08/16/2026
There have been a lot of new faces following The 29th State lately, so I thought it was probably time to introduce myself again and explain a little about what this page is all about.
If we haven't met, my name is Dave Baker, and I am the writer, photographer, researcher, speaker, driver, and most everything else behind The 29th State. I started criss-crossing Iowa in 2009 and began sharing those travels online as The 29th State in 2015. What began as an effort to photograph every incorporated community in Iowa has grown into something much larger than I ever expected.
Over the years, I have photographed communities, ghost towns, rural landmarks, cemeteries, schools, churches, depots, courthouses, businesses, homes, bridges, and just about anything else that helps tell Iowa's story. My archive now includes photographs of more than 25,000 buildings, cemeteries, historic sites, and current landmarks across the state, including many places that have since disappeared. One of the things I have learned along the way is that Iowa history isn't confined to museums or the biggest events in our history books. It is all around us, and sometimes the stories of an old building, a railroad grade, a forgotten town site, or an ordinary Iowa family can tell us a great deal about how our state became what it is today.
That philosophy also became the basis for my first book, More Than Waypoints, published in 2025. The book grew out of years of traveling Iowa and includes 33 counties, 315 communities, more than 410 pages, and over 350 photographs. But the title really describes what I have been trying to do with The 29th State all along. These places are more than dots on a map or waypoints between larger destinations. Every community has a history, and every one of them has contributed something to the larger story of Iowa.
I also travel around the state giving programs for libraries, museums, historical societies, genealogical groups, and communities. My programs cover topics including Iowa's ghost towns, railroads, the Civil War, presidential history, coal mining, genealogy, and, of course, the stories I have collected through The 29th State and More Than Waypoints. Getting to meet people who care about their local history has become one of my favorite parts of this entire project.
One thing that hasn't changed is how I travel. I take my time. I have never been interested in racing through 50 or 100 towns in a weekend just to say I have been there. I want to walk around, photograph what remains, learn what used to be there, understand why the community developed where it did, and figure out how its story connects to the rest of Iowa. Even after all these years, there are still plenty of places I haven't visited and an almost endless number of stories left to uncover.
Most of all, I want The 29th State to be a place where people can share memories, ask questions, add to the story, correct the record when necessary, and discover something about Iowa they didn't know before. History has the power to divide us, but I believe it also has an incredible power to unite us. We all have a story, and most of us want the opportunity to share it. When we listen to those stories, whether they are about our families, our communities, or simply the places we remember, we begin to understand one another a little better. Sharing our stories connects us as human beings, and that has become just as important to me as preserving the history itself. Some of the best information I have ever received has come from people who saw a photograph here and said, "I remember that place."
So, whether you have been following for years or just found the page this week, welcome to The 29th State. There is still a lot of Iowa left to explore, a lot of history left to uncover, and a lot of stories left to share. I am glad to have you along for the ride.
