Map of Brighton city, Iowa

Brighton is a city in Washington County, Iowa, United States. It’s part of the Iowa City, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 600 at the 2020 census.

Brighton city overview:
Name:	Brighton city
LSAD Code:	25
LSAD Description:	city (suffix)
State:	Iowa
County:	Washington County
Elevation:	755 ft (230 m)
Total Area:	0.78 sq mi (2.03 km²)
Land Area:	0.78 sq mi (2.03 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	600
Population Density:	767.26/sq mi (296.15/km²)
ZIP code:	52540
Area code:	319
FIPS code:	1908470
GNISfeature ID:	0454825
Website:	www.brightoniowa.com

Online Interactive Map

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Brighton online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Brighton location map. Where is Brighton city?

Brighton location on the U.S. Map. Where is Brighton city. — Brighton location on the U.S. Map.

Brighton location on the Iowa map. Where is Brighton city. — Location of Brighton in Iowa.

History

Brighton was laid out in 1840. During the 1840s and 1850 quickly developed into one of the largest centres of hog production west of the Mississippi. In 1851, David Powers discovered the fossil remains of a Mastodon. The fossil was three and a half feet long, fourteen inches wide at the larger end, and weighed eighty-three pounds. In 1854 Brighton was sorely afflicted by the Cholera.

In 1882, the Iowa Central Railway and the narrow-gauge Burlington and Western Railway battled for right-of-way as they built west from Coppock toward Brighton. At several points, crews for the rival railroads tore up tracks the other had put down. The line through Brighton was originally platted as a street, 3 blocks south of the business district. The B&W reached Brighton in mid 1882 and claimed the entire street as its right-of way. After vandalism, arrests and court battles, the two lines built parallel tracks down the street (with the B&W claiming the center line) to their crossing west of town. This has been described as the Brighton Railroad War. Both lines crossed the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad on the east side of town. The Burlington and Western was later widened and taken over by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Iowa Central was taken over by the Minneapolis and St. Louis.

There were three railroad depots in town. The Burlington and Western (after 1902, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy) depot was on the east side of town, at the south end of Liberty St. The Iowa Central (after 1901, the Minneapolis and St. Louis) depot was on the west side, between Mechanic St. and Harrison St. The Rock Island depot was several blocks south, also between Mechanic and Harrison. The Rock Island had a stockyard west of its depot, while the Burlington and Western stockyard was east of its depot.