Coggon was founded in 1857, and celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2007. The town's motto is "The One and Only." This is because Coggon, Iowa is the only town named Coggon in the whole world. Previously, the motto was "Some bigger, none better."
Coggon is most well known as the site of the 1953 tornado that damaged much of the northwest portion of the town. Coggon is home to The Coggon Rockets baseball and softball teams, which, in 2012 won the Coggon Little League Championship game and took home the title of best softball team west of the Wapsipinicon River.
Located in Coggan is Robert Kirkpatrick Round Barn, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Another handbook of the state, published by .1. G. Mills, of New York, in 1857, mentions tintowns set out in the handbook of a year previous and adds tin new town of much promise by the high-toned name of I'ans located in -laekson township, near the present town of Coggon. Few, if any. today can locate those villages and towns which sprang up from time to time over tlie county, and which long since have passed out of history and memory.
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his family and located on lands a little to the west of the present town of Coggon. A large number of the descendants of this family are still large property owners and respected and enterprising citizens of this township. E. L. Ware, Henry Thorp, G. C. Edgerly and many others purchased lands and settled here during these years. John Bruce in 1858 during the hard times had the courage to erect a stone grist mill on Buffalo creek at the present site of Coggon and this property later came into the possession of Amos Green who operated the mill till 1876. when he erected a frame structure. This mill was much appreciated by the settlers and
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Coggon, 1856 to 1909
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Coggon, census by census
Between 471 and 745 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Coggon’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Coggon’s history
What year was Coggon founded?
In 1857, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Coggon’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1900 counted 498 people here.
What is on the National Register in Coggon?
Two places: the Coggon Public School (listed 2016) and the Coggon Commercial Historic District (2019).
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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 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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