Current Townships of Marion County

For a visual overview, see the two maps below. For larger maps, see a digitized map at University of Iowa. There you can find enlarged maps for each county found on the right of this page.

Below is a table of the townships in marion county. Note that the ordering of the townships roughly follows from top to bottom and west to east. The table includes the township and range values as well as a description of where they are other relative to other townships. See maps below. For further information on the concept of township, range, and related ideas see here or, for more details, see here. Note that the Des Moines River complicates a bit the standard or typical 6x6 mile-square townships, so the township and range values are sometimes approximations in Marion county.

Name	Township, Range	Location
Perry	T 77N, R 21W	in NW corner
Red Rock	T 77N, R 20W	just east of Perry on north border
Summit	T 77N, R 19W	just east of Red Rock on north border - includes Otley
Lake Prairie	T 77N, R 18W	in NE corner but extends down to Des Moines river - includes Pella
Swan	T 77N, R 21W	just south of Perry (and on west boundary) with Des Moines river the boundary between them
Union	T 76N, R 20W	just south of Red Rock with Des Moines river the boundary between them
Polk	T 76N, R 19W	just south of Summit with Des Moines river the boundary between them
Pleasant Grove	T 76N, R 21W	just south of Swan on west boundary - includes Pleasantville
Knoxville	T 75N, R 19,20W	central township, includes town of Knoxville
Franklin	T 75N, R 21W	on west boundary, south of Pleasant Grove and west of Knoxville
Clay	T 75,76N, R 18W	just south of Lake Prairie and east of Knoxville - on eastern boundary - includes Tracy and Harvey
Dallas	T 74N, R 21W	in SW corner
Washington	T 74N, R 20W	just east of Dallas
Indiana	T 74N, R 19W	just east of Washington and west of Liberty - includes Attica
Liberty	T 74N, R 18W	in SE corner - includes Bussey

Below is a basic map of where the townships are within Marion county. This is from 1901. Note also that the sections are numbered, if you look closely.

Below is another basic, but more modern, map that shows today's towns. Note that it also shows some changes to the townships (likely after Lake Red Rock was formed by damming the Des Moines river). Here is a brief summary.

• Polk Township, which was below Summit and above Knoxville became split as Lake Red Rock changed things. Roughly, the part south of the river went to Knoxville Township and the portion north went to Summit.
• Perry Township, in the upper-left corner, became absorbed by Red Rock Township
• Likewise, Swan Township (below Perry), became absorbed by Pleasant Grove Township

If you would like to view a more detailed and modern county map, check out the pdf file for the county that is dated Jan. 1, 2023. It shows the townships as below, but not as clear since all the roads are also listed, but it is a great map if you want to bike the back roads of the county. If you would like a black and white version of this, try here. The gravel roads don't jump out so much.