Greenfield Chamber Main Street, Development Corporation

About This Association

Iowa was opened to settlers in 1832, but by mid-century, the plains of this area were yet foreign to all but a few nomadic First Americans. Here, "First Americans" hunted and lived among elk, red deer, buffalo, beaver, mink and an occasional black bear. Thomas Hodgeson and a man named Hillin were the first to construct pole cabins at Greenfield. The land was purchased by Milton C. Munger in 1856, who engaged the services of county surveyor D.M. Valentine to plat residential and commercial building lots. The town center features a unique Lancaster-style town square with alleys extending from the corners and streets intersecting in mid-block. The first permanent structure in the town was a rustic stagecoach station built by Matthew Clark at the corner of West Iowa and SW Second Streets. The second structure was the Kirkwood Hotel in 1858. Early ads list the going rate for board and lodging at $2 per night. The stagecoach, which passed throughGreenfield on its way from Des Moines and Winterset to Lewis and Council Bluffs, then known as the Kanesville, was the major form of transportation for travelers through town until the C,B & Q freight and passenger railroad arrived in 1879.

Publications

Conventions

monthly board meeting ? annual meeting - always 3rd Monday in January.

Specialties:

1. Chambers of Commerce

Information Summary