Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bradford

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
Reeve Electric Association PlantReeve Electric Association Plant · Photo: Ann Sullivan-Larson · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Bradford

Bradford dates to 1906, and 86% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1979 on and old-book passages.

1906founded
0on the National Register
86%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bradford began

When was Bradford founded?

1906

Bradford dates its founding to 1906 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1907.

2020 census: 84120 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1907.

What stands out about Bradford’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 Bradford are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Bradford’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bradford’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bradford’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 so far

Bradford, in brief

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

Bradford is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Franklin County, Iowa, United States. Its population was 84 as of the 2020 census. Bradford was platted in 1906. The population was 100 in 1940.

Bradford was established in 1906. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 99 to 84 (-15%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Bradford in 1914

Passages that mention Bradford, cut from the printed page as they were published.

BRADFORD Bradford is the latest town to seek recognition as a trading point in Franklin county. It was laid out and platted November 19, 1906, by the Bradford Town Site Company, of which G. A. W. Dodge was president, and J. W. Souder, secretary.
History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement1914 · page 315Read the page →
Read the text

BRADFORD Bradford is the latest town to seek recognition as a trading point in Franklin county. It was laid out and platted November 19, 1906, by the Bradford Town Site Company, of which G. A. W. Dodge was president, and J. W. Souder, secretary.

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

Bradford, 1906 to 1979

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1906
    FoundingBradford is established
  3. 1907Post officeThe Bradford post office opens
  4. 1979On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Bradford on the map, 1979 to 1984

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

Bradford on the 1979 USGS mapBradford on the 1984 USGS map1979Hampton South 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 Bradford.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Bradford’s post office has been open since 1907.

Gone or out of use
Bradford Schoolschool

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Bradford’s history

What year was Bradford founded?

In 1906, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bradford’s post office opened in 1907.

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.