Council Bluffs, Iowa

Council Bluffs is a city located in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,268. It is often considered a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska, which is just across the Missouri River, and was founded by real estate speculators from Council Bluffs. What is now Council Bluffs was first settled by Billy Caldwell's Potawatomi during the 1830's. During the mid-1840's the town became Kanesville, the main outfitting point for the Mormon emigration to Utah. After the Mormons left in 1852 the town was renamed Council Bluffs. Now home to three casinos — Ameristar Casino Hotel, Bluffs Run Casino, and Harrah's Council Bluffs Casino & Hotel — many Omahans travel to Council Bluffs for gambling, which is more loosely regulated in Iowa than in Nebraska. During the middle 19th century, the city was, along with Omaha, one of the major "jumping off" points for the Emigrant Trail. By 1852, over half the emigrants on the Oregon Trail passed through Council Bluffs. By 1930 the city was the country's fifth largest rail center.

Related Topics:
Pottawattamie County, Iowa - 2000 - Suburb - Omaha, Nebraska - Missouri River - Gambling - Nebraska - 19th century - Emigrant Trail - Oregon Trail

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Council Bluffs is home to the Squirrel Cage Jail, which was built in 1885 and is one of three remaining examples of a "lazy Susan" or rotary Jail. A rotary jail contains pie-shaped cells located on a turntable. To access an individual cell, the jailor turned a crank, which rotated the cylinder of cells until the desired cell lined up with a fixed opening located on each floor. According to the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County, the Squirrel Cage Jail is the only three-story rotary jail ever built.

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Council Bluffs is also home to the Iowa School for the Deaf and Iowa Western Community College.

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