page_title: Iowa Highway 56
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Iowa Highway 56 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Southern (downsteam) side of the Elkader Keystone Bridge, which carries Bridge Street over the Turkey River at Elkader, Iowa, United States. Built in 1888, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Note the tower of the Clayton County Courthouse, also Register-listed, in the background.
context_page_description: Iowa Highway 56 is a state highway that runs from west to east in northeastern Iowa. It begins at Iowa Highway 150 in West Union and ends at Iowa Highway 13 south of Elkader. As a largely rural route, Iowa 56 passes through the farmland of Fayette and Clayton counties. Through Elkader and to its eastern end, the highway runs parallel to the Turkey River.
  The 24-mile-long highway is an original route from 1920. It originally extended from West Union to Guttenberg, but it was shortened to Elkader by 1925. Since then, both the western and eastern endpoints have shifted slightly, but the route otherwise remains the same.
context_section_description: When the Iowa primary highway system was created in 1920, Primary Road No. 56 extended from West Union eastward to Guttenberg.  It began in a different location in West Union than it does today, beginning at Primary Road No. 19 in the northeastern part of town.  The route then headed south along Pine Street.  In Elkader, Primary Road No. 56 joined Primary Roads No. 10 and No. 13 and crossed the Turkey River on the Keystone Bridge.  Shortly after leaving Elkader, Primary Road No. 56 split away from the other two routes and headed east.  It turned south at Primary Road No. 20 and the two routes headed to Guttenberg.  The Primary Road No. 56 designation ended in Guttenberg.
  Primary Road No. 56's length past Elkader did not last long.  By 1925, the two overlaps were removed and the standalone stretch between them was renumbered Primary Road. No. 128.  By the 1950s, the western end of the route shifted to its current position in West Union.  In the early 1980s, a new bypass and Turkey River bridge were built around Elkader.  Iowa 13 was shifted onto the bypass and Iowa 56 was extended southward along the former Iowa 13 to the new highway.  In 2004, the two intersections of Iowa 56 along Bridge Street were rebuilt to allow large trucks to take the sharp turns.  Roadwork began on June 1 and the street reopened on August 4.
caption: Iowa 56 originally crossed the Turkey River in Elkader
exif: {}