(July 1, 1920-October 16, 1926)

WEST End: South Dakota state line (Big Sioux River), Sioux City IA/North Sioux City SD, Woodbury County IA/Union County SD

Facing southeast, from South Dakota (9/30/15)

Although it seems like it would have made more sense for IA 23 to head into Nebraska on the Combination Bridge, the 1925 and 1926 state maps' Sioux City inset clearly mark IA 23 through northwest Sioux City. The name Military Road and its winding nature tell us it's one of the original paths in the area. More pictures are at the Historic Iowa termini of US 77 page.

Along the route

Why does this road exist? As in, why wasn't there a straight-line number across the state where US 20 is today? Because inertia is a powerful thing. By the time of the creation of the 1920 system, the Hawkeye Highway had been around for a decade, and it was intended to follow the Illinois Central Railroad, which meant going through Cherokee and Le Mars and not Rockwell City and Sac City. The Hawkeye became the U.S. Grant Highway in 1919, for the president who once lived in Galena, Illinois, and that honorary designation eventually passed to US 20.

Frontage road in Moville, facing west (10/2/20)

Here you can see original 1924 concrete on the right, and a 1940s line on the left. The first concrete crossed the West Fork Little Sioux River in a diagonal direction. The offset was removed when the US 20/IA 140 intersection was rebuilt (the later pavement) before 1949 (with the riverbed moved), and then present 20 was built in 1957.

A century after creation of IA 23, the four-way stop at IA 140 is the only place a traveler must come to a stop between Sioux City and Dubuque.

Summer floods take unusually heavy toll of Iowa bridges — approximately 80 destroyed
Iowa bridge builders meanwhile have had a fairly busy year on street and railroad crossing structures. There have not been many bridges of standing size, but there have been a large number of splendid structures erected at important points on the primary road system. The most important of these bridges probably was the concrete structure at Correctionville over the Little Sioux River which took the place of an old steel truss which was in a particularly dangerous condition for this important highway. The old structure was in such a condition that the contractor had to repair it before transporting his materials and equipment to the opposite side in order to begin operations on the new bridge. The new bridge and relocation eliminates dangerous and difficult bends in the approaches and involved an extreme channel change.
— Iowa Highway Commission Service Bulletin, July-Aug-Sep 1924 [The relocation in question runs on present D22. -Ed.]

Facing west (6/4/14)

The entire route of IA 23 in Woodbury County was paved by the end of 1924. This segment east of Cushing, in Ida County, did not become part of the route until then, was paved in 1932, and remained part of US 20 until 1958. At the time this picture was taken, the concrete was 82 years old but had only three years to live. The segment east of L51, although mostly in good condition for concrete of its age, was removed at the same time present US 20 to the north was four-laned.

EAST End: IA 5, now 3rd St. at Central Ave., Fort Dodge, Webster County

IA 23 had an overlap with IA 16/90 until the latter moved to River Road in 1922. All three routes crossed the Des Moines River on the Bennett Viaduct, which lasted until 1981 and left a pier in the middle. As late as the late 1970s the area between Meriwether Drive and the river was full of houses. The viaduct went all the way to the intersection of 2nd Avenue and 3rd Street. Two blocks north, 16/23/90 met the Hawkeye Highway, but the designations might have ended at the Webster County Courthouse at the intersection of Central Avenue and 7th Street.

Page created 4/27/20; last updated 5/7/22

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