October 3, 2016: Archer, like MANY other hamlets in Iowa, owes its existence to the railroad, but the rails were pulled up when a Cherokee-Sioux Falls line was abandoned in the mid-1980s.
Archer, pop. 131, is five miles from US 18 and six from US 59, so it was far off my radar while going after highways. Since it was the farthest out of my remaining places, you could argue that this was a trip to Archer, surely the first time anyone without relatives there has ever said that.
The siding in the background marks the edge of the demolished original school building and the addition now used as the town library.