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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Evanston:
    • 42.434337, -94.057927
    • 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 Evanston
  • 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 Webster County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Webster County
    • Since Evanston is near Hamilton County and also Wright County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamilton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wright 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 Evanston

Communities Also Named Evanston ...

We found fifteen communities that are also named Evanston.

Within Iowa, the name Evanston is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of fifteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fifteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Weld County
      • This Evanston is located in Weld County and lies 586 miles [943.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Weld County community of Evanston.
    • Georgia
      • Columbia County
      • This Evanston is located in Columbia County and lies 891 miles [1,433.9 km]<1> to the southeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbia County community of Evanston.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Evanston is located in Cook County and lies 326 miles [524.6 km]<1> to the east of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Evanston.
    • Indiana
      • Spencer County
      • This Evanston is located in Spencer County and lies 486 miles [782.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spencer County community of Evanston.
    • Kansas
      • Leavenworth 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 Kansas community of Evanston [Leavenworth County].
    • Kentucky
      • Breathitt County
      • This Evanston is located in Breathitt County and lies 673 miles [1,083.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Breathitt County community of Evanston.
    • Mississippi
      • George County
      • This Evanston is located in George County and lies 851 miles [1,369.6 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the George County community of Evanston.
    • Missouri
      • Clay County
      • This Evanston is located in Clay County and lies 224 miles [360.5 km]<1> to the south of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Evanston.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Evanston lies 1,632 miles [2,626.4 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
    • Ohio
      • Franklin County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ohio community of Evanston [Franklin County].
      • Hamilton County
      • This Evanston is located in Hamilton County and lies 549 miles [883.5 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hamilton County community of Evanston.
      • Miami County
      • This Evanston is located in Miami County and lies 539 miles [867.4 km] to the east southeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miami County community of Evanston.
    • Tennessee
      • Hancock County
      • This Evanston is located in Hancock County and lies 704 miles [1,133 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Evanston.
      • Warren County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Evanston [Warren County].
    • Wyoming
      • Uinta County
      • This Evanston is located in Uinta County and lies 871 miles [1,401.7 km]<1> to the west of the Evanston that is located in Webster County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Uinta County community of Evanston.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Evanston ...

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.

  • Badger
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Brushy
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Coalville
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
  • Highview
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Highview is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highview
  • Homer
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Homer is located in Hamilton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
  • Judd
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
    • Judd is located in Webster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Judd
  • Moorland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Palm Grove
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
  • Shady Oak
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Shady Oak is located in Webster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Oak

How Far From Evanston to ...

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

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

  • Fort Dodge, which is the Seat of Webster County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 62 miles [99.8 km]<1> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could walk a straight line from Evanston to Des Moines, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 922 miles [1,483.8 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 53 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,380 miles [10,267.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,131 miles [11,476.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,031 miles [8,096.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Evanston) 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Evanston 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Evanston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Evanston 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 Evanston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4343, Longitude: -94.0579    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.816 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.417 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.694 degrees.