Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1850.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Boone’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Boone is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #57 of 140 in Iowa. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Boone’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 Boone’s 8.9 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 11 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% 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 (±4.9 points). Two sources give 1865.
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 Boone’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Boone’s post office has been open since 1871. Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Booneville
1850–1851
Boonesborough
1851–1893
Boone Station
1866–1866
Montana
1866–1871
Boone
1871–today
Boonesboro
1893–1902
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Boonesboro Post Officepost officeKFGQ-FM (Boone)tower
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Boone
LathamLinwood Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Boone, building by building, 1883–1916
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.
Coal mining played an important part in the early history of the Boone area. Local blacksmiths were already mining coal from the banks of Honey Creek south of what became Boone in 1849.
Boone was platted as a town in 1865 by John Insley Blair. It was incorporated the following year, when the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company railroad station was built there. The town was originally named "Montana"; it was renamed to Boone in 1871. The nearby town of Boonesboro was also chartered in 1866; Boonesboro was annexed to Boone in 1887. The present name is a tribute to Nathan Boone, son of explorer Daniel Boone.
Passages that mention Boone, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Boone County, Iowa, containing ... biographical sketches ... war records of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of the Northwest, history of Iowa, map of1880 · page 354Read the page →
Read the text
Ordered, That Boone River township, in Boone county, Iowa, shall be be bounded as follows, to-wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of Boone township, thence north with the east boundary of Boone county eight miles to the northeast corner of Boone county, thence west with the north boundary of said county twenty-four miles to the northwest corner of said county, thence south eight miles with the west boundary of said county to the northwest corner of Boone township, thence east twenty-four miles with the north boundary of Boone township to the place of beginning. Which also shall constitute a commissioners' district (No. 3) in said county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Boone County, Iowa, containing ... biographical sketches ... war records of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of the Northwest, history of Iowa, map of1880 · page 314Read the page →
Read the text
He followed the banking business in the old town until it became evident to his mind that the business would eventually be transferred to the new town of Boone, when he transferred his banking business and erected the elegant and commodious block in which the bank, with which he is now connected, is located. This was the finest brick block erected in the town of Boone. It is now, and is likely to remain, a building creditable to the enterprising town where it is situated. Ever since he embarked in the banking business Mr. McFarland has conducted his financial affairs with
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
lows: Emma, a graduate of a parochial school, formerly a teacher in Pmiouc and Ham])ton, for two years principal in Hampton and now a teacher in the high school of the Sisters of Charity at Lincoln; Jennie, who was a teacher in the Boone county schools, but is now a Sister of Charity in Chicago; .Mice, a graduate of Sacred Heart school and for some time a stenographer in Boone, who marrieil Paul Kelley, a conductor of the Xortliwestern Railroad; .Mary, educated in a local school conducted by the sisters, and now a stcnograiihcr employed by Means Brothers of Boone; Katharine, for a number of years a teacher in Boone couiUy ;
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
His birth occurred in Sweden on the 24th of May, i860, his parents being Olaf and Carrie (Olson) Tornell, who were likewise natrves of that country. They crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1865, locating in Webster county, Iowa, and a year later in Boone county, the father purchasing sixty acres of land on the present site of the town of Pilot Mound. He improved the property and operated it successfully until 1881, when he subdivided the tract into lots and laid out the town of Pilot Mound. Here he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in July, 1895. The period of his residence in this county covered nearly
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
Boone, 1850 to 1919
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
In 1865, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Boone’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1880 counted 3,330 people here.
How does Boone rank for history?
Boone is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #57 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 Boone?
10 listings: 10 buildings, among them the Boone County Courthouse (listed 1981, the first). 11 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Boone?
39% of Boone’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (10), 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.
![lows: Emma, a graduate of a parochial school, formerly a teacher in Pmiouc and Ham])ton, for two years principal in Hampton and now a teacher in the high school of the Sisters of Charity at Lincoln; Jennie, who was a teacher in the Boone county schools, but is now a Sister of Charity in Chicago; .M…](https://images.townratings.com/story/5954/bk-6dabae589e739903-l.jpg)
1907
