Sand Springs, Iowa

Unincorporated community in Iowa, United States

42°19′03″N 91°11′22″W / 42.31750°N 91.18944°W / 42.31750; -91.18944CountryUnited StatesStateIowaCountyDelawareElevation

922 ft (281 m)Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)Area code563GNIS feature ID461406^[1]

Sand Springs is an unincorporated community in South Fork Township, Delaware County, Iowa, United States. The community is on Iowa Highway 38, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east-southeast of Hopkinton.^[2]

History

The first cabin at Sand Springs (originally Sand Spring, without the 's') was built by Asa Bowen in 1852. In 1856, the Southwestern (Milwaukee) Railway was surveyed in this area, and a railroad station was eventually established. Sand Spring was platted by surveyor George Welch for landowners L.H. Langworthy and T.H. Bowen.^[3]

The Sand Spring post office opened in 1858, the same year a hotel was built. A Methodist church was built in 1865, and a Baptist church was completed in 1868. A large school was constructed in 1868. The rail line was completed in 1859, with the help of townsfolk (including women) who pitched in to help lay the tracks. However, a railroad line built in nearby Hopkinton was said to have diminished Sand Springs' economics, and a 1914 history of the county called Sand Spring "primitive" and past its heyday. Sand Spring did not prosper and remained a village.^[3]

During its peak years, Sand Spring was home to a broom factory and a sawmill; the sawmill was destroyed during the flood of 1865.^[3]

Sand Springs' population was 52 in 1925.^[4] The Sand Springs post office closed in April 1945.^[5]

References

^ "Sand Springs". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
^ Highway and Transportation Map: Delaware County, Iowa (PDF) (Map). Iowa Department of Transportation. January 1, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Merry, John F. (1914). History of Delaware County, Iowa, and Its People. S. J. Clarke publishing Company. pp. 264–265.
^ Company, Rand McNally and (1925). Premier Atlas of the World: Containing Maps of All Countries of the World, with the Most Recent Boundary Decisions, and Maps of All the States,territories, and Possessions of the United States with Population Figures from the Latest Official Census Reports, Also Data of Interest Concerning International and Domestic Political Questions. Rand McNally & Company. p. 190.
^ "GNIS Detail - Sand Springs Post Office (historical)". geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved July 22, 2021.