Several Ho-Chunks had settled along the Upper Iowa River that year when the U.S. Army forced them to remove from Wisconsin.

[12] In 1848, the United States removed the Ho-Chunks again to a new reservation in Minnesota, opening their Iowa villages to white settlers.

Ephraim Adams, the Days arrived in June 1849 with the Ho-Chunks' "tents still standing—with the graves of the dead scattered about where now run our streets and stand our dwellings.

[14] During the 1850s and 1860s, Decorah grew quickly as settlers built dams and mills to harness water power at Dunning's Spring and other local streams.

Since 1861, it has been the home of Luther College, a liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

[16] Decorah has become a center for Norwegian-American culture originating from a high number of Norwegian settlements beginning in the 1850s.

Each July, Decorah is the host of Nordic Fest, a celebration of Norwegian culture with ethnic dancing, food, and music.

[17] Decorah is located approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of the Minnesota-Iowa border.

About 470 million years ago, a meteorite as big as a city block smashed into what is now Decorah, supporting a theory that a giant space rock broke up and bombarded Earth just as early life began flourishing in the oceans.

[19] The impact dug a crater nearly four miles wide that now lies beneath the town, said Bevan French, one of the world's foremost crater hunters and an adjunct scientist at the National Museum of Natural History.

Instead, it is filled by an unusual shale that formed after an ancient seaway sluiced into the crater, depositing sediment and an array of bizarre sea creatures that hardened into fossils.

[30] Decorah's largest employer is Luther College, in addition to several national corporations.

Because Winneshiek County's economy is primarily based on farming, Decorah serves as an agricultural hub.

Decorah is also home to Seed Savers Exchange, an heirloom plant farm and preservation organization.

[31] Each July, Decorah hosts Nordic Fest, a celebration of Norwegian culture.

Each year they host a livestreamed webcam of a family of nesting bald eagles as they rear their young.

A new addition was established in the 1980s, with a music room, a storage and teaching aid area, and two classrooms.

Newspaper office location: 110 Washington Street, Decorah, IA 52101.