The Cedar Rapids and Burlington Railway Company built a rail line through the Louisa County communities of Morning Sun, Wapello, Bard, and Columbus Junction circa 1869.[2]
Bard became one of 17 villages in the county, with Louisa County historian Arthur Springer in 1912 writing, "The county now has Wapello, Columbus Junction, Morning Sun, Columbus City, Oakville, Grandview, Lettsville, Cotter or Cotterville, Wyman, Cairo, Fredonia, Elrick Junction, Toolsboro, Marsh, Gladwin, Newport and Bard, being seventeen in all."[3] The Bard post office began operations in 1876.[4]
^Bauer, Nancy (September 21, 1977). "Louisa's development follows the railroad". Muscatine Journal. p. 3. Retrieved November 25, 2022. Later purchased in 1902 by the Rock Island Line, it went from Burlington through the Louisa County towns of Morning Sun, Wapello, Bard, and Columbus Junction."