Editing Red Oak, Iowa (section)

==History==
[[File:BNDepot Night 3 8511sig Cropped.jpg|thumb|Restored BN Depot and World War II Museum at night]]
Red Oak derives its name from Red Oak Creek which flows through the community and was noted for the [[Quercus rubra|red oak]]s on its banks.  The first settlers arrived there in the 1850s.  In 1865 it became the official county seat of Montgomery County and the courthouse which had been in the middle of the county seven miles northeast in [[Frankfort, Iowa]] was towed to the community during a snow storm.  That courthouse remained in place until the current [[Montgomery County Courthouse (Iowa)|Montgomery County Courthouse]] was built in 1891.  It is on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="communitylink.com">{{Cite web |url=http://communitylink.com/us/ia/redoak/profile/pages/history.php |title=CommunityLink :: Red Oak, Iowa Community Profile |access-date=2012-08-02 |archive-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814014502/http://communitylink.com/us/ia/redoak/profile/pages/history.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1869 the community was officially founded when the [[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad]] (called the [[Burlington and Missouri River Railroad]] at the time) arrived.  The community was named Red Oak Junction by the railroad on March 20, 1876. The junction was a line off the main [[Chicago]] to [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]] line that went to [[Nebraska City, Nebraska]] and on to [[Lincoln, Nebraska]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://depothill.net/depot05.html|title=Andreas' History, 1882, and the Red Oak Iowa area|website=depothill.net|access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref><ref name="redoakiowa.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.redoakiowa.com/ashadebetter/Content.aspx?ContentId=97 |title=Welcome to Red Oak |website=www.redoakiowa.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430113354/http://www.redoakiowa.com/ashadebetter/Content.aspx?ContentId=97 |archive-date=30 April 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  The Junction name was dropped in 1901 although the community continues to celebrate its history each summer in Junction Days. In 1903 a depot was opened by the railroad. Preservation efforts for the depot have been enacted since 1993. Today it is the Restored BN and World War II Museum celebrating the community's disproportionate casualties during World War II and other wars, significant military heritage and community pride in service to country.<ref name="communitylink.com"/>  The depot is one of nine places in Montgomery County on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Montgomery County, Iowa]].

Darwin R. Merritt, born in Red Oak on April 12, 1872, graduated third in his class from the [[United States Naval Academy]] in [[Annapolis, Maryland]] on July 1, 1897. On February 15, 1898, he perished in the explosion that sank the {{USS|Maine|ACR-1}} in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. His body was later recovered and interred in Evergreen Cemetery in Red Oak.

The community suffered, in a national per capita comparison, a disproportionate number of casualties in the Civil War and World War II.

In the [[American Civil War]], the area provided more Union troops per capita than any other in the state.<ref name=TIME>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20090712053403/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899073,00.html Victory at Sea]," TIME, 1966-3-11.</ref>  Company M (which also included residents from Montgomery County) had 160 casualties among its 250 members; 52 men were killed in action.<ref name="communitylink.com"/>

[[File:Red Oak Montgomery Co Treasury.jpg|thumb|left|Montgomery County Court House]]

[[Battle of Kasserine Pass|Early World War II battles]] claimed a disproportionate number of soldiers from Red Oak, although the final casualty statistics tend to disprove the oft-repeated statement that Red Oak suffered more losses per capita than any other American community.<ref name=TIME/><ref>[http://www.qsl.net/redoakarc/index.htm Red Oak Home Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824150259/http://www.qsl.net/redoakarc/index.htm |date=2007-08-24 }}, Red Oak Victory Amateur Radio Club.  Accessed 2007-09-02.</ref><ref>"Emmet County Leads in War Dead Ratio," ''Council Bluffs Nonpareil'', p. 2, 1946-01-03 (Montgomery County ranked third among Iowa counties in World War II casualties per capital).</ref> In the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943, forty-five soldiers from Red Oak alone were captured or killed;<ref>Rick Atkinson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=imz1pPtkq_gC An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943], p. 397 (Macmillan 2003) {{ISBN|0-8050-7448-1}}.</ref> more than 100 telegrams arrived in Red Oak saying that its soldiers were missing in action.<ref name="redoakiowa.com"/>  In recognition of Red Oak's casualties, the city's name was given to a "[[victory ship]]".<ref name=ROShip>[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/red.htm SS Red Oak Victory (Victory Ship)], [[National Park Service]].  Accessed 2007-09-02.</ref> The [[SS Red Oak Victory (AK-235)|SS ''Red Oak Victory'']] has become a floating museum in the shipyard where it was built, in [[Richmond, California]].<ref name=ROShip />

The old Burlington Northern depot has been transformed into the Restored BN Depot and World War II Museum telling this history.

The Red Oak School District was established in 1870, while Webster Eaton first published the Red Oak Express newspaper in 1868.

[[File:M. E. Church, Red Oak, Iowa.jpg|thumb|First Methodist Church, Red Oak, Iowa 1920s]]