Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Berea, Iowa


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. 78.26 (spin me / revolutions) 19:22, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Berea, Iowa

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Our first stop in Iowa appears to be a 4th class post office; at least, a post office is the only thing for which I have definite corroboration. I get a few mention of people going from/to there, and one period gazetteer claims a population of 40, but I cannot verify that, and the rest of the entry suggests a lack of any commercial activity. At any rate topos and aerials show maybe a farm in the middle of the Iowan sea of agriculture. Mangoe (talk) 04:27, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Geography-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 06:50, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Iowa-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 06:50, 19 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Kilburn's History of Adair County, Iowa talks of "Berea village", and of the Berea Horse Company, but other than confirming that there was a village tells us nothing historical. Hair's 1865 Iowa State Gazetteer does not have this at all, for obvious reasons.  Nor does the 1893 Lippincott's, which is merely a year before the post office opened.  The actual township is Eureka Township, Adair County, Iowa.   This is another false "unincorporated community" article and the true subject is not notable.  Uncle G (talk) 21:12, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep - I fail to understand this lust to delete the small places just because not as much has been written about them. This is a clearly attested real place. There's still a Berea Cemetery, and people are still being buried there (or were as of 2016, anyway). -- Orange Mike &#124;  Talk  01:15, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Well it clearly isn't real, since it isn't an "unincorporated community". Neither the description nor the tense are correct.  Where did this mystery "clear attestation" come from, too?  We didn't have any such thing before TheCatalyst31 commented later.  And why do you think that there's a Berea cemetery in Adair County?  There's only the 1 cemetery in Eureka Township, as far as I can see, which is  in a different part of the township. And the Berea Cemetery in Kentucky isn't in Iowa. &#9786; There are thousands if not tens of thousands of dubious and likely outright false "unincorporated community" articles on Wikipedia.  We shouldn't be retaining falsehoods and adding fake cemeteries to them.  Uncle G (talk) 02:51, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * reply - A little searching brought up a description of somebody being buried in Berea Cemetery in Adair County, Iowa, in 2016. The Gazeteer listing was not made up out of whole cloth, either. -- Orange Mike &#124;  Talk  07:23, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * correction of my own error - the guy who died in 2016 was born in Berea; buried in Eureka Cemetery. -- Orange Mike &#124;  Talk  08:05, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep Aside from several newspaper references that confirm it had residents, it was also the home to one of wrestler Earl Caddock's first matches and had a town band at one point. This history, allegedly transcribed from a 1976 history book that I couldn't find online, describes the community in a way that generally matches up with the other sources I found. This history book that I could find online confirms that Berea had its own general store, which counts as commercial activity at least. I'd say that a community with many residents and civic and commercial activity counts as notable. TheCatalyst31 Reaction•Creation 02:15, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Interesting. Google Books in my part of the world has no inkling that a 1976 Adair County History exists.  It's in-depth history/geography/&c. that makes something notable, not how many residents there are.  So a decent history book with in-depth coverage (which "he purchased a general store in Berea" from Kilburn is not) counts.  There are quite plainly zero residents, after all.  &#9786;  Uncle G (talk) 02:51, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep The article has references-Thhank You-RFD (talk) 11:52, 20 May 2021 (UTC)


 * Keep. The 1901 Adair County plat map shows about 12 houses in Berea, so this was more than just a post office, even though it clearly always was a hamlet or village. It also appears on the 1901 Rand McNally map of Iowa. My 1960 World Book Encyclopedia shows the community on the map of Iowa (on page 306) so it would be strange for this encyclopedia to not mention Berea where others have. While there may no longer be residents here now, notability is not temporary, and there are sources which cover this community, even some sources fairly easily located. I can dig up some more, as I've done with Arbor Hill, Iowa (also nominated for deletion this week). This community was noted at the time, and so editors' concerns about false GNIS data don't apply to this community. Firsfron of Ronchester  06:47, 23 May 2021 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.