Creston • Afton • Lorimor • Cromwell • Arispe • Shannon City • Thayer
Railroad Roots and Pioneer Trails
Walk where Mormon pioneers camped in 1846, watch trains roll past an 1899 depot and step into an 1800s village. Union County's history is still standing.
1846
pioneers reach Mt. Pisgah
1899
Creston depot built
40+
trains pass daily
CRESTON • BUILT 1899
Creston's Restored Depot
Built by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad when Creston was a division headquarters. Today it's city hall, home to the Creston Arts Gallery and a working Amtrak stop on the California Zephyr. Tour it inside and out, then grab a bench and count trains.
1899
built by the CB&Q
1973
National Register listed
40+
trains pass daily
Near Thayer · Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail
Mt. Pisgah
Union County's first settlement. Latter-day Saint pioneers heading from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Salt Lake Valley set up camp here in May 1846, and for six years it was a way station for thousands more. Gold seekers bound for California stopped for supplies too.
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Wagon tracks are still visible in the prairie grass, and a monument honors the roughly 300 people who died that first winter.
1846
Camp established May 18 and named after the biblical mountain where Moses saw the Promised Land
2,000+
Peak population, with many more passing through
1852
The last pioneers move on toward Council Bluffs and the West
Hwy 34 West · Built 1931
Frank Phillips Visitor Center
One of Iowa's first Phillips 66 stations, restored down to the vintage pumps, the shield and the green and orange paint. It honors Frank Phillips, who started out as a barber in Creston and went on to found Phillips Petroleum.
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Open May to mid-September
