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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Togo, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Togo 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 Togo:
    • 40.620556, -93.885504
    • 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 Togo
  • 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 Decatur County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Decatur County
    • Since Togo is near Harrison County and also Mercer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mercer 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 Togo

Communities Also Named Togo ...

We found nine communities that are also named Togo.

Within Iowa, the name Togo is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Cross County
      • This Togo is located in Cross County and lies 407 miles [655 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Togo that is located in Decatur County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cross County community of Togo.
    • Kansas
      • Graham County
      • This Togo is located in Graham County and lies 331 miles [532.7 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Togo that is located in Decatur County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Graham County community of Togo.
      • Pottawatomie 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 Togo [Pottawatomie County].
    • Manitoba
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Minnesota
      • Itasca County
      • This Togo is located in Itasca County and lies 498 miles [801.5 km]<1> to the north of the Togo that is located in Decatur County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Itasca County community of Togo.
    • Mississippi
      • Noxubee County
      • This Togo is located in Noxubee County and lies 590 miles [949.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Togo that is located in Decatur County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Noxubee County community of Togo.
    • Oklahoma
      • Major County
      • This Togo is located in Major County and lies 391 miles [629.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Togo that is located in Decatur County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Major County community of Togo.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Togo lies 829 miles [1,334.1 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Togo that is located in Decatur County.
    • Texas
      • Bastrop County
      • This Togo is located in Bastrop County and lies 760 miles [1,223.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Togo that is located in Decatur County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bastrop County community of Togo.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Togo ...

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.

  • Big Spring ‑ Historic
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Big Spring is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Spring
  • Burrows
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Burrows is located in Mercer County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burrows
  • Eagleville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Garden Grove
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Garden Grove is located in Decatur County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 200 people
  • Grand River
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Grand River is located in Decatur County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand River
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 215 people
  • High Point
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
    • High Point is located in Decatur County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Point
  • Lee ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Lee is located in Ringgold County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lee
  • Leon
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Leon is located in Decatur County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leon
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,808 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leon <3>
  • Lineville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the east)
    • Lineville is located in Wayne County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lineville
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 217 people
  • Saline
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Saline is located in Mercer County (MO)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saline

How Far From Togo to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Togo once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Togo and extending to:

  • Leon, which is the Seat of Decatur County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Togo to Leon, with an average speed<5> 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 68 miles [109.4 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 900 miles [1,448.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,468 miles [10,409.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,216 miles [11,613 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,108 miles [8,220.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Togo) 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 Togo 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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 Togo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Togo 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 Togo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6206, Longitude: -93.8855       In this case, the coordinates for Togo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.633 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.969 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.007 degrees.