Waterloo is located in
Black Hawk County and it is the county seat. It lies west of
Dubuque along U.S. Highway 20, on the banks of the Cedar River.
The first settlers arrived in 1845 and called the place Prairie Rapids, but the name of the town was changed in 1851. Waterloo was incorporated as a city in 1868.
Waterloo, population 68,747, experiences a average high of 83.1 degrees in summer and 32.9 in winter, and lows of 59.9 and 14.6. The top three Waterloo employers are John Deere, Covenant Medical Center and IBP, Inc.
The area is well-known for its Cedar Valley 60-mile hard surface biking and hiking trail system. Other attractions include the Rensselaer Russell House Museum, one of the oldest homes in Black Hawk County and an example of mid-Victorian architecture; and the Waterloo Center For The Arts, housing the largest public collection of Haitian art in the United States as well as Midwest art by Grant Wood, Marvin Cone and Thomas Hart Benton. .
