Map of Le Mars city

Le Mars /ləˈmɑːrz/ is the county seat of Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. It is located on the Floyd River northeast of Sioux City. The population was 10,571 at the time of the 2020 census. Le Mars is part of the Sioux City metropolitan area.

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History

Le Mars is the home of Wells Enterprises, Inc., world’s largest producer of ice cream novelties in one location and is the “Ice Cream Capital of the World”.

Le Mars was platted in 1869, but no lots were sold until the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad Company, a subsidiary of the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad (later part of the Illinois Central Railroad), completed its trackage from Le Mars southwardly to Sioux City in 1870.

Railroad magnate John I. Blair hosted an excursion to the new town, which was then called St. Paul Junction because of its 1871 connection to St. Paul on the nascent Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad. Blair asked the women in the party to name the town, and they submitted an acronym based upon their first names’ initials: Lucy Ford and Laura Walker, Ellen Cleghorn or Elizabeth Underhill, Martha Weare and Mary Weare, Adeline Swain, Rebecca Smith and Sarah Reynolds. (Note that some letters represent more than one person.) There was some subsequent uncertainty about who the women of the acronym actually were. For example, the city’s web page contains a somewhat different list.

In 1885, Frederick Brooke Close, a young Englishman who had passed up attending Cambridge University to live in Iowa, founded the Northwestern Polo League in Le Mars.

During the Great Depression in 1933, at a time when banks were foreclosing on many farmers, Le Mars caught the attention of the nation when “over five hundred farmers crowded the court room in Le Mars”, according to an account by historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. The farmers were there to demand that Judge Charles C. Bradley suspend foreclosure proceedings until recently passed laws could be considered. Judge Bradley refused. One farmer remarked that the court room wasn’t his alone, that farmers had paid for it with their taxes. The crowd rushed the judge, slapped him, and placed a rope around his neck and a hub cap on his head. They did not, however lynch him.

President George W. Bush came to Le Mars on November 3, 2006, to campaign for Jim Nussle, then candidate for Iowa governor, as well as Rep. Steve King. He spoke at Le Mars Community High School to a crowd of over 2500 people. Le Mars is a popular stop for presidential candidates as they make their way across caucus-famous Iowa, and has been visited by nearly every presidential candidate over the past several elections including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, John McCain, etc.

Wells Enterprises

In 1925, Fred H. Wells Jr. and his sons had opened an ice cream manufacturing plant there. However, the plant (and the Wells name) was purchased by Fairmount Ice Cream in 1928. In 1935, Fred and his sons sought to begin selling ice cream again, but could no longer use their name. They therefore sponsored a “Name That Ice Cream” contest in the Sioux City Journal. The winner of the $25 prize suggested “Blue Bunny” because his son had enjoyed seeing blue bunnies in department store windows at Easter.

Dominating the skyline of present-day Le Mars is Wells’ Blue Bunny Dairy’s 900,000-square-foot (84,000 m) plant with a 12-story tall refrigeration tower called the “South Ice Cream Plant” – so-named because it is on the south side of town. As of 2005, the plant employed 1,000 and produces 75 million gallons of frozen treats, the milk coming mainly coming from three large Iowa dairy farms. The size of this plant has led to speculation that the company is the world’s largest family-owned and managed dairy processor and the world’s largest manufacturer of ice cream in one location, with Le Mars claiming to be the “Ice Cream Capital of the World”.

Wells is best known for its various sweet products, including Blue Bunny, Bomb Pop, Blue Ribbon, and Chilly Cow. To showcase its sweet treats, Le Mars has an ice cream parlor, which was remodeled in 2019, and includes an old fashioned ice cream serving station, museum displays, roof-top seating, and gift shop. The ice cream parlor in Le Mars is one of the largest tourist attractions in the state of Iowa. Le Mars hosts an annual celebration “Ice Cream Days” every year in late June which includes many activities such as ice cream socials, concerts, art exhibitions, parades, and more.

Le Mars Road Map

Le Mars city Satellite Map

Geography

Le Mars is located at 42°47′20″N 96°9′57″W / 42.78889°N 96.16583°W / 42.78889; -96.16583 (42.788799, −96.165944). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.97 square miles (23.23 km), of which 8.96 square miles (23.21 km) is land and 0.01 square miles (0.03 km) is water.

Climate

See also