Unique

The label

Why Unique is called a ghost town

Unique is in Wikipedia's category of Iowa ghost towns, and its article calls it one (Wikipedia, "Unique, Iowa"). It is also on Wikipedia's list of ghost towns in Iowa. The name has outlived the town. Wikipedia noted in 2010 that it still showed on the Iowa DOT county map and Google Maps, and today's USGS topographic map still prints Unique at the corner. That keeps people looking for it. The label is fair in one sense: Unique had a post office, a church and a school, and none of them is there now. But there is no ghost town to walk through. What is left is a name on the map and a corner that local farmers still call Unique Corner.

History

Unique then

Settlers built at Unique in the 1870s because they expected a railroad to cross the marshland of Weaver Township. Wikipedia does not record one ever being built. The Barker School went up in 1873 or 1879, and a post office opened on April 16, 1878, moving in 1880 to the northeast corner of the settlement. When Unique and Reed's Corner, two miles south, both wanted the Methodist church, church authorities settled it, and in 1889 the church was built just north of the Unique schoolhouse.

The post office closed in September 1891, reopened in April 1892 and closed for good in January 1902. The school lasted longer: a new building replaced the first in 1937, and it closed in 1944. Our sources give no population for Unique and do not explain the name. Roy L. Pinn, later a Wisconsin politician, was born there.

1873 or 1879. The Barker School is built at Unique.

1878. The post office opens on April 16.

1880. The post office moves to the northeast corner of the settlement.

1889. The Methodist church is built just north of the schoolhouse.

1891–1892. The post office closes in September 1891 and reopens in April 1892.

1902. The post office closes for good in January.

1937. A new school building replaces the first.

1944. The school closes.

2010. A photo of the corner shows a rusted metal sign that once said "Unique, Iowa."

Today

What is there now

The site is the crossroads of Humboldt County roads C44 (230th Street) and P29 (Florida Avenue), about nine miles by road west of Humboldt. A photo taken there on May 29, 2010, shows paved roads, a row of trees along a farmstead, a street sign and the rusted metal sign that once read "Unique, Iowa," no longer legible. Wikipedia says that sign is the only remnant. We found no newer report. Today's aerial imagery shows farmsteads on the two northern corners; they are private homes, and the land around the corner is private farmland. See it from the road.

The old maps tell the same story. The 1954 USGS sheet prints Unique at the crossroads, with a cemetery about a mile to the west-southwest and Humboldt and Dakota City on the Des Moines River to the east. Its nearest railroads run through Gilmore City and Humboldt, none through Unique. The 1984 sheet still labels Unique in its grid of section roads, with a drainage ditch running past.

Historic maps

Unique on USGS maps, 1954–1984

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

19541:250,00019841:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Humboldt is the nearest town. Take US 169 north out of town, then IA 3 (220th Street) west and Florida Avenue south one mile to the corner. From Des Moines, take I-35 north, US 20 west and US 169 north.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL). Times assume dry roads.

Questions

Common questions

Is Unique, Iowa a ghost town?

It is a vanished town rather than a ghost town you can explore. Unique had a post office from 1878 to 1902, a church and a school until 1944. Today only a farm crossroads called Unique Corner and an old rusted sign mark it (photo, May 2010).

Where was Unique?

At the corner of Humboldt County roads C44 (230th Street) and P29 (Florida Avenue), about nine miles by road west of Humboldt.

Can you visit Unique?

You can drive to the corner on public roads. There is nothing to tour. The farmhouses at the corner are private homes, and the land around it is private farmland.

Nearby

Ghost towns and sites near Unique

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

• Rubens16.6 mi NW · Pocahontas
• Thrall21.5 mi E · Wright
• Holmes26.0 mi E · Wright
• Plum Creek28.1 mi N · Kossuth
• Cornelia34.0 mi E · Wright
• Juniata41.9 mi W · Buena Vista
• Mackey48.5 mi SE · Boone
• Coal Valley51.5 mi SE · Boone

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Unique, Iowa", retrieved October 2026: Weaver Township, the expected railroad, the Barker School, the post office dates (April 16, 1878, in its infobox), the 1880 move, the church dispute and 1889 church, the 1937 school and its 1944 closing (citing Marilyn Dodgen, "Where is Unique?", The Humboldt Independent, August 12, 2010), the rusted sign as the only remnant, Unique Corner, the DOT and Google maps in 2010, Roy L. Pinn, the coordinates and ghost-town category.
2. Wikipedia, "List of ghost towns in Iowa": Unique listed for Humboldt County.
3. Brandonrush, "Unique, Iowa," Wikimedia Commons, photographed May 29, 2010 (public domain): the corner, the rusted sign that once read "Unique, Iowa," the name Unique Corner.
4. Historic maps: USGS Fort Dodge 1:250,000 (1954) and Humboldt 1:100,000 (1984) sheets. Current topographic map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map.
5. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

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): Fort Dodge 1954, 1:250,000; Humboldt 1984, 1:100,000.
• Unique Corner, the crossroads of CR C44 and CR P29. The rusted sign right of center once read "Unique, Iowa" (May 2010): Brandonrush, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain