Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Calmar Passenger Depot. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1880.
Calmar dates its founding to 1854 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
Calmar was named after Calmar, today spelled Kalmar, a city in Sweden.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Calmar is more historic than 67% 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 Calmar’s 10.3 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Calmar’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Calmar. 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 Calmar.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Calmar.
Calmar was platted in 1854. It was named after Calmar, today spelled Kalmar, a city in Sweden.
The settlement experienced growth in 1868 when the railroad was built through it. Calmar was incorporated on July 14, 1869.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Calmar, cut from the printed page as they were published.
mon to small country towns, for a number of years. The place was slowly thriving, but nothing of importance occurred until the fall of 1864, at which time the track of the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway was laid into and past Calmar. No depot was built here, and no side track put down, and the people were quite despondent at the prospect of being totally ignored by the railroad company, and having their village passed by with no more notice than if it had been a straw stack. Conover, three miles further west, was the terminus of the road for the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
" In the year 1869, under the provisions of the Municipal Incorporation Act, Chapter 51, Revised Statutes of i860, Calmar was made an incorporated town, and was duly organized by the election of municipal officers in March, 1870. John Scott was elected Mayor, and was reelected in 187 1. In 1872 John W. Tower was elected Mayor, and in 1873-4 the citizens chose S. V. Potter to fill that office. In 1875 the mande was worn by A. E. Manchester, and E. Pennington is the present incumbent. Since the incorporation of the town, several miles of side-
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe 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.
Between 617 and 1,125 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Calmar’s Wikipedia page.
In 1854, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Calmar’s post office opened in 1855, and the census of 1880 counted 617 people here.
Calmar is more historic than 67% 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 Calmar Passenger Depot (listed 2011).
33% of Calmar’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.9 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1968.
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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
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