OSKALOOSA

city, seat (1844) of Mahaska county, southeastern Iowa, U.S. It lies between the Des Moines and Skunk rivers, 58 miles (93 km) southeast of Des Moines. Settled by Quakers in 1843, it takes its name (meaning the last of the beautiful) from a wife of the Indian chief Osceola. Iowa's first coal was mined near there by Welsh miners in 1870; as the mines were depleted, the city gradually became an agricultural-trade centre. Manufacturing is mainly farm-based. Oskaloosa is the seat of William Penn College (1873), and Vennard College (1910) is at adjacent University Park. The Nelson Pioneer Farm and Craft Museum, centring on a family farmhouse (1853), is a national historic site. Lake Keomah State Park is 4.5 miles (7 km) east. Inc. 1853. Pop. (1990) 10,600; (1994 est.) 11,068.