Melrose Iowa Map

About Melrose, Iowa

Melrose is a locality in Monroe County, Iowa, United States. It is a small community with a population of 110. The population density is 41.9 people per km². Melrose is located at 40.9761°N, 93.0505°W. It observes the Central Time (America/Chicago) timezone. Melrose is an incorporated locality. ZIP code: 52569.

Melrose anchors itself firmly within the expansive, furrowed plains of south-central Iowa, where the landscape is defined by the steady, unadorned movement of Cedar Creek as it carves a path through the fields. It lies 30.6 miles southwest of Oskaloosa, IA (from Oskaloosa, IA: bearing 224°T), and is situated 19.1 miles north-northwest of Centerville. Sunlight here possesses a particular clarity, turning the vast stretches of corn and soybean stalks into a shimmering, rhythmic expanse that stretches toward the horizon in every direction. Beyond the immediate reach of the cultivated acreage, the terrain rises and falls with a deliberate, quiet momentum, occasionally giving way to the deeper, shadowed folds of the countryside that hint at the ancient geology of the region. The air remains thin and crisp, carrying the scent of damp earth and the distant, cooling influence of Rathbun Lake, which waits just a few miles away as a wide, still reservoir amidst the surrounding woodland.

Melrose preserves a character shaped by the persistence of those who first settled these prairie stretches, leaving behind a legacy of industry that long relied on the local coal veins before shifting toward the present agrarian rhythm. Life in Melrose follows the slow, necessary pace of the seasons, where the local economy remains tethered to the health of the soil and the careful management of the harvest. Families often travel toward the Rathbun Recreation Area for respite during the warmer months, finding a sense of scale in the open water that contrasts with the enclosed, productive intensity of the nearby farms. Even as the modern world intrudes through the hum of heavy equipment or the light of distant transit, Melrose retains a singular, unshowy composure, defined by the steady work of people who have learned to read the sky as clearly as the land.

About This Melrose Map Page

This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Melrose, Iowa. Coordinates: 40.976115, -93.05048. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.

Detailed location data for Melrose includes the ZIP code (52569), telephone area code (712), county seat of Monroe County (Albia), and school district assignment (Albia Community School District).

Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.