Keokuk, Iowa is a city of about 10000 people in Southeastern Iowa. It is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is commemorated with a statue and thought to be buried in the Rand Park on the edge of the Mississippi River.

There is a fine display of historic architecture in Keokuk’s downtown area, although quite a lot of buildings have seen better days and were seemingly no longer occupied especially the shops on the ground floor.

Mark Twain’s brother Orion was a long-time resident of Keokuk and Twain wrote about Keokuk in his Life On The Mississippi book, which is one of my favorite books of his.