The weird story of Carter Lake, an Iowa city that’s actually in Nebraska.

The western border of the state of Iowa is the Missouri River, but the city of Carter Lake sits on the western side of the Missouri River, in other words, not in Iowa, but in Nebraska. It goes back to a flood in 1877. It was so catastrophic that it redirected the river’s course more than a mile southeast. That cut off a section of river (and river valley) called Saratoga Bend. It was converted into a U-shaped lake and became a settlement called Carter Lake. Because it was right on the river, it became a popular area for recreation, with clubs, hotels, boathouses, and fishing.

Popular recreational areas bring in a lot of money…and a lot of taxes. Naturally, Iowa and Nebraska fought over the rights to the township of Carter Lake. Iowa had a claim to the city because it had historically been in Iowa, while Nebraska could claim it as its own because it was currently in Nebraska.

After several court cases, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1892 that Carter Lake was property of Iowa, ruling that although state boundaries tied to rivers must necessarily change as the rivers change, there was an exception when a river lost one of its bends.

But that didn’t end the disputes. Carter Lake fell under the jurisdiction of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and paid city taxes, but often didn’t receive access to the services those taxes paid for. So, the city voted in the early 1920s to secede from Council Bluffs, and all of Iowa, in order to join Omaha, Nebraska, which had grown to surround Carter Lake on three sides. The city government of Omaha, however, rejected the plan, because it didn’t want to extend its water or sewer lines. Ever since, Carter Lake has been its own city, in Iowa, but really in Nebraska.