Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Billwhittaker (Uploads) · CC BY-SA 3.0Its Register listing is the Oakland, William, Round Barn. Below: maps from 1978 on and the census since 1880.
The Blairsburg post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Blairsburg’s history is told.
Peaked at 288 in 1980; 176 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Blairsburg’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Blairsburg yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Blairsburg is a city in Hamilton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 176 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1867. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 215 to 176 (-18%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Blairsburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
1871, and died September 11, 1873. The first five were natives of Illinois and the last named of Missouri. The father, who was a farmer, was for many years identified with the agricultural interests of Hamilton county, but he was living in Blairsburg at the time of his death, which occurred January 20, 1905. The mother passed away on March 12, 1900.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blairsburg. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Blairsburg.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Blairsburg itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Blairsburg post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Oakland, William, Round Barn (listed 1986).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.
2021
2019
2009
2004
