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 Harlan,
Iowa
Established in 1858 * population 5134
"A
Growing Tradition"
Location
In Shelby County, Iowa, located 10 miles north of Interstate 80 at the
intersection of U.S. Hwy 59 and Iowa Hwy 44 in the heart of southwest
Iowa's picturesque countryside.
Harlan
Map
Harlan - At a Glance
Harlan
Contacts
Utility & Telecommunication providers
Water: Harlan Municipal Utilities
Gas: Harlan Municipal Utilities
Electricity: Harlan Municipal Utilities
Phone Service: (three providers) Harlan Municipal Utilities ,Farmers Mutual Cooperative Telephone Co.
and Iowa Telecom all offer 100% digitally switched calling. They
offer dozens of state-of-the-art calling features including:
wireless, cellular and numerous other features not available in many
parts of the US
Internet Service: (three providers) Harlan Municipal
Utilities offers direct fiber 1.5 mbs to 10 mbs service; Farmers Mutual
Telephone provides 56kbs & DSL from 128 kps to 8 mbs and Iowa
Telecom provides 56K to 1.024 mbs DSL service.
Cable Service: (two providers) Harlan Municipal Utilities and
MediaCom offer up to 78 channels as well as DMS audio channels.
Cellular Service: CellularOne, Verizon & FMCTC Wireless.
Municipal Services
Council/Mayor government
Comprehensive city plan: yes
City zoning ordinance in effect: yes
County zoning ordinance in effect: yes
Subdivision ordinance with design standards in effect: yes
Number of volunteer fire department personnel: 40 & full time chief
Fire insurance class in city: 5
Fire insurance class outside city: 5
Police protection: 8 person Harlan Police Department
Industrial waste pickup service: yes
Percentage of city streets hard surfaced: 100%
Schools
Youth attend either the Harlan Community Schools (K-12) or the Shelby County Catholic Schools (preK - 8).
Shelby County schools are among the State's leaders in combining a top-quality academic education, with a wide variety of successful extracurricular activities. Business & Industry
Since 1995, 61 new businesses have opened and 62 businesses
expanded. See Labor and Business
Churches
Nineteen denominations provide religious fulfillment in the community.
Bragging Rights
In 1997, Harlan joined an elite group of technologically advanced
communities when it constructed a Metropolitan Area Network, utilizing
ATM technology, which provides high-speed data access, running at 155
Megabits per second, which is 100's of times faster than a traditional
modem supporting voice, video, and data traffic simultaneously.
It is the home to a tremendous high school academic and athletic
tradition with locally initiated student scholarships totaling over
$175,000 and scholarship endowments in excess of $500,000; over 23 trips
to the state championships in football championships since 1972, as well
as recent championships in girls golf (1), boys baseball (2), boys track
(1) and wrestling (1). Its arts and music program includes one of the
finest Jazz and Marching Band programs in the state, consistently
ranking in the top two in their class. In 2002 - 2003 it was a banner
year for HCHS qualifying for the Class 3A football playoffs, second
place in Class 3A basketball championship, first place in Class 3A boys
track and first place in Class 3A baseball.
Other community highlights include: Tiny Lund Festival, which honors the
late Tiny Lund who won the Daytona 500 in 1963 and was one of the top 50
NASCAR drivers. Home of former Gov. Nelson Kraschel. Home of the
Shelby
County Speedway. Harlan Muncipal Airport's first in the nation
flight breakfast and community spirit that lead voters to increase their
taxes as well as provide private donations to support industrial and
community expansions (Stamp Aquatic Center, Harlan Municipal Airport,
Veterans Auditorium and Harlan Library).  Tourism
A progressive Parks and Recreation Board oversees the multifaceted city
recreation program with league play for volleyball, softball,
basketball, swimming and baseball.
The
Norman D. Stamp Aquatic Center is the jewel of the over 84 acres
of Harlan parks. Pioneer Park has a 1.5 mile walking/jogging trail and a
10,000 sq ft handicap accessible Dream Playground for toddlers to teens. Six
baseball/softball diamonds at J.J. Jensen Park, Little George Lake's
fishing and ice skating plus two 9-hole golf courses and 8 tennis courts
add to the list of opportunities.  The
McDowell Fitness Center offers a variety of aerobic exercise
activities and equipment. Numerous soccer, flag football,
basketball and baseball leagues are available for area youth.
The
Shelby County
Historical Museum buildings offer four separate buildings
featuring the history of Shelby County.
Within the county are
two native wildlife areas, over 400 acres for public hunting, and the Loess Hills region
west of Harlan is listed in the National Registry of Natural Landmarks and is only one of
two sites in the world featuring Loess topography (the other site is along the Yellow
River in China).
History
The platting of the territory by Dr. A.T. Ault, in August, 1858, for a new town to be
known as Harlan, marked the downfall of the rival cities of Simoda and Shelbyville. In
1859, voters determined that the new Courthouse should be built in Harlan and thus the
legacy of Simoda and Shelbyville ended. It is believed that Ault, a Republican, who came
from eastern Iowa either knew U.S. Senator James Harlan (R-IA, 1855-1861) personally or
through correspondence and named the city after the Senator.
Local
Government
The City of Harlan
Mayor council form of government. The council consists of six (6) council members elected for terms of four (4) years.
The mayor is elected for a term of two (2) years. The Mayor appoints a Police Chief, Treasurer,
and City Attorney with confirmation by the council.
Public safety
Twenty-four-hour service is provided by a full time Police Chief and seven
(8) police
officers. Dispatch and communication services are provided by agreement with the Shelby
County Communication Center.
Harlan Fire and Rescue Department
Staffed by one full time chief and forty (40) volunteer fire fighters, all of whom respond to emergency calls.
There
are ten EMT's, eight First Responders, four Expert Rescuer technicians, and seven Fire
Fighter-I's The department responds to approximately 55 calls per year. Harlan's ISO
rating is 5 (highest rating for a volunteer fire dept.).
Emergency medical transit
Twenty-four-hour service is provided by Medivac Ambulance
which has four ambulances and a wheel chair van. The 20-person staff includes six
paramedics and 12 EMT-I's, one EMT-B & one EMT-A.
Gas, electric, water system
Municipally owned and operated by the Harlan Municipal Utilities. The
five trustees are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council.
Cable TV
Municipally owned and operated by the Harlan Municipal Utilities.
Mediacom also operates a cable system in Harlan.
Technology
Infrastructure
For more information on Harlan's tremendous technology offerings, see
the Technology section.
Telephone
Municipally owned and operated by the Harlan Municipal Utilities' Board
of Trustees. Iowa Telecom and Farmers Mutual Telephone also
operate phone systems.
Harlan Community Library
The 15,000 sq. ft. Harlan Community Library - is a hub of the community offering 50 hours of public access each week. It has one of the state's highest per capita usages and offers over 45,000 volumes, hundreds of audiobooks, cds and videos as well as subscribes to over 120 magazines and newspapers. Specialized areas include: genealogy, children's department, reference and one of the Iowa's top 10 Iowa Communications Network sites and a large meeting room. The seven person staff also manages numerous Library-sponsored reading events as well as a six-station Internet and computer access area.
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