Mineola has been a township since 1880, growing with pride, to be the community it is today. We are about 10 miles northeast of Glenwood, or 10 miles southeast of Council Bluffs, or 22 miles southeast of Omaha, Nebraska.

Located in Southwest Iowa, Mineola, is home to approximately 180 people. We are in Mills County, along the Loess Hills Scenic Byway, a nationally recognized route. The picturesque Loess Hills which run along the western edge of Iowa, were formed by windblown loess (rhymes with gus), a fine and fragile soil, which built up over the years to heights of 200-300 feet. This unusual formation can only be found to such extent and depth in western Iowa and in northern China. For 10,000 years the elements have hacked away at these hills, yet old roads are still passable. You can still find areas in the back hollows that remain the same as when the last wagon train went through.

Wild turkey and deer roam the hills while buzzards circle and coyote prowl among the burr oak. Lizards scuttle in the dust. The Missouri River Valley is the major north-south waterfowl migratory pathway through the central United States. In the 1950's, the Army Corp of Engineers rerouted the Missouri channel. Low-lying river valley ground between the bluffs and the present river channel is some of the most fertile and productive farmland in the world.

Mineola's residents like to stay active in the community to help keep that small-town family feel. Special annual events our community celebrates are the German Dinner with brat and sauerkraut the 3rd Saturday of February, the Craft & Antique Show the 2nd Saturday of October, and the annual Summer Street Party along Main Street.

Early pioneers passing through Oak Township included the Mormons in the 1840's on their trek west. The Dakota, Sac and Fox Indian tribes did not leave the area until the late 1850's. There are still Indian artifacts being found in Oak Township. About that time the German immigration to Oak Township began. Germans came by the way of St. Mary on the Missouri and Davenport, Iowa on the Mississippi, the latter concluding with a trip across Iowa by foot or wagon train. Some of the early German names found in this area in the 1856 census are Plumer, Saar, Keuhl and Stumpf and probably others. The 1860 census showed the German names of Schoening, Saar, Plummer, Leick, Nipp, Deitchler, Keuhl/Kahl, Stumpf, Finken, Myer, Fisher, among others.

An earlier name of Mineola was Lewis City. In 1879 Ludwig Lanz sold to the Chicago, Baltimore and St. Louis Railroad Company the right of way to build a railroad through his property. By fall of that year the train was in operation. The Western Improvement Company of Iowa purchased 80 acres to lay out a town, the name of the town was changed to Mineola, supposedly because it was so small. The 1880 census showed 157 residents in Mineola. Several stores were soon built. Michael Flamant built a General Store, also handling drug supplies. He also was the first postmaster. F.F. Deitchler ran an implement business. Heinrick Nipp built a General Merchandise Store between 1880-1882. Hans Bremer and Otto Bremer built a butcher shop. Detlef Dohse built the First Hotel and Saloon. The earliest education was church connected with the Plumer Settlement, which was about four miles west of Mineola.

As the Missouri River provided the first access to the southwest Iowa region, stage coaches were the second to give public transportation service and their routes provided some interesting history.

Frequent stopping places were needed for the stage coaches as they rolled through the area of Oak Township. One of these was the Plumer Settlement which was a stage coach 'station'. There accommodations for travelers were limited but they could sleep on the floor of the large Plumer home which still stands as a comfortable reminder of a pioneer shelter, on Highway 275, north of Glenwood.

The county was served, in a very loose sense, by three stage lines: one north from St. Joseph, Missouri, through Tabor and Glenwood to Council Bluffs. The others were part of the Western Stage Line, one from Council Bluffs to Des Moines, coming south to the Plumer Settlement, easterly to Stage Coach Inn, on southeast again before striking north and east. The third linked the counties in south Iowa from the nearest eastern rail terminal.

Nor was "getting there half the fun." An early-day writer reported that the life of a traveler in those days "was by no means a pleasant one. When steep hills must be ascended, or muddy bottoms crossed, the passenger - wearied as he was by the swaying and rough usage of hard driving - was expected to descend and mount the hill or cross the bottom on foot." Upsets in crossing creeks were frequent occurences and much mail arrived soaked and muddy. In December, 1869, the last of the stage coaches rolled through Mills County.

The Wabash Trace Nature Trail runs through Mineola and is one of its stops along the way. The Trail is a converted railroad right-of-way of crushed limestone running over 60 miles through the scenic Southwest Iowa countryside from Council Bluffs to Blanchard on the Iowa/Missouri border. The rail line that is now the trail started in 1878 as part of the Council Bluffs and St. Louis Railway and was later acquired by the Wabash Railroad. Although it was eventually taken over by the Norfolk and Western after World War II and later by the Iowa Southern Railway, the Wabash held many memories for area residents.

The Salem Lutheran Church is located just west of Mineola. It was built in 1867 by German immigrants this church is now one of western Iowa's oldest buildings. It is on the National Registry of Historical Sites.