Made up of mid-sized 2A and 3A schools, the conference currently has seven members, five of which are based in their respective county seats.
The conference was formed in 1930 by Knoxville, Pella, Indianola High School, West Des Moines Valley, and Winterset.
[1] At the end of the 1995–96 school year, the members were Albia, Centerville, Chariton, Davis County (Bloomfield), Grinnell, Knoxville, Oskaloosa and Pella.
Albia, Centerville, Chariton and Davis County (Bloomfield) reformed the league by adding Eddyville–Blakesburg from the Des Moines River Conference and Clarke (Osceola) from the Little Hawkeye Conference, as Grinnell, Knoxville and Pella left for the Little Hawkeye Conference.
At the start of the 2022-2023 school year Cardinal (Eldon) joined the conference moving from the Southeast Iowa Superconference.