Siam, Iowa
Siam is an unincorporated community in Polk Township, Taylor County, Iowa, and was the township's first settlement. It is not known where the name Siam came from.
History
Siam's original name was Buchanan, for President James Buchanan, and was platted in 1856. A post office was established in 1860, but because Buchanan had already taken the name Siam was used, the post office continued until either 1903 or 1906. The town of Siam never received a railroad and did not grow to the size its founders anticipated, yet it thrived in the 1860s and 1870s.Siam's original school was a log two-story house from 1858 to 1889, with the advanced grades above and the lower grades below. A two-room school was erected in 1889 and was used until 1961, when the New Market Community School District consolidated with the Siam school. Telephone lines were installed in 1903, and electricity arrived in 1948. In 1989, the community still had a community hall, a masonic temple, a couple of businesses, and a church.
The population was 40 in 1940. The population in 1989 was roughly 15. Today, only the church remains and shares a minister with a church in New Market.