The economic fortunes of Manilla rose and fell with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.

The building features a hipped roof, bracketed eaves, and a full-length front porch.

It served both passengers and crews from trains that had an overnight layover in Manilla.

[2] In the early 20th-century Manilla became the junction on the Milwaukee's mainline across Iowa where trains continued on to Omaha or on to the Pacific extension through South Dakota and across the American West.

This article about a property in Crawford County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.