More historic than 5% of U.S. towns · #564 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Iona was built recently: 0.3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1990.
Founding year: the first Iona post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Iona’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Iona is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #564 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Iona’s overall grade.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Iona’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.5 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Iona’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Iona yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Iona is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 16,908 at the 2020 census, up from 15,404 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. A strong EF2 tornado struck the town on January 16, 2022, causing major damage and injuring three people.
Its first post office opened in 1907. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 15,369 to 16,908 (+10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Iona, 1907 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Iona post office opened in 1907, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Iona rank for history?
Iona is more historic than 5% of U.S. towns, #564 of 638 in Florida. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Iona?
0.3% of Iona’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1994.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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