Jesse James Historic Site: The Site of the First Train Robbery

The Jesse James Historic Site is a mile and a half west of the small town of Adair, Iowa, and less than an hour from Des Moines. Today, it’s a quiet field, but it once made headlines across the nation, the site of Jesse James’s infamous July 21, 1873, train robbery.

In early July, the gang got wind that $75,000 in gold from Wyoming was to pass by Adair later that month. When the train was passing through, they removed a section of rail right before it was to pass over it. This caused the engine to plunge into a ditch and the rest of the train to topple over.

Two men, believed to be Jesse and Frank James, boarded the train and forced the guard to open the safe. To their surprise, they only found a couple of thousand dollars; the gold shipment had been delayed.

News of the robbery spread quickly. Telegrams were sent to Des Moines and Omaha. Soon, an Army posse was in pursuit of the gang, which had reached safe havens in Missouri.

Today, the Jesse James Historic Site marks the spot where the James-Younger Gang committed the robbery, cementing their place in Wild West lore. A small roadside monument and a historical marker that tells the story of the legendary robbery. To this day, the railroad runs right next to the site.

Standing there, surrounded by rolling Iowa farmland, it’s easy to imagine the clatter of iron wheels and the outlaws waiting in the moonlight. The heist is likely the first successful train robbery in the world, and it helped launch the legend of Jesse James—a figure both feared and romanticized.