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Burr Oak Savings BankBurr Oak Savings Bank · Photo: Jonathunder · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Burr Oak

Burr Oak’s post office opened in 1853, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Burr Oak House/Masters Hotel, the Kinney Octagon Barn and the Burr Oak Savings Bank. Below: maps from 1906 on and old-book passages.

1853first post office
3on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Burr Oak began

When was Burr Oak founded?

1853

The Burr Oak post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 171173 years
Founding year: the first Burr Oak post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Burr Oak’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 Burr Oak are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19063 editions of the USGS map, 1906 to 1981. Watch Burr Oak change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Burr Oak’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Burr Oak’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
On the map

Burr Oak on the map, 1906 to 1981

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

Burr Oak on the 1906 USGS mapBurr Oak on the 1975 USGS mapBurr Oak on the 1981 USGS map1906Decorah sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Burr Oak.

The story

How Burr Oak came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Burr Oak.

Read it all →

The village is one of the homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie books. Grace Ingalls, the youngest of the Ingalls children, was born there in 1877. There is a Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in the local Masters Hotel.

Hamlin Garland, noted American novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer, Georgist, and psychical researcher lived on a farm in Hesper Township, near Burr Oak during the 1870s.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Burr Oak in 1877

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

March 11, 1855, "Burr Oak Precinct" was divided, and the entire tier on the north line of the county was called Burr Oak. The remaining part of the precinct was named Canoe. At the same session of the county court, township 99, range 10, was set off and given the name of Pilot Grove.
History of Winneshiek county with biographical sketches of its eminent men1877 · page 34Read the page →
Read the text

March 11, 1855, "Burr Oak Precinct" was divided, and the entire tier on the north line of the county was called Burr Oak. The remaining part of the precinct was named Canoe. At the same session of the county court, township 99, range 10, was set off and given the name of Pilot Grove.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
completed, was opened for the entertainment of man and beast, and the village had a hotel. It was not large, but in those days it was thought to be 'a good one.* "In 1852, George Crawford, who afterwards went to Burr Oak Springs, — another defunct town of early promise — became a member ot the comm…
History of Winneshiek county with biographical sketches of its eminent men1877 · page 104Read the page →
Read the text

completed, was opened for the entertainment of man and beast, and the village had a hotel. It was not large, but in those days it was thought to be 'a good one.* "In 1852, George Crawford, who afterwards went to Burr Oak Springs, — another defunct town of early promise — became a member ot the community. He was, likewise, a Canadian, and brought goods, mostly cloths, with him. He was a tailor by trade, and did a thriving business, which soon required the aid of a journeyman. He soon added groceries

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

Burr Oak, 1853 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1853Post officeThe Burr Oak post office opens
  3. 1877Born hereGrace Ingalls is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1906On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1985Post officeThe Burr Oak post office closes
By decade

Burr Oak, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Burr Oak, Iowa2024Burr Oak, Iowa
On the National Register

3 historic places in Burr Oak

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
Burr Oak House/Masters Hotel
Burr Oak House/Masters HotelBurr Oak Savings Bank
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Greek Revival1
Italianate1
Burr Oak House/Masters HotelVernacular
Kinney Octagon BarnBuilding
Burr Oak Savings BankItalianate

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Burr Oak had its own post office from 1853 to 1985.

Burr Oak
1853–1985
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Burr Oak Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Burr Oak
Burr Oak

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

Questions about Burr Oak’s history

What year was Burr Oak founded?

The Burr Oak post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Burr Oak?

Three places: the Burr Oak House/Masters Hotel (listed 1983), the Kinney Octagon Barn (1986) and the Burr Oak Savings Bank (2001).

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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.