Zenorsville (or Zenorville) 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
Boone County, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
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 ...
.
Geography
Zenorsville is located at ,
in the northeastern part of
Jackson Township.
History
Zenorsville was founded in Section 12 of
Jackson Township after the discovery of coal deposits in the mid-1870s. At its peak, Zenorsville had around 400 residents. The community had a store, school, blacksmith shop, other businesses, and a church.
Several mines in Zenorsville operated. The coal was considered the best in the state, according to a 1909 state geological survey. However, coal mining in Zenorsville was discontinued sometime prior to 1909. An 1886 mining report blamed the decline in coal mining in Zenorsville on a new rail line north from
Ames
AMES, short Air Ministry Experimental Station, was the name given to the British Air Ministry's radar development team at Bawdsey Manor (afterwards RAF Bawdsey) in the immediate pre-World War II era. The team was forced to move on three occasion ...
.
The post office at Zenorsville was established in 1876 and was discontinued in 1900.
A 1914 history of Boone County states that when the mines declined, the shanties in Zenorsville were sold and removed, as residents moved elsewhere.
Zenorsville's population was estimated at 300 in 1887, and was 367 in 1902.
See also
*
Jordan, Iowa, another community in Jackson Township
References
Unincorporated communities in Boone County, Iowa
1870 establishments in Iowa
{{BooneCountyIA-geo-stub