Buffalo Center is a city in Winnebago County, Iowa, United States. The population was 857 at the time of the 2020 census.
History
Buffalo Center was platted in 1892, and was incorporated as a city later that same year. In 1996, Buffalo Center officially became the host community of the newly-formed North Iowa Community School.
Located seven miles south of the Minnesota border, the town was named Buffalo Center because it was midway between the north and south forks of Buffalo Creek. The town was originally built south of the present site and moved north when the Chicago and Iowa Western Railroad set up lines in northern Iowa. It was settled in 1892 on mostly swampy ground, later dredged and tiled. One of the original settlers, Howard Pomeroy, took a mower and mowed through his wheat fields to show where the streets would be, and a hardware store and a blacksmith shop were the first business enterprises in the new town.
Buffalo Center has survived a number of devastating fires, which have ravaged Main Street businesses over and over, and the occasional tornado, as well as several winter storms and blizzards. One of the most severe was the historic Armistice Day blizzard of November 11, 1940, which killed 154 people throughout Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
On August 23, 1897, Buffalo Center became the first school system west of the Mississippi River to be consolidated. The school system is believed to be the second one in the United States of America.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.