Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1856.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Algona’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Algona is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #83 of 140 in Iowa. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Algona’s overall grade.
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 Algona’s 9.3 sits near the middle of its state (56% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 points). Two sources give 1854.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Algona’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Algona was founded in 1854 and was named after the Algonquian word for "Algonquin waters".
Between 1869 and 1875 the community was the location of Algona College, an institution sponsored by the Methodist Church.
In 1894, Algona, along with other Iowa communities such as Dysart and Wesley, became part of the project known as the "Orphan Trains". As New York City saw booming immigration, it also inevitably saw a rise in the number of orphans in its asylums. Unable to provide adequate care for them, it saw fit to ship nearly 100,000 westward to start a new life with families across America. Algona itself welcomed nearly 100 orphans into the town, many of whom remained lifelong residents.
Passages that mention Algona, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Kossuth County, Iowa1913 · page 213Read the page →
Read the text
ships at the close of this volume. The word "settlement" was seldom applied to places in this county prior to the close of the war. All were classed as belonging to the river settlement as a whole; but that settlement was considered as being divided into three sections before even the town sites of Algona, Irvington and Cresco were platted, and the terms Black Cat and Plum Creek had come into general use. The "upper country" at first meant, especially to those in the south end of the county, the timbered country from the proposed Algona town site to the mouth of the Buffalo Fork, but later that term was applied to the region
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
One Bridge on the Road leading from Algona to Spirit Lake, where said road crosses the Des Moines River, at or near Call's Mill, in Algona Township (the "Blackford Bridge") ; said Bridges are not to exceed in cost One thousand dollars each.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors. — When the Clerk was requested to proceed to the sale of the building of the two Bridges, heretofore published and specified, to the lowest bidder, which request being complied \\ ith, the bridge to he built in Algona Township, at or near Call's Mill, was bill off to Orange Minlder, Esq., of Algona, to be completed for the sum of S/40.00, and the bridge to be built in Irvington Township, at or near Treat's Mill, was bid off to Samuel Reed, Esq., of Irvington Township, to be completed for the sum of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Kossuth County, Iowa1913 · page 116Read the page →
Read the text
The two Call brothers were awarded contracts for carrying the mail between Algona and four places. Their services began July 1, 1858, but the work of making the delivery to and from the points was done by those whom they hired for the purpose or to whom they sublet the contracts. The routes from Algona to Spirit Lake and from Algona to Fort Dodge fell to the supervision of Ambrose, while the judge had the contract for the routes between Algona and Blue Earth and Algona and Mason City. These brothers were the first contractors in the county for carrying the government mail. They
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
Algona, 1854 to 1982
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Algona, census by census
Between 860 and 6,289 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Algona’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Old burying grounds
Algona’s post office has been open since 1856.
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Algona
CalvaryEast LawnRiverview
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Algona’s history
What year was Algona founded?
In 1854, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Algona’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1870 counted 860 people here.
How does Algona rank for history?
Algona is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #83 of 140 in Iowa. 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 Algona?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the William C. and Hertha Dau House (listed 1993, the first). 5 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Algona?
22% of Algona’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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