Outdoor Exhibits
ATSF Caboose #235 Donated to the North Lee County Historical Society, the way car has been restored and includes the brakemen seats, conductor’s desk, folding seat/bed, and a cast iron stove. Nearby, more than 80 freight trains a day still pass through Fort Madison, making our town a must see for all railroad enthusiasts!
Brush College is a one room schoolhouse that is located off of 230 and highway 1877. The building is currently 148 years old as of 2025. Brush college was not a college, but a one room schoolhouse for children in the county. Brush college is located in Washington Township school District #1. The school ran as a one room schoolhouse for children between the ages of XX and XX. The last class to be completed at the school was the 1957-58 class. The teacher was Odetta Steeples.
Brush college was the first major project of the North Lee County Historical Society started on March 21, 1963, when with the urging of the Wenke family. The family leased the land and the school to the society. After much work the school was opened to the public in 1966. In 2014 the school and land were donated to the historical society.
The building is a brick structure with a bell tower that holds a bell that can be rung. There is a working water pump in the front. The building has no electricity or bathroom facilities. There is an outhouse that is not in use. There are desks children and adults can sit at. There is a stage where the teachers desk sits with two chalk boards as the hanging at the front of classroom. You can come and experience what a one room schoolhouse would be like in
A new roof was put on, windows restored, bell tower restored. Work to maintain the school continues to this day so that it can be opened to the public.
Tours of the school can be set up through the North Lee County Historical Society by calling 319-372-7661.
Steam Engine #2913 Following WWII, the railway systems in the United States started developing newer, more cost-effective engines. They also slowly moved away from the use of way cars (also known as cabooses) on trains. The smaller railway systems were swallowed up by the bigger names. Now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, more informally known as the BNSF, is the major railway system in the United States. It was in 1959 that the then AT&SF Railway gifted Fort Madison with both a Steam Engine and a Way Car. Steam Engine 2913 is located in Riverview Park. It was gifted to the City of Fort Madison on the 72nd anniversary of the Santa Fe’s first through train to Chicago from Kansas City. The 708,000 pound engine, which was built in 1944, had been used to haul war equipment in the western United States.
Sky Walk Fort Mad
Old Lee County Jail Loca