Ames, Iowa
The city was founded in 1864 as a station stop on the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad and was named after 19th century U.S. Congressman Oakes Ames of Massachusetts, who was influential in the building of the transcontinental railroad.
In 1865, along with brother Oliver and railroad executive T.C. Durant, Ames helped create the Crédit Mobilier of America—a company formed to build the Union Pacific Railroad.
The Crédit Mobilier allowed a small number of individuals to reap vast fortunes from the construction of the line. By early 1868, Congress seemed certain to investigate charges of improper use of government grants to the railroad.
But Ames, through shrewd sale of Crédit Mobilier stock at bargain prices to appropriate members of Congress, induced his colleagues to abandon the investigation.
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A quarrel between Ames and a Crédit Mobilier investor led, in 1872, to the publication of documents detailing Ames’s misuse of company stock to derail the congressional investigation of 1868.
An immediate congressional investigation ensued, concluding with a vote of 182–36 in favor of censuring Ames. He returned to Easton in 1873, a disgraced and broken figure.
Ames Future
Tied to the Railroad
Ames became a stop on the railroad that connected Chicago to Council Bluffs, IA.
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Then, when the transcontinental railroad (Central Pacific and Union Pacific connected Sacramento CA with Omaha was completed, Ames' future improved considerably.
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Geneva residents can boast that the Chicago and North Western was the most popular and direct route, although it did go through Iowa City.
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Although the Union Pacific Railroad's corporate headquarters are in Omaha, their museum is in Council Bluffs.
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