NOTE: We are working to put together a comprehensive history of Woodbine and will be building our story here soon! If you have any pictures or information please send it to adnelson@woodbineia.com

Woodbine, Iowa Harrison County – 1866

One of the first settlers in 1849 to Boyer Township, Harrison County, Iowa was Lorenzo Butler and his family. Butler ran a small store along the banks of the Boyer River. The official Post Office was located in the store.

Lorenzo’s wife, Anna Butler, was the first Postmistress, so she was allowed to name the Post Office site. More than likely homesick and remembering the flowering vine which had clambered around the door and windows of her English home, she chose the name “Woodbine.”

In 1854 a saw mill and corn cracker were erected about a half mile east of the present town. In 1862 a woolen mill was added and after the Civil War, a flour mill was built. The town was platted in 1866, the same year in which the Chicago Northwestern Railroad began regular runs from Cedar Falls to Council Bluffs.

The Historic Lincoln Highway 1921

The original transcontinental Lincoln Highway (now known as US Hwy 30) runs through Woodbine on its way from New York to San Francisco. Woodbine’s stretch was bricked in the summer of 1921.

We still claim Lincoln Way’s eleven blocks as a main thoroughfare. . . it is the largest remaining original portion in Iowa. A canopy of old trees shade turn of the century family homes along Lincoln Way. Woodbine’s Lincoln Way resides on the National Register of Historic Places along with the Woodbine Carnegie Library and Woodbine’s historic Main Street District.

Other places of interest include White’s Floral Garden, the Zell Millard Historic Preservation Park which includes Merry Brook Rural School Museum, Harrison County Genealogy, the original Depot, and a CNW caboose, as well as a renovated 1928 canopy gas station serving as the Welcome Center and Community Meeting Room. Many Lincoln Highway enthusiasts and tours come through each year discovering the beauty and eccentricities of “old road.”