a carnival, beer garden, and several other events. Museums The Hume-Carnegie Museum showcases artifacts of local history, including items manufactured in Mendota and a small collection pertaining to Wild Bill Hickok, who was born in nearby Troy Grove. It is located in a former Carnegie library building in Veteran's Park. The Union Depot Railroad Museum houses the current Amtrak station, several rooms of vintage railroad artifacts, passenger train cars from the 1930s and 1940s. It is also home to CB&Q No. 4978, a 2-8-2 class Locomotive built in September 1923 by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The Breaking the Prairie Museum is a small barn replica showcasing a rotating display with one large item (a vintage tractor or large item of farm husbandry) and several smaller items. Adjacent to the barn is "The Country Chapel", a small church which is owned by the museum. Completed in 2004, it houses a restored pump organ from the 1880s. It is closed to the public, however special tours can be arranged by contacting the Mendota Historical Society Office. Parks and recreation The city has two man made lakes, Lake Mendota and Lake Kakusha, used for boating and fishing. Mendota also maintains a community swimming pool as well as several parks including Snyders Grove, a reserve/park. Education Mendota has four public schools and one private school. The three public grade schools: Blackstone, Lincoln, and Northbrook are part of Mendota Consolidated Community School District 289; while the Mendota Township High School is district 280. Blackstone School houses kindergarten and first grade, and had an enrollment of 271 students in 2010. Lincoln School houses second through fourth grades, and had a student enrollment of 391 in 2010. Northbrook School is home to the fifth through eighth grades, as well as pre-kindergarten; and had an enrollment of 644 in 2010. The student enrollment of the high school in 2010 was 611 students. A new high school facility was built in 2002 at 2300 Main Street (U.S. Route 52). Holy Cross Roman Catholic Parish has a private school which educates students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Aurora University was originally chartered as Mendota College on the north side of Mendota where the high school was located from 1917 to 2003. Wartburg College (now located in Waverly, Iowa) was located in Mendota from 1875 to 1885. Media Mendota has one weekly newspaper, The Mendota Reporter Mendota has two commercialized radio stations.