Red Rock, Iowa Ghost Town: History, Status and Directions

Overview

The town under the lake

Red Rock grew at the end of an old Indian trail up the Des Moines River. The boundary of the 1842 treaty with the Sac and Fox, which dragoons patrolled until settlers were let across in 1845, was called the Red Rock Line after the place. In the spring of 1843 John D. Bedell and a French companion who spoke the Sac and Fox language blazed a claim there, and on May 1 Bedell finished a pole cabin with a bark roof about twenty yards from the river, the first house in the township. He and Amos Shaw opened trading houses, and other settlers followed the same year.

The village came quickly. The township's first post office opened at Red Rock in the fall of 1845, Daniel Hiskey taught school in a cabin by the river that winter, and steam sawmills and later a flour mill went up nearby. By 1915 a Wabash Railroad branch ran from Cordova to sandstone quarries west of town. It sat low by the river, and floods were part of its life from at least 1851.

Floods also ended it. The Army Corps of Engineers began Red Rock Dam downstream in 1960, and Red Rock and five other river towns, Coalport, Cordova, Dunreath, Fifield and Rousseau, were emptied ahead of the water. The dam was finished in 1969, and the reservoir named for the town covered it. Iowa PBS says the towns chose not to move their cemeteries, and that Red Rock Cemetery is the only one still above water. The county GenWeb says cemeteries also remain at Coalport and Dunreath, and that families could have their dead moved first, as many did.

Timeline

Trading houses, river town, reservoir

1842–1845The Red Rock Line, the boundary of the 1842 Sac and Fox cession, is named for Red Rock. Dragoons patrol it until 1845, when settlers may cross.
May 1, 1843John D. Bedell finishes a bark-roofed pole cabin about twenty yards from the river, at the site of the later village: the first house in Red Rock Township. He opens a trading house; Amos Shaw opens another.
1845The township's first post office opens at Red Rock in the fall, with Robert D. Russell as postmaster. Steam sawmills go up near the town.
1845–1846Daniel Hiskey teaches the first school in the village, in a cabin by the river, to about twenty pupils.
1851Floods reach the town, by Notes on Iowa's account.
1854A steam flour mill opens. It moves to Otley in 1869.
1854–1855The village gets its first purpose-built schoolhouse.
By 1915A Wabash Railroad branch runs from Cordova to sandstone quarries west of the town.
1960The Army Corps of Engineers begins Red Rock Dam downstream.
1969The dam is finished and Lake Red Rock, named for the town, covers it.

What's left

What the maps show

There is no town to visit. The old maps below tell the story better than anything on the ground. The 1909 and 1912 Knoxville sheets show Red Rock as a small grid of streets on the north bank of the Des Moines, with Cordova and the railroad just east and the river looping south. The 1965 Otley sheet, drawn as the dam went up, shows the same streets inside the hatched flood pool and labels Red Rock Cemetery on the bluff to the northwest, with a road climbing to it. By the 1984 sheet the lake fills the valley, IA 14 crosses it on a causeway, and Elk Rock State Park holds both shores to the east.

Today's aerial view shows open water over the townsite, wooded bluffs and a few homes on the north shore, and the IA 14 causeway to the east. We found no description of the cemetery as it is now, and no source saying how to reach it or who owns the land around it.

Townsite under Lake Red Rock
Red Rock Cemetery, reported above water on the bluff northwest of the town (not verified)

USGS topographic map of Lake Red Rock west of the IA 14 crossing, with Brush Creek — **USGS The National Map, topo.** The lake covers the valley west of IA 14; Brush Creek enters from the north and Hickory Lane runs along the bluff.

Aerial view of open lake water over the townsite, with wooded bluffs and the IA 14 causeway — **Aerial imagery, same area.** Open water over the old town, bluffs and fields on the north shore, and the highway causeway on the right.

Historic maps

Red Rock on USGS maps, 1909–1984

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on our best estimate of the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Red Rock, 1909 — **Knoxville sheet, 1909, 1:62,500** · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Maps & access

Location and access

We don't give directions to Red Rock: the town is under the lake, and we found no source on public access to the cemetery. IA 14 crosses Lake Red Rock on a causeway just east of the townsite, between Knoxville to the south and Otley to the north. The land on the north shore should be treated as private unless a sign or a source says otherwise.

USGS topographic map of Lake Red Rock at the IA 14 crossing, with the points we plotted for Red Rock and its cemetery

Where exactly was it?

