Editing Tipton, Iowa (section)

=== Railroad history ===
Tipton was continually bypassed by Iowa railroads, beginning with the collapse of the Lyons Iowa Central RR in 1854.<ref>http://iagenweb.org/cedar/1878history/county-lyons-ia-rr.htm</ref> The Iowa Southwestern RR, organized in 1870, planned to connect with the [[Chicago and North Western Transportation Company|Chicago & North Western]] to the north but failed, even with the help of the [[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad|Chicago Burlington & Quincy]] and considerable construction activity.<ref>http://iagenweb.org/cedar/1878history/county-ia-sw-rr.htm</ref>
Meanwhile the Tipton & Stanwood RR, organized in 1858, had been trying unsuccessfully for years to connect with the [[Chicago Iowa & Nebraska Railroad|Chicago Iowa & Nebraska]] RR building from Clinton to Cedar Rapids.  The CI&N was in fact the road that had by the 1870s become the C&NW, 8.5 miles to the north of Tipton.<ref>http://iagenweb.org/cedar/1878history/county-rr-lines.htm</ref>

Finally in 1872 the C&NW decided to assist the T&S and make the connection.<ref>http://iagenweb.org/cedar/1878history/county-tipton-stanwood-rr.htm</ref>
Col. [[James Henry Howe]], General Manager of the C&NW, notified Isaac B Howe, Supt. of the Iowa Div. by telegraph:
{{quote|Green Bay 29  I.B. Howe [no relation],<br>
We have concluded substantially to build the Tipton branch. Can you make the survey and estimates at once or set somebody at it.<br>
J. H. Howe<ref>CNWHistoricalSociety archives</ref>}}

"The first train of cars arrived at Tipton on Thanksgiving day, 1872."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA434 | title=The History of Cedar County, Iowa: Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, etc. | publisher=Western Historical Company | year=1878 | pages=434}}</ref>