Adel City

Dallas County, Iowa

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Adel City Hall is located at 301 South 10th Street, Adel, IA 50003.
Phone: 515‑993‑4525.

Adel as described in 1938 [1]

Adel, seat of Dallas County, is at the confluence of Butler Creek and the Raccoon River. Adel was in 1850 a station on the Dubuque-Council Bluffs stagecoach route. When the town was settled in 1846 it was called Penoach, but the name was changed in 1849 when the place was made the county seat. The county was named for George M. Dallas [1792-1864], Vice President of the United States from 1845-1849.

Partly because of the numerous waterways, many mills were built in the county in the early days. Most of them are gone now and none are in use, but occasionally their picturesque ruins are visible from the highway. Many small factories were also built because of the waterpower, but modern power methods have supplanted this primitive one.

Workmen digging for clay in an old creek bed here found three ancient axes, possibly prehistoric, buried 23 feet underground; two were made of mica, one of granite; it is thought that they were fashioned by mound builders.

  1. Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Iowa, IOWA: A Guide to the Hawkeye State, American Guide Series, The Viking Press, New York, 1938.

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