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History · Clio

Clio’s post office opened in 1855, and 64% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1964 on and the census since 1880.

1855first post office
0on the National Register
64%homes built before 1940
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Photo: PopePompus · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Clio began

When was Clio founded?

1855

The Clio post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 60 in 18802020 census: 67171 years
Founding year: the first Clio post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Clio’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 Clio are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Clio’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 299 in 1920; 67 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Clio’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clio’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Clio, in brief

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

Clio is a city in Wayne County, Iowa, United States. The population was 67 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1855. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 80 to 67 (-16%).

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

People over time

Clio, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 299

Peaked at 299 in 1920; 67 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clio’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Clio, 1855 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Clio post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 299
  5. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Clio, decade by decade

Today3 recent
ClioIowaBaseballClub2024ClioIowaBaseballClubClioIowaPopPlot2021ClioIowaPopPlotIAMap-doton-Clio2004IAMap-doton-Clio
On the map

Clio on the map, 1964 to 1981

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

Clio on the 1964 USGS mapClio on the 1981 USGS map1964Clio 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 Clio.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Clio’s post office has been open since 1855.

Gone or out of use
Clio Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Clio’s history

What year was Clio founded?

The Clio post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.