Editing Ames, Iowa (section)

== History ==
The city was founded in 1864 as a station stop on the [[Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad]] and was named after 19th century U.S. Congressman [[Oakes Ames]] of Massachusetts, who was influential in the building of the [[First transcontinental railroad (North America)|transcontinental railroad]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Chicago and North Western Railway Company|title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA37|year=1908|page=37}}</ref> Ames was founded by local resident Cynthia Olive Duff (née Kellogg) and railroad magnate [[John Insley Blair]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ameshistory.org/ames_origin.htm |title=Ames Origin |publisher=Ames Historical Society |access-date=Mar 21, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322030555/http://www.ameshistory.org/ames_origin.htm |archive-date=March 22, 2014 }}</ref> near a location that was deemed favorable for a railroad crossing of the [[Skunk River (Iowa)|Skunk River]] and [[Ioway Creek (Ames, Iowa)|Ioway Creek]]. William West (1821–1919) became the first mayor of Ames in 1870. With his wife Harriet, from 1869 to 1892, he ran Ames's first hotel, known as West House, on Douglas Avenue on the site of the present [2004] Octagon Center for the Arts. West was a highly respected pioneer businessman who also served on the Ames School Board in the 1880s when Central School was built on the site of the present [2004] Ames City Hall on Clark Avenue and Sixth Street. The Wests raised several daughters and sons. William West spent the last of his life living with his son in northwest Iowa.<ref>{{Cite web |title=City Hall Time Capsule |url=https://ameshistory.org/content/city-hall-time-capsule-1 |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=ameshistory.org}}</ref>