AMES

city, Story county, central Iowa, U.S. It lies along the Skunk River, 30 miles (48 km) north of Des Moines. It was laid out in 1865 near the right-of-way of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri Railroad (now part of the Union Pacific system) and was named for Oakes Ames, a railroad financier and Massachusetts congressman. It became the seat of Iowa State University of Science and Technology, which was established in 1858 and formally opened in 1868. The university's College of Veterinary Medicine (1879) is the oldest in the United States. The National Animal Disease Center (1961), the Ames Laboratory (1942), and other federal and state institutions are in the city. There is some light industry. Inc. town, 1870; city, 1893. Pop. (1994 est.) 46,562.