Mediapolis, Iowa

Mediapolis is a city in Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. Its population was 1,560 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Burlington, IA–IL Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Mediapolis was founded in the year 1869 because of the building of the railroad through that territory.

Mediapolis was first a train station for the city of Kossuth, Iowa at a point on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railway (later part of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific) between Burlington, Iowa and Wapello, Iowa. Media, meaning "middle," was apponded to polis, meaning "village," as Mediapolis is halfway between Washington and Burlington.

From 1875 to the mid 20th century, Mediapolis was a railroad junction where the Burlington and Northwestern Railway to Washington, Iowa (later a branch of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy) met the original north-south line.

The Rock Island Railroad ceased operation in 1980, leading to the abandonment of the north-south line through Mediapolis. One heavy industry remains 2 miles southwest of town, the United States Gypsum Sperry mine. This is a shaft mine 620 feet deep, opened in 1961 and employing around 200 people in 2010. Of these, only 25 to 50 actually work in the mine. Underground, the mine extends 1.5 miles west and 1.75 miles south of the shaft. This is a room and pillar mine with 37-foot pillars separating roads 37 feet wide on a square grid.

Mediapolis (company)

Mediapolis, Inc. is a web engineering company based in New York City. Founded in 1995 the company has built over 300 websites largely utilizing open-source software.

Mediapolis owns and operates the DataLounge a popular LGBT Internet Forum.

History

The company was founded in January 1995 by Carl Pritzkat, Michael Rhodes, and Tony Travostino. The first headquarters were out of Michael's apartment in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan. In 1998 Alan Emtage, creator of Archie the first Internet search engine, joined the company. Since then it has worked to produce several hundred websites, with clients ranging from small not-for-profits to large multi-national corporations.

For a period the company operated a string of LGBT sites under the moniker 'The Datalounge Network'. These included HomoRama.com, Gayvote.com, GayHealth.com, SouthernVoice.com and HoustonVoice.com.

In January 1995 BMG Entertainment launched the Internet's first e-commerce site featuring an entire record label catalog, ecmrecords.com which Mediapolis engineered and operated until late 2004. Other notable sites created and operated include yourpharmacy.com for Express Scripts, grandparents.com, and VolvoForLifeAwards.com for Volvo. In early 2010, Mediapolis was part of a team that purchased Publishers Weekly from media conglomerate Reed Elsevier. It built and operates the website.