Keokuk

Keokuk may refer to:

Places or warships named after Chief Keokuk:

Keokuk (YTB-771)

Keokuk (YTB-771) is a United States Navy Natick-class large harbor tug named for Keokuk, Iowa, and the third navy ship to carry the name.

Construction

The contract for Keokuk was awarded 18 January 1963. She was laid down on 5 December 1963 at Mobile, Alabama, by Mobile Ship Repair and launched 21 May 1964. Placed in service 4 September 1964, Chief Boatswain's Mate Jerry R. Richter in command.

Operational history

Keokuk served in the Norfolk, Virginia, area as a tug and is currently in active service at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

References

External links

Keokuk, Iowa

Keokuk /ˈkiːəkʌk/ is a city and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is also the most southerly city in Iowa. The population was 10,780 at the 2010 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park. It is located in the extreme southeast corner of Iowa where the Des Moines River meets with the Mississippi. It is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 61, 136 and 218. Just across the rivers are the towns of Hamilton and Warsaw, Illinois, and Alexandria, Missouri.

Keokuk, along with the city of Fort Madison, is a principal city of the Fort Madison-Keokuk micropolitan area, which includes all of Lee County, Iowa and Clark County, Missouri.

History

Situated between the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers, the area that became Keokuk had access to a large trading area and was an ideal location for settlers. In 1820, the US Army prohibited soldiers stationed along the Mississippi River from having wives who were Native American. Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon stationed at Fort Edwards (near present-day Warsaw, Illinois), instead resigned his commission rather than leave his Indian wife and crossed the river to resettle. He built a log cabin for them at the bottom of the bluff, and became the area’s first white settler.