Map of Garwin city

Garwin is a city in Tama County, Iowa, United States. The population was 481 at the time of the 2020 census.

Garwin city overview:
Name:	Garwin city
LSAD Code:	25
LSAD Description:	city (suffix)
State:	Iowa
County:	Tama County
Elevation:	922 ft (281 m)
Total Area:	1.01 sq mi (2.61 km²)
Land Area:	1.01 sq mi (2.61 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	481
Population Density:	477.66/sq mi (184.36/km²)
ZIP code:	50632
Area code:	641
FIPS code:	1930045
GNISfeature ID:	0456857

Online Interactive Map

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

Garwin location map. Where is Garwin city?

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

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

History

Garwin was platted in 1880. A post office called Garwin has been in operation since 1880.

In 1879, the Toledo and Northwestern Railroad was sold to the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. After the sale, the railroad line was extended northwestward from Toledo. Various new towns were established along the tracks, but the Garwin, Iowa was the first railroad station beyond Toledo.

Giving the town a name proved to be a difficult process. At first, it was called “Maple,” or as some claim “Myrcle,” but neither name was particularly favorable. The next choice was “Marvin,” in honor of Marvin Hewitt, an official of the Northwestern railroad, but it was soon discovered that another town had already taken the name.

Several landowners were interested in selling their land for the purpose of establishing the new town, including George Rider and John Galvizer. After much controversy, these two men won out, and a message was sent to Toledo that read: “‘G’ (for Glavizer) and ‘R’ (for Rider) win.” Its recipients misconstrued the message, reading the word “Garwin” instead- and the city finally had a name.