Talk:Queen City, Iowa

Deletion / Undeletion?
Article was marked for auto-delete but was recreated without references. Not completely convinced Queen City meets notability standards, but willing to listen if there are some actual references provided. Am trying to geocode this location but can not find any data online other than the previously deleted first article on Queen City. Any Corning, Iowa residents have actual documentation of this apparent ghost town?

GrandpaDave (talk) 03:19, 25 August 2009 (UTC)


 * A prod deletion can be restored at any time without question. Populated or formerly populated places are usually considered notable merely by existing.
 * According to GNIS, there are 2 cemeteries and a post office there: Google Books returns 16 hits  and there should be more information about it in official state records & other material not available online. --ThaddeusB (talk) 12:17, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * I originally prodded this as the article itself acknowledged that little was known about the subject. Existence doesn't equal notability and the fact that there are graveyards there doesn't mean that there's enough coverage of the locations (which appears to be a minor ghosttown) to have an encyclopedic article written about it.  This should probably be AfD'd or merged to a more notable local municipality. There is no policy or guideline that states that all places are notable.  Them  From  Space  20:39, 25 August 20Editing Talk:Queen City, Iowa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia09 (UTC)
 * You can AfD it if you want, but I am telling you that it will almost certainly be kept. While there is no official guideline to say all populated places are notable, there is a de facto consensus that all such places are notable merely by existing.  If you don't believe me, try looking through past AfDs.  (See also: OUTCOMES). --ThaddeusB (talk) 21:04, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

source for expansion:
I am told the following story isn't copyrighted. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but either way it should be trimmed/paraphrased to better fit into the article. --ThaddeusB (talk) 20:35, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

"'Queen City Revisited - Development planned for that area', Adams County Free Press (Corning, Iowa), April 10, 1997, p1

After an absence of more than a century, building lots again may be platted in the same area where lots once existed in the village of Queen City. Dale Carmlchael of Corning has submitted a proposal to the Adams County board of supervisors for creation of a four-lot subdivision housing development on this location about two miles northeast of Corning. The original Queen City officially was platted on October 6, 1857- 140 years ago- by three enterprising citizens, R. B. Lockwood, J. K. Guthridge and J.A Colvin. They purchased 262 acres from local entrepreneur Samuel Larimer for development of a village. The $8,OOO sale netted him a handsome profit, considering his original cost of $1.25 per acre. Larimer was an early-day Adams County mover and shaker. He was a member of the first board of supervisors and the first county judge under the original judicial system. In addition he was named Queen City's first postmaster, in 1858, when the office was moved from nearby Icaria.

In today's topography, the original Queen City plat of more than 100 lots would be bounded on the south by the Burlington Northern railroad; on the west by about the center of Lake Binder; on the east by Icarian land; and on the north a short distance beyond the Carmichael land on the east side of the Corning-Carl road. Individual purchase of land and laying out of town lots for a community was a common practice during this period and most towns were developed this way under the free enterprise system. A few weeks earlier, D. N. Smith, a Charlton, Ia. land baron, purchased land and filed a plat for the village of Corning on September 21, 1857. During the next few years, Queen City developed into a thriving community, complete with general stores, drug store, doctor's office, two hotels for travelers, livery barn and two newspapers, The Vindicator and The Leader. The latter eventually was moved to Quincy. The Noble bridge was constructed at the foot of north-south Court Street across the East Nodaway river to handle road traffic from all directions. Approximately 4O homes were built in Queen City with the population reaching about 150 at its peak period In the 1860s. Historians list two locations for Queen City cemeteries. An Adams County engineer's map depicts one on the west side where the present Corning-Carl road turns north Just east of Corning. Another source places one a short distance north where a memorial was constructed and headstones restored. In 1980 by the civic department of the Corning Departmental Club, directed by the late Helen Travis. But selection of Corning as the railroad depot site In 1869 and county seat in 1872 sounded the death knell for Queen City. The village hung on for a few more years until the plat reverted to private ownership on March 27, 1885. Ironically, the founders of Queen City has reserved six of the original lots as the site for a depot'"