Tabor is a city in Fremont County and extends northward into Mills County in the U.S. state of

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 ...

. The population was 1,014 at the time of the 2020 census.

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 , all land.

History

In 1852 the city of Tabor was founded by "a few families from

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin () is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. It is located about southwest of Cleveland within the Cleveland metropolitan area. The population was 8,555 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin ...

, almost all of them

Congregationalists Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

," "generous people, early settlers from New England and Ohio who had brought with them Puritan ideas of religion, and

Sumner Sumner may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica * Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica Australia * Sumner, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Sumner, New Zealand, a seasi ...

's and Phillips' and

Garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

's ideas of freedom." Among them were the Christian clergymen George Gaston, Samuel A. Adams, and Rev. John Todd, and their families. They chose to settle in what is now Tabor in order to found a Christian college, which eventually became Tabor College. The founders were impressed with this high location and mutually selected the name "Tabor" after the Biblical name of

Mount Tabor Mount Tabor ( ; ; ), sometimes spelled Mount Thabor, is a large hill of biblical significance in Lower Galilee, Northern District (Israel), northern Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Bi ...

, a mountain near

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

, the town of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

' childhood. The town was the home of many abolitionists; Rev. Todd, co-founder of Tabor College, was a "conductor" on the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. The residents of Tabor held monthly

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

prayer meetings, and helped

runaway slaves In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called fre ...

whenever they could. During the

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

period (1854–1860), Tabor was on a route established to enable anti-slavery partisans to reach Kansas without needing to go through the

slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were prohibited. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave s ...

of Missouri. A shipment of 200 Sharps rifles, sent from Boston for use in Kansas by free-state partisans, were stored there (in John Todd's barn). In 1857–1858

John Brown spent the winter in Tabor, assembling and training men for his raid on Harpers Ferry. Tabor College was located in the city from 1853 until 1927, when it closed for financial reasons. The college's buildings housed German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Tabor & Northern Railway, a 9-mile line connecting with the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

at Malvern, operated from 1889 to 1934. It was operated by the college.

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 1,014 people, 386 households, and 271 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 785.0 inhabitants per square mile (303.1/km²). There were 418 housing units at an average density of 323.6 per square mile (124.9/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 93.5%

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 ...

, 0.4% Black or African American, 0.0% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.3%

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 ...

, 1.5% from other races and 4.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino persons of any race comprised 2.3% of the population. Of the 386 households, 35.8% of which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% 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, 7.8% were cohabitating couples, 25.4% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present and 15.0% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 29.8% of all households were non-families. 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals, 12.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older. The median age in the city was 41.1 years. 29.3% of the residents were under the age of 20; 3.5% were between the ages of 20 and 24; 21.9% were from 25 and 44; 23.5% were from 45 and 64; and 21.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.6% male and 52.4% female.

2010 census

At the 2010

, there were 1,040 people, 418 households and 272 families living in the city. The

was . There were 451 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 98.5%

, 0.7%

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 ...

, 0.3% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 0.5% 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 2.0% of the population. There were 418 households, of which 29.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.2% were

living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.9% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.95. The median age was 44.3 years. 23.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 6.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.3% were from 25 to 44; 27.1% were from 45 to 64; and 22.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.3% male and 51.7% female.

2000 census

At the 2000 census, there were 993 people, 387 households and 267 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 416 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 99.60%

, 0.10% Asian, and 0.30% from two or more races. 0.81% of the population was

or Latino of any race. There were 387 households, of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.6% were

living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.91. 24.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 5.2% from 18 to 24, 22.6% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 25.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.1 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

was $36,750 and the median family income was $50,000. Males had a median income of $31,042 and females $23,068The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was $16,979. About 3.7% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 11.5% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Fremont–Mills Community School District Fremont–Mills Community School District is a rural public school district headquartered in Tabor, Iowa, serving sections of Fremont and Mills counties. Communities in its service area are Tabor, Randolph, and Thurman. It took portions ...

operates public schools.

National Historic Places and attractions

* Todd House (1853), home of abolitionist John Todd and

station, now a museum * Hunter School (1901), one room school house * Tabor Antislavery Historic District (1853), series of abolitionist related buildings and places

Cultural references

The town of Gilead, in

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and th ...

's ''

Gilead Gilead or Gilad (, ; ''Gilʿāḏ'', , ''Jalʻād'') is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> The region is bounded in the west by the J ...

'', is a fictionalised version of Tabor.

References

External links

City websiteTabor Historical Society website
{{authority control Cities in Iowa Cities in Fremont County, Iowa Cities in Mills County, Iowa Underground Railroad in Iowa 1852 establishments in Iowa Populated places established in 1852