Editing Winfield, Iowa (section)

==History==
Winfield was laid out in 1852. It experienced a growth with the arrival of the [[Burlington and Northwestern Railway]] in late 1876, connecting the town with [[Burlington, Iowa|Burlington]].  The line was extended along the east side of town and reached [[Washington, Iowa|Washington]] at the start of 1880, and in 1881, the [[Burlington and Western Railway]] was incorporated to build a line from Winfield to [[Oskaloosa, Iowa|Oskaloosa]].  The new line branched from the Burlington and Northwestern just north of town reached [[Coppock, Iowa|Coppock]]  the spring of 1882 and Oskaloosa in late 1883.  These were [[3 ft gauge railways]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/historyhenrycou00cogoog | title=The History of Henry County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, &c | publisher=Western Historical Company | year=1879 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyhenrycou00cogoog/page/n547 551]}}</ref><ref>Willard I. Toussaint, Charles Mason and the Burlington-Northwestern Narrow Gauge Railroad Railroad, [https://web.archive.org/web/20151201000314/http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7783&context=annals-of-iowa The Annals of Iowa, Vol. 38], No. 3 (Winter 1966); pages 186-203.</ref><ref>[http://iagenweb.org/henry/Maps/1900ishCoMap.htm Official Map, Henry County, Iowa], undated, circa 1900.  Posted to the web, Oct. 2018.</ref><ref>W. W. Baldwin, The Burlington and Northwestern Railway,[https://archive.org/details/cu31924030125623/page/n226/mode/1up Corporate History of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company], C. B. & Q., 1917; pages 203-207.</ref>

In 1882, the Chicago, Burlington and Pacific constructed a rail line west from a [[railroad ferry]] crossing of the [[Mississippi River]] at [[Oakville, Iowa]] to [[Oskaloosa, Iowa|Oskaloosa]].  This line passed Winfield along the south border of Winfield, and it largely paralleled the Burlington and Western to [[Oskaloosa, Iowa]].  The line was sold to the Central  Iowa Railway as soon as it was built, and that line became the [[Iowa Central Railway]] a few years later.<ref>Frank P. Donovan, Jr., The Iowa Central, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200319115444/https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2874&context=palimpsest The Palimpsest, Vol. 32], No. 7 (7-1-1951); pages 249-257.</ref>

Winfield was the hometown of the sports reporter [[Bill Bryson Sr.]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bryson |first1=Bill |title=[[The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid]] |date=September 1, 2006 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |isbn=0385608268 |pages=Chapter 10, Down on the Farm}}</ref>

[[File:WinfieldIowaFreedomRock.jpg|thumb|left|Winfield Freedom Rock]]