West Liberty was incorporated in 1868, at the junction of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific and Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroads.

[4] Prior to incorporation, the town stood about a half-mile north of its current location, but was relocated to be closer to the railway.

The settlement was originally called Wapsinonoc Township, which means smooth surfaced, meandering creek or stream.

[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.74 square miles (4.51 km2), all land.

West Liberty Foods is a producer of turkey products that has a meat processing facility as well as its corporate headquarters in the city.

In 2005, the Chamber of Commerce[14] and the City of West Liberty undertook the initiative to improve area economic development with the foundation of We Lead.

[15] We Lead is a non-profit organization that partners with the City of West Liberty, Muscatine County, and local investors in carrying out their mission.

Recent projects include the adoption of the International Property Maintenance Code for aging downtown buildings and the establishment of a revolving loan fund for structural improvements and scholarships for facades.

We Lead has begun to implement The Art-Full Community Project as a prototype for a business incubator; businesses in West Liberty display artwork, artists sell their work and donate part of the proceeds to a community economic development fund.

West Liberty has a movie theater built in 1910,[16] an internationally known puppet theater that hosts several events throughout the year and gives frequent performances,[17] two dance studios, an arts council which organizes community art lessons during the winter months and concerts during the summer,[18] and various local artists.

West Liberty has a historical downtown[citation needed], a train depot built in 1897,[19] and a public library constructed in 1904.

[21] The fair features grandstand entertainment, a carnival, a talent show, a fair queen contest, pet shows, and judging of exhibits of livestock, arts and crafts, cooking, flowers and plants, photography, and antiques.

This summer concert series is organized by West Liberty Area Arts Council (WLAAC) and is free to the public.

Every Friday evening for about a month in the summer a concert is given by local groups in Ron-de-Voo Park.

A daylong event held downtown on Third Street, it is sponsored and organized by Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre[17] with lots of volunteer help.

The area immediately surrounding the depot has become the final resting place for many local pieces of history.

There is a restored Rock Island Lines Caboose,[30] a local barn known as the Heritage Barn along with antique farm equipment,[31] a tourist cabin that used to form part of the North Point complex, which in addition to the nine cabins also consisted of a diner and a service station,[32] a one-room schoolhouse also known as the Swamp School,[33] and the newest addition, a steam locomotive.

[34] The West Liberty Public Library building was constructed in 1904 with the help of a $7500 grant from Andrew Carnegie.

The association opened a reading room and later, in the year 1900, the community voted to approve the establishment of a public library.

[36] The library holds a host of activities throughout the year including summer reading programs, screenings of educational movies, toddler story times, a morning coffee book club, and much more.

[41] which offer students the opportunity to earn one of the Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera awarded by the Instituto Cervantes.

It began in the fall of 1997 when the district received a five-year $1.7 million federal grant from the United States Department of Education.

After a year of planning and model analysis, the program was implemented in the fall of 1998 at the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten grade levels.

[42] In the spring of 2011, the first graduating class of Seniors marked the final establishment of the dual language program in all K-12 grade levels.

There are eight city parks scattered throughout West Liberty, varying in size and purpose from a veterans memorial to a public pool to a sports complex[43] complete with softball and baseball diamonds, soccer fields, a skatepark, and more.

Just a short distance from the depot campus there is an outdoor fitness center containing workout equipment for public use.

The West Liberty Public Library has a collection of microfilm copies of the paper from the years 1878 through 1946.