No source we found gives coordinates for Red Rock or its cemetery, so both points on this map are ours, plotted from USGS sheets. The 1909 and 1912 Knoxville sheets show the village as a small street grid on the north bank of the Des Moines River, in section 36, just west of Cordova. The 1965 Otley sheet shows the same grid of streets in the reservoir's flood pool and labels "Red Rock Cem" on the bluff to the northwest. We measured both off the map crops, so treat them as accurate to a few hundred feet. The town point is our best estimate.

The cemetery's status is less certain. Iowa PBS says Red Rock Cemetery is the only cemetery of the six lost towns still above water; the Marion County IAGenWeb page says cemeteries remain above water at Coalport, Dunreath and Red Rock. Neither gives its location or says whether the public can reach it.

Village grid (1909 map) 41.4262, -93.1137: USGS Knoxville sheet, 1909 (1:62,500), and Otley sheet, 1965 (1:24,000): the center of the street grid labeled Red Rock on the north bank, measured off our crops. Our best estimate; the spot is now under the lake. Map
Red Rock Cemetery (1965 map) 41.4301, -93.1205: USGS Otley sheet, 1965 (1:24,000): the outline labeled "Red Rock Cem" on the bluff northwest of the grid, measured off our crop. Iowa PBS says this cemetery is still above water. Map

Have you found it? If you know where Red Rock stood, a foundation, a cemetery, a marker, tell us where. We check every report against the old maps before we change this page.

Access and safety notes

No route is given: the townsite is under water, and we found no source on access to the cemetery.

Photos

Have photos of Red Rock?

We haven’t added photographs of Red Rock yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Did you find Red Rock?

We don't know exactly where Red Rock stood. If you have found the site, a foundation, the cemetery or a marker, tell us where: coordinates from your phone, or directions from the nearest road. Photos help. We check every report against the old maps before it appears here or changes the map.

Nearby

Other sites near Red Rock

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Iowa index.

Van Cleve35.2 mi N · Marshall
Indianapolis35.3 mi E · Mahaska
Dudley35.8 mi SE · Wapello
Iowa Center37.8 mi NW · Story
Herrold38.1 mi NW · Polk
New York40.4 mi S · Wayne
Zook Spur46.2 mi NW · Dallas
Jordan55.2 mi NW · Boone

Sources

Sources and credits

Wright and Young, History of Marion County, Iowa (1915), "Red Rock Township," via IAGenWeb: Bedell and Le Plant in 1843, the cabin of May 1, 1843 at the site of the village, the trading houses, the 1845 post office and Robert D. Russell, Hiskey's school of 1845–46, the 1854–55 schoolhouse, the mills and the flour mill moved to Otley in 1869, the Wabash branch to the quarries west of town.
Wikipedia, "List of ghost towns in Iowa", retrieved October 2026: Red Rock, Marion County, "Submerged by Lake Red Rock," with the other five lake towns.
Wikipedia, "Lake Red Rock", retrieved October 2026: the dam completed in 1969 by the Corps of Engineers, the lake named for the lost town of Red Rock.
Iowa PBS, "Lost Towns of Red Rock", read October 2026: the six towns, the 1960s reservoir, the cemeteries left in place, Red Rock Cemetery the only one above water.
IAGenWeb Marion County, "Answer to Pop Quiz about Lake Red Rock": the six lost towns, cemeteries above water at Coalport, Dunreath and Red Rock, families allowed to move their dead.
Marion County Tourism, "Red Rock Line", archived April 20, 2026: the line patrolled from 1842 to 1845 and named for the town on the Des Moines River, now beneath the lake. Also its history page (archived May 15, 2026): the 1842 treaty and settlement after 1845.
Kevin T. Mason, Notes on Iowa, "Reaching Horn's Ferry and the Red Rock Dam," May 31, 2021 (updated February 14, 2022): floods at the town from at least 1851, the dam begun in 1960 and eight years in the building.
ghosttowns.com, "Red Rock": Marion County, deserted in 1969 for the lake, the cemetery as the remains, the climate.
Historic maps: USGS Knoxville 1:62,500 (1909, 1912), Otley 1:24,000 (1965), Des Moines 1:250,000 (1969) and Indianola 1:100,000 (1984). Current topographic map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map.
Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query.

Photo and map credits

Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Knoxville 1909, 1:62,500; Knoxville 1912, 1:62,500; Otley 1965, 1:24,000; Des Moines 1969, 1:250,000; Indianola 1984, 1:100,000.