The Denmark Historical Society’s new book, The Story of Denmark Township, contains more than 125 stories and 150 photos illustrating Denmark’s surprisingly vital and entertaining people, industry, events, and development.  From a sea of rolling prairie grass in 1836 grew a prominent village of hardworking pioneers who valued church, education, business, and community.

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In 1838 the Reverend Asa Turner, Jr. co-founded what was the heart of the community—the Congregational church (now the oldest Congregational church west of the Mississippi River).  He ordained the “Iowa Band” of eleven pioneer preachers who went on to establish more than 50 schools and churches in Iowa’s frontier wilderness.  Turner later launched the Iowa Antislavery Society with the support of many churchgoers and townspeople in Denmark, which became a prominent station on the Underground Railroad.

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The Denmark Academy, established in 1843, became Iowa’s first incorporated institution of higher education.  From its doors graduated thousands of strong women and men who helped to tame the wilderness, build a prosperous community, and included those who rose to international prominence for women’s suffrage, pomology, glaciology, and even the Father of the Microchip.

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Although Denmark Township has seen all manner of mayhem (robberies, tornadoes, tragic fires, violent storms, and even murder), it can boast of having four sites on the National Register of Historic Places.

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The Story of Denmark Township can be purchased for $20 at the Denmark Branch of Farmers Savings Bank, or it can be ordered and shipped for $25 through the Denmark Historical Society, PO Box 64, Denmark, IA, 52624.  Email denmarkhistorical1836@gmail.com or call Sherry at (319) 372-2176 to order!