This book traces the origins and development of city of Ames, Iowa Agricultural College, and the Ames & College Railway (A&C). For much of their early existence Ames and the college, roughly two miles apart from each other, developed independently. This independent life created a number of difficulties that were solved by the building of the A&C in 1891. Over the next decade the little railroad created the one community of Ames and sustained what it had created. When the A&C ceased operations in 1907 it had carried over 2 million passengers between Ames and the college. While the railroad ended in 1907 its memory persisted in the community of Ames and its memory became an integral part of the history of the city and university.