1956), aviation pioneer and inventor of the

Bates Monoplane The Bates Monoplane is a pioneering aircraft built by Carl Sterling Bates in 1911. Design and development Bates developed his first aircraft, a piloted kite in 1898 at the age of 14 at Clear Lake, Iowa. Later as a student of Octave Chanute, h ...

* Todd Blodgett - Member of White House staff (Reagan-Bush) 1985-87. * Richie Hayward (1946–2010), founding member for the rock band

Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...

* Will Kirk Kaynor (1884–1929),

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

for

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

* Milo Knutson (1917–1981), mayor of

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse ( ) is a city in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population was 52,680 as of the 202 ...

and Wisconsin State Senator * Max McGraw (1883–1964), founder of McGraw-Edison and Centel * Robert Allan Phillips (1906–1976),

Lasker Award In 1945 Albert Lasker and Mary Woodard Lasker created the Lasker Awards. Every year since then the award has been given to the living person considered to have made the greatest contribution to medical science or who has demonstrated public ser ...

-winning physician, developed

fluid replacement Fluid replacement or fluid resuscitation is the medical practice of replenishing bodily fluid lost through sweating, bleeding, fluid shifts or other pathologic processes. Fluids can be replaced with oral rehydration therapy (drinking), intravenous ...

treatment for

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

References

External links

Official Clear Lake City

Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Cities in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa Cities in Iowa Mason City, Iowa micropolitan area