[4] In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining.

[5] Oskaloosa derives its name from Ouscaloosa who, according to town lore, was a Creek princess who married Seminole chief Osceola.

The town was formally platted in 1844 when William Canfield moved his trading post from the Des Moines River to Oskaloosa.

[8] On January 6, 1882, most of the buildings in the north half of Oskaloosa were severely damaged and most of the plate glass windows in the area were broken by an explosion.

The boys had been seen shooting at the A. L. Spencer gunpowder magazine half a mile north of the town center.

[9] The first bituminous coal mine in the area was opened shortly after 1853 by Robert Seevers, who drove a drift into a four-foot coalbed in an exposed creek bank east of town.

As a result, in April 1903, the legislature enacted a law to regulate blasting in coal mines.

The city's top ten companies (by number of employees) are as follows: Oskaloosa is also the headquarters of the music publisher C.L.

A concert by the municipal band is the highlight of the corn-on-the-cob and pork burger feast.

Each December, the Lighted Christmas Parade travels through the downtown area on two consecutive nights.

The City of Oskaloosa has a mayor-city council-city manager form of government under a home rule charter.

The city council is composed of seven members who make decisions regarding rules and regulations pertaining to Oskaloosa.

In July 2015, presidential candidate Donald Trump held a campaign event, a family picnic, at Oskaloosa's George Daily Community Auditorium.

He did not give press credentials to the Des Moines Register for the event, due to its having had an editorial urging him to drop out of the race.

[26] In November 2019, presidential candidate Joe Biden held a campaign event at William Penn University.

[citation needed] Oskaloosa is the home of William Penn University, a private, liberal arts college.

It was founded by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1873 as Penn College.

Oskaloosa Elementary opened in January 2005, merging five smaller buildings scattered across the city.

Free bus service is provided along one fixed-route loop in the city, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM.

Restored in the 21st century, the statue was completed in 1907 by an Iowa-born sculptor named Sherry Edmundson Fry (1879–1966).

A year later, Fry exhibited the final full-sized sculpture, for which he won the Prix de Rome.

Oskaloosa boasts two private homes designed in 1948–51 by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Oskaloosa hosted the Iowa State Fair in 1858 and 1859, prior to the Civil War.

In 1934, Oskaloosa became the first city in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens, including children.

A brick walk through the park was constructed with money raised from a local talent minstrel show.

He exerted a creative influence to build up a musical organization that would become the pride of the city.

In 1904, the band played at the annual National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in Louisville, Kentucky.

En route, it played by invitation at the World's Fair in Saint Louis, Missouri.