Burlington, IA - this town rules
 

Burlington is a city of 26,000 on the Mississippi River in Des Moines County, Iowa (although it's not near the city or river of that name...), and ranks as the state's most awesome small city.

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...Burlington.jpg
source

Featuring frequent trains
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...A/P1100328.jpg

Awesome warehouse canyon on 3rd St.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...A/P1100330.jpg

Quite a heavy, hefty, perhaps even burly presence for a city of it's size.
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...A/P1100334.jpg

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El Camino! (that's Spanish for "The Camino")
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Burlington Northern tracks across the Mississippi
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...A/P1100352.jpg

Bridge to Gulfport, Illinois
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I have a hunch that the middle of this block was once more attractive...
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...A/P1100373.jpg

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Jefferson St
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Heading up the hill north of downtown
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...A/P1100394.jpg

The Heritage Hill district.
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Back where we started
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...A/P1100425.jpg

Headin' down the river:

Dubuque, IA
Davenport, IA
Muscatine, IA
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Awesome! Burlington does indeed rule.

Nice pictures!

Very cool small town...I've driven through a few times and always been surprised by Burlington.

I really like the towns along the Mississippi in Iowa.

Neat!

Talk about packing a big punch!

Great shots of Burlington. Never thought I'd see threads of many on these Iowa cities on here. I too found Burlington interesting when I visited it a couple years ago. Some of the views from the bluffs north of downtown were impressive. By the way, did you happen to check out snake alley while you were there:
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/9287699.jpg
source: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/9287699.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/...fbe69e.jpg?v=0
source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/...fbe69e.jpg?v=0

For a town of 26,000, that's pretty awesome. I note on the aerial you posted that there isn't much evident sprawl, either. Is this a sign of complete economic stagnation, or is the town's economy relatively stable? Who are the major employers?

Great warehouse district. Thanks for the tour :cheers:

Pretty cool river town indeed!

Nice pictures. The warehouse area looks like it was heavy. The houses on the hills are pretty nice.

^Ahh great shots of good ole Burlington where I'd get off Amtrak to visit family and friends in SE Iowa and western IL (mom's side of the family is back there). Yep SE Iowa has some cool small cities with great historic stock although Keokuk has lost a lot due to fires and even building collaspes.

Btw just a sad note, the town of Gulfport IL has all but gone back to nature except for a gas station a few businesses and a hand full of homes as the town was pretty much destroyed in the June 08 flood that earlier hit Cedar Rapids.

Scott

Great shots Thundertubs!! :tup: Burlington was well captured though your lense. Alot of grit in this town, although the population hasn't decreased much since the 60s. (only by about 6,000). What it was in the 30s and 40s im not sure. I always had a small interest in visiting Burlington since the Burlington Bees which is a single A farmclub of the KC Royals recides there.

those dark brown bulky industrial buildings in the first few shots remind me of New Hampshire...

awesome set of a really interesting city

There's not much residential sprawl, but it's got the usual big commercial strip out by the highway. The town seemed stagnant, but not depressed, although that is just my passing-through impression. The railroad plays a big part in Burlington's economy. The "Burlington" in BNSF is this one.

I forgot to mention the Bees, so thanks for bringing them up. The play in the Midwest league, in the same division as the Beloit Snappers. Single-A baseball is a neat feature for a town this size, and the Bees are a great team name.

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Thanks folks! An Iowa town with an unusual Southern touch will be next.

This arson case was big news up this way also.:(
I always liked the feel of Burlington from my visits there. And, yes, Snake Alley is a must if only for photo ops.
Thanks for the pics.

Burlington has been in decline for a long time, which is part of the reason the downtown area is so well preserved. It has been slowly losing population since the early 60's.

There is some sprawl further north and west, but Burlington's topography has kept it a fairly compact city.

wow, great buildings. Too bad so much decline has occurred, it must have been quite the beehive of activity once upon a time. The warehouse district looks awesome, a great place for loft conversion if the area ever picks up economically.

Speaking of the Burlington Bees, the former Rockies catcher Yorry Torrealba (he's with the Padres now) played with the Bees.:)

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/newr...te=1&p=4827304
^ Yeh it was sad to see that church when I visited Burlington last August (thats when I went over and saw the flood devastation in Gulfport). At least it looks like they're going to repair it. Oh just a little Gulfport story I remember going over with a buddy to have a beer at one of those strip clubs after the bars closed in Burlington at 1:30 (the ones stayed open in Gulfport on the IL side until 4). Anyway my bud's truck had a flat in the parking lot and it was raining on top of that, his wife was madder than heck when we rolled in at around 5:20AM (we drove up from Nauvoo IL so its a lil bit of a ride). He called and told her we would be back around 2...:(

Scott

Not yet having been to Iowa, I never imagined you could find such neat cityscapes in such small towns - and the topography was also a bit surprising! Thanks for sharing all these places with us!

Awesome! from the 3rd and 4th photo, i get a new england feel. Great place!