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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kirkville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kirkville 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 Kirkville:
    • 41.142201, -92.503561
    • 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 Kirkville
  • 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 Kirkville is near Mahaska County and also Monroe County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mahaska County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Monroe 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 Kirkville

Communities Also Named Kirkville ...

We found eight communities that are also named Kirkville.

Within Iowa, the name Kirkville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Sutter County
      • This Kirkville is located in Sutter County and lies 1,548 miles [2,491.3 km]<1> to the west of the Kirkville that is located in Wapello County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sutter County community of Kirkville.
    • Indiana
      • Gibson 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 Indiana community of Kirkville [Gibson County].
    • Kentucky
      • Lewis County
      • This Kirkville is located in Lewis County and lies 528 miles [849.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Kirkville that is located in Wapello County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lewis County community of Kirkville.
    • Louisiana
      • Tangipahoa Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Kirkville [Tangipahoa Parish].
    • Mississippi
      • Itawamba County
      • This Kirkville is located in Itawamba County and lies 511 miles [822.4 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Kirkville that is located in Wapello County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Itawamba County community of Kirkville.
      • Pike County
      • This Kirkville is located in Pike County and lies 694 miles [1,116.9 km] to the south of the Kirkville that is located in Wapello County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pike County community of Kirkville.
    • New York
      • Onondaga County
      • This Kirkville is located in Onondaga County and lies 856 miles [1,377.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Kirkville that is located in Wapello County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onondaga County community of Kirkville.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Kirkville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kirkville ...

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.

  • Bolton
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Bolton is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bolton
  • Cedar
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Cedar is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar
  • Frederic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Frederic is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederic
  • Lockman
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Lockman is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lockman
  • Martinsburg
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Martinsburg is located in Keokuk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martinsburg
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 107 people
  • Pickwick
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Pickwick is located in Wapello County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickwick
  • Pleasant Corner
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Pleasant Corner is located in Monroe County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Corner
  • Rose Hill
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Rose Hill is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rose Hill
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 161 people
  • University Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • University Park is located in Mahaska County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Park
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 468 people

How Far From Kirkville 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 Kirkville to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Ottumwa, which is the Seat of Wapello County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Kirkville to Ottumwa, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 65 miles [104.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 831 miles [1,337.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,393 miles [10,288.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • 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).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,030 miles [8,095 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Kirkville) 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 Kirkville 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 Kirkville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Kirkville 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 Kirkville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1422, Longitude: -92.5036       In this case, the coordinates for Kirkville have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.705 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.97 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.193 degrees.