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History · Alvord

Alvord’s post office opened in 1890, and 48% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1900.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
48%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Alvord began

When was Alvord founded?

1890

The Alvord post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 249 in 19002020 census: 206136 years
Founding year: the first Alvord post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Alvord’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 Alvord are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 359 in 1920; 206 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Alvord’s homes were built before 1942.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Alvord’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Alvord’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
People over time

Alvord, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 359

Peaked at 359 in 1920; 206 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Alvord’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Alvord, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Alvord yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Alvord is a city in Doon Township, Lyon County, Iowa, United States. The population was 206 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1890. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 196 to 206 (+5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Alvord, 1890 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Alvord post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 359
  5. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Alvord, decade by decade

Today2 recent
AlvordIowaPopPlot2021AlvordIowaPopPlotIAMap-doton-Alvord2004IAMap-doton-Alvord
On the map

Alvord on the map, 1971 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Alvord. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Alvord on the 1971 USGS mapAlvord on the 1985 USGS map1971Alvord sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Alvord.

Questions about Alvord’s history

What year was Alvord founded?

The Alvord post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.