RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Wapello County >> Agency >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Agency, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Agency and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Agency:
    • 40.996794, -92.307237
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Agency
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Wapello County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wapello County
    • Since Agency is near Jefferson County and also Davis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Davis County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Agency

Communities Also Named Agency ...

We found three communities that are also named Agency.

Within Iowa, the name Agency is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Missouri
      • Buchanan County
      • This Agency is located in Buchanan County and lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Agency that is located in Wapello County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Buchanan County community of Agency.
    • Montana
      • Sanders County
      • This Agency is located in Sanders County and lies 1,168 miles [1,879.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Agency that is located in Wapello County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sanders County community of Agency.
    • Oregon
      • Jefferson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oregon community of Agency [Jefferson County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Agency ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Business Corners ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Business Corners is located in Van Buren County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Business Corners
  • Carbon
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Carbon is located in Davis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbon
  • Cliffland
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Cliffland is located in Wapello County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cliffland
  • Dunnville ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Dunnville is located in Davis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dunnville
  • Libertyville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Libertyville is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Libertyville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 341 people
  • Martinsburg
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Martinsburg is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsburg
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
  • Pickwick
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Pickwick is located in Wapello County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickwick
  • Pleasant View ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Pleasant View is located in Davis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
  • White Elm
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • White Elm is located in Davis County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for White Elm

How Far From Agency to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Agency to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Agency and extending to:

  • Ottumwa, which is the Seat of Wapello County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 79 miles [127.1 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Agency to Des Moines, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 820 miles [1,319.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,394 miles [10,290.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,139 miles [11,489.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,029 miles [8,093.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Agency) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Agency could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Agency to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Agency. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.9968, Longitude: -92.3072       In this case, the coordinates for Agency have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.566 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.792 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.128 degrees.