Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the George E. Stubbins House. Its Register listing is the George E. Stubbins House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1914 on, and old-book passages.
The Britt post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 58% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Britt is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Britt’s 5.3 sits near the middle of its state (46% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
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 Britt’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Britt yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Britt Township is one of sixteen townships in Hancock County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2000 census, its population was 2,293.
Its first post office opened in 1873. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,069 in 2010, 2,044 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Britt, cut from the printed page as they were published.
BRITT TOWNSHIP The civil township of Britt is identical witli Congressioiijil Township 96, Eange 25. The first settler in the townshif) was Tlioinas Clark, who was employed l)y the railroad as a section boss, lie located in what is now the town of Britt in April, 1873. Next came B. McMullcii, who built the first fraine iiouse in tlic township in 1874. Tln^ previous spring, however, McMullen had l)rok('n land on Section 27). H. S. Hasmusson located on the Britt site in March, 1875. Peter jind .1. .Icnson
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
PLATTING The plat of the village of Britt was filed for record at the county seat on June 20, 1878, by John T. Stoneman and William H. Lorimier, proprietors. John T. Stoneman surveyed the ground and named the site of the village as : the south fifty-five acres of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter and the south half of the southwest quarter of Section 28, Township 96 North, Range 25 West, all of the said tracts lying south of the Calmer branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
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.
In the archiveBritt, IA
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Britt. 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 Britt.
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 sheet.
1914Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Britt’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 Britt itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Britt post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Britt is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. 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.
One place: the George E. Stubbins House (listed 1999).
25% of Britt’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1959.
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).
From the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
