Newton, Iowa

Newton is the county seat of Jasper County, Iowa. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 15,579. It is the home of Maytag Dairy Farms and was formerly home to the Maytag Corporation's corporate headquarters until the Whirlpool Corporation acquired it in 2006.

History

Newton was founded in 1850 and incorporated as a city in 1857. It has traditionally been a manufacturing community, much of its growth derived from the washing machine industry. Its most distinctive landmark, the Jasper County Courthouse, was built in 1911.

Newton entered the national stage in 1938 when martial law was declared during a strike at the Maytag Washing Machine Company. Iowa govenor Nelson Kraschel ordered the Iowa National Guard to protect the company with tanks and machine guns ready against the workers. Maytag company beat the strike and forced workers to return to work with a 10% paycut.

Around 2004-2005, the town's manufacturing workforce was hurt by layoffs at the Maytag Corporation, and Whirlpool's acquisition of Maytag in early 2006 led to speculation over the future of the Newton plant. On May 10, 2006, Whirlpool announced that it would close the Newton plant and corporate offices in the fall of 2007. The plant employed about 1,000 workers and the corporate offices employed about 800 at the time of the announcement.

Geography

Newton is located at (41.698591, -93.046860).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.6 km² (10.3 mi²), none of which is covered by water.

ZIP codes

All addresses within Newton fall under the 50208 ZIP code.

Streets and addresses

Newton is praised for its simple, logical street designations. The city is divided into four quadrants. 1st Avenue divides the north and south segments of Newton, and 1st Street divides the east and west segments. Roads labeled as avenues run east and west while roads labeled as streets run north and south.

A typical street name would appear "E 5th St S". The east or west label comes first, followed by the street, and then followed by the north or south label. This example indicates the street is in the southeast quadrant of Newton.

A typical avenue name would appear "N 5th Ave W". In the case of avenues, the north or south label comes first, followed by the avenue, and then followed by the east or west label. This example indicates the avenue is in the northwest quadrant of Newton.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,579 people, 6,713 households, and 4,269 families residing in the city. The population density was 586.3/km² (1,518.9/mi²). There were 7,162 housing units at an average density of 269.5/km² (698.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.55% White, 0.60% Asian, 0.39% African American, 0.22% Native American, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.21% of the population.

There were 6,713 households out of which 29.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.4% were non-families. 32.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.84.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 19.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,345, and the median income for a family was $49,977. Males had a median income of $37,248 versus $22,631 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,552. About 4.8% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Newton is administered by a mayor and a six-person city council.

Mayor

The mayor is elected to a term of two years. Newton's current mayor is Charles "Chaz" Allen, who began his first term in January 2004. His predecessor was David Aldridge, who served four terms from 1996-2004.

City council

The city council consists of one member elected from each of Newton's four wards and two members elected at-large. The council members are elected to terms of four years. Regular meetings of the city council are held on the first and third Mondays of each month.

Media

Radio stations

KCOB 1280 AM / 95.9 FM

Print

Newton Daily News

Connections

Smila, Ukraine is Newton's sister city.

Notable natives

F.L. "Fritz" Maytag III, businessman and entrepreneur
Emerson Hough, author
Charles Murray, American policy writer and researcher, co-author "The Bell Curve"
Scott Delgado, #18 on Forbes Top Young Business Leaders 2006, Graduate of NHS and University of Iowa, and First-Place Champion of 2004 All-Iowa Cow Tipping Competition

Points of interest

References

External links

"Maytag's troubles mirror plight of all U.S. workers", Des Moines Register, September 5,2005.
"Friendly Folks", Time Magazine, August 15, 1938.

Cities in Iowa | Jasper County, Iowa | Micropolitan areas of Iowa