The story
Read it all →How Akron came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Akron.
Akron was incorporated September 7, 1882. The town's name is a transfer from Akron, Ohio.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
BHistory
History · Akron
Akron’s post office opened in 1882, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Akron Opera House. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1908 on and old-book passages.
1882first post office
1on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
2famous people
Quick answers
How Akron began
When was Akron founded?
1882
The Akron post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Portlandville (1872), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 1,558144 years
How historic is Akron?
B
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Akron post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Akron’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Akron is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Akron’s overall grade.
Founding era1882, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194025.9% of homes (±4.6) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register1 listing, 5.9 per 10,000 residents · typical IA town 9.1 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 59%
NewerOlder
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Akron’s 5.9 sits near the middle of its state (48% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). 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 Akron’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Akron’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Akron’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Akron in 1917
Passages that mention Akron, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Plymouth County, Iowa1917Read the page →
Read the text
years before and had settled at Vermillion. This mutually agreeable partnership continued for two years, or until 1898, when Doctor Wooton recognized the possibilities of dental practice at the then rapidly growing little city of Akron and in that same year moved up to Akron, opened an office and has ever since been engaged in practice there, being now the oldest dentist in continuous practice in that city, as well as one of the oldest in Plymouth county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Plymouth County, Iowa1917Read the page →
Read the text
Wakeman disposed of some of his interests at Chatsworth and moved to Akron, where he bought a comfortable home, surrounded by six acres lying in the city limits, and has since then resided there. Before moving to Akron he had business interests there, having become a director of the First National Bank of that place at the time it was organized in 1904, and in 1908 was elected vice-president of the same, a position he since then has held. During .
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Akron, 1872 to 1984
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1872Post officeThe Portlandville post office opens
- 1882Post officeThe Portlandville post office closes
- 1882Post officeThe Akron post office opens
- 20th century
- 1908
In the archivePanoramic photograph of the principal street of - 1921
In the archiveHonor Guard - Akron, Iowa (1921) - 1946Born hereJay B. Stephens is born here
- 1984
Born hereKrystal Gabel is born here
By decade
Akron, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1900s–1920s4 items
1908
19081930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumToday2 recent
2008
2004Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewPanoramic photograph of the principal street of, 1908
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Akron’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in Akron
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2012
Akron Opera House
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Late 19th and early 20th Century Revivals1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →2 famous people were born in Akron
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Akron’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Portlandville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Portlandville
Akron
18701950today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Akron’s history
What year was Akron founded?
The Akron post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Akron rank for history?
Akron is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Akron?
One place: the Akron Opera House (listed 2012).
How old are the homes in Akron?
26% of Akron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1966.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.