Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1880.
The Bristow post office opened in 1876, 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 Bristow’s history is told.
Peaked at 318 in 1940; 145 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bristow’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bristow yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bristow is a city in Butler County, Iowa, United States. The population was 145 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1876. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 160 to 145 (-9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Bristow, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the town of Bristow. The township is now thickly settled by a progressive class of farmers whose industry and energy are second to none in the state. The township takes its name from the town of Benuezette, Pennsylvania, the native home of William P. Woodworth and Samuel Overturf, who were pioneers here.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
during part of the year 1873 and the Butler County Standard, established by J. B. Adams in 1876, at Greene, lived precariously about four years and was then moved to Rockford, Iowa. Bristow had a paper in 1878, known as the Bristow Dial. A Mr. Morgan was the founder. He sold to J. 0. Stewart. In 1880 the plant was taken to Sumner, in Bremer county.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bristow. 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 Bristow.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Bristow post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (2), 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 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
2004