Panora, established in 1851, is the oldest community in Guthrie County, Iowa. Located in eastern Guthrie County along the Western Skies Scenic Byway and the old Milwaukee Railway, now the Raccoon River Valley Recreational Trail, it was the original county seat and later the site of Guthrie County High School. Lenon Mill, once on the banks of the Middle Raccoon River, was built in 1861-62 as a woolen mill and converted to flour in 1877; one original grinding stone remains at the old mill site. Panora is also known for the natural setting of the Middle Raccoon River Valley and for a historic downtown district with a town square gazebo, shops, bars, and restaurants. Its railroad history began in 1881 with the Des Moines and Northwestern Railroad, a narrow gauge line owned by Fredrick M. Hubbell of Des Moines that ran from Des Moines through Panora to Fonda for 113.8 miles, the longest such line in Iowa. About a decade later it became part of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad, or Milwaukee Road, and was widened to standard gauge. Passenger service ended in 1952, freight service continued for another 35 years, and rail service ceased during the farm crisis of the mid-1980s. In late 1987, the Central Iowa Energy Cooperative purchased the right-of-way, and in 1987 it joined the Iowa Trails Council and the conservation boards of Dallas and Guthrie Counties to develop a multi-use trail. The first section of the Raccoon River Valley Trail opened on Oct. 7, 1989, from Waukee to Yale, and later additions and extensions in 1997, 1999, 2007, and 2012 expanded the system and completed the loop from Waukee to Herndon.