Harlan

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.

Harlan Iowa's Norman D Stamp Aquatic CenterThe 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.

Harlan, Iowa 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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September 2010
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