Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Alta

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Alta

Alta’s post office opened in 1871, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Danish Lutheran Church.

1871first post office
1on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Alta began

When was Alta founded?

1871

The Alta post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1872.

2020 census: 2,087155 years

How historic is Alta?

B−

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Alta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1872.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Alta’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Alta is more historic than 50% 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 Alta’s overall grade.
Founding era1871, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194017.9% of homes (±4.0) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+National Register1 listing, 4.4 per 10,000 residents · typical IA town 9.1 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 50%
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 Alta’s 4.4 sits near the middle of its state (44% 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 (±4.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1872 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

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 Alta’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Alta are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Alta’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Alta’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Alta came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Alta.

Read it all →

Alta was platted in 1872, and it was incorporated in 1878. By 1882, Alta contained three general stores, two drug stores, two grocery stores, a shoe store, two hardware stores, a meat market, two lumber dealers, two agriculture implement dealers, a bank, two furniture stores, a clothing store, a barber shop, two saloons, a music store, two jewelry stores, a restaurant, four blacksmiths, two elevators, and a gristmill.

Halvor H. Peterson (1831–1917), Wisconsin State Assemblyman and farmer, lived in Alta.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Alta, 1871 to 1920

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Alta post office opens
  3. 1876Born hereGeorge Alfred Carlson is born here
  4. 1887BuiltDanish Lutheran Church is built
  5. 1898Born hereRuth Hamilton is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1920Born hereMildred Hope Fisher Wood is born here
By decade

Alta, decade by decade

Today2 recent
AltaIowaPopPlot2021AltaIowaPopPlotIAMap-doton-Alta2004IAMap-doton-Alta
On the National Register

1 historic place in Alta

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
2011
Danish Lutheran Church
Danish Lutheran Church, built 1887
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian Gothic1
All 1 listings
Danish Lutheran ChurchBuilding · listed 2011

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Alta

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
George Alfred CarlsonAmerican politician (1876–1926); Governor of Co… · b. 1876
M
Mildred Hope Fisher WoodAmerican special education teacher · b. 1920
R
Ruth HamiltonAmerican politician · b. 1898

Questions about Alta’s history

What year was Alta founded?

The Alta post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1872.

How does Alta rank for history?

Alta is more historic than 50% 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 Alta?

One place: the Danish Lutheran Church (listed 2011).

How old are the homes in Alta?

18% of Alta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1965.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.