Cottonville is an unincorporated community in Jackson County, Iowa, United States.

[1] Cottonville was founded in Richland Township prior to the American Civil War, and was described by historian James Whitcomb Ellis as a "thriving little town" in that era.

[2] In the early years, the church shared a preacher with nearby Lamotte to the north.

[5] The town began to decline with the coming of the railroad to nearby Lamotte, and by 1910, there was only one store and the blacksmith shop left in the Cottonville community.

[2] The Cottonville post office, which had been open for fifty years, closed in 1900.