page_title: Urbandale, Iowa
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Urbandale, Iowa / History
caption_attribution_description: English: "The overview of a campaign rally in Urbandale, Iowa. This view was from a scissors lift just above the press stand." (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
context_page_description: Urbandale is a city in Polk and Dallas counties, Iowa, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the city population was 39,463. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.
context_section_description: Urbandale was incorporated as a city on April 16, 1917. In its early days, Urbandale served as a streetcar suburb of Des Moines with four coal mines. Urbandale served as the end of the "Urbandale Line" after plans to build a railroad from Des Moines to Woodward were abandoned because of right-of-way issues. The coal mines had closed by the end of the 1940s while streetcar service ended in 1951.
  In 1920, shortly after the city incorporated, Urbandale had 298 people. Its population in 1950 was 1,777, but the city grew rapidly after that along with the rest of Des Moines' suburbs. By 1970 Urbandale had 14,434 people, and in 2000 it had 29,072. Although most of the city's developed area is in Polk County, Urbandale has expanded westward into Dallas County in recent years.
  In 2012, Urbandale gained national attention after President Barack Obama held a reelection campaign rally downtown.
caption: Barack Obama reelection campaign in Urbandale, September 2012
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4096", "Image ImageLength": "2731", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "Jan. 25, 2012\n\"Chuck Kennedy made this amusing photograph of First Lady Michelle Obama participating in a potato sack race with Jimmy Fallon in the East Room of the White House during a \u201cLate Night with Jimmy Fallon\u201d taping for the second anniversary of the \"Let\u2019s Move!\" initiative.\" \n(Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)\n\nThis official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2013:01:03 11:29:50", "Image Artist": "Chuck Kennedy", "Image Copyright": "This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.", "Image ExifOffset": "1536", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2182", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11827", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "5/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:01:25 16:03:49", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:01:25 16:03:49", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "477741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "165241/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "1", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "147/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Partial", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "24", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "71", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "71", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "976", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "604", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5616000/1459", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1872000/479", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "720304992", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[24, 24, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF24mm f/1.4L II USM"}