Council Bluffs’ post office opened in 1850, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns · #43 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
35 places in town are on the National Register, among them 2 National Historic Landmarks and six historic districts with 739 buildings between them. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
From Council Bluffs’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Council Bluffs began, and where its name came from
When was Council Bluffs founded?
1850
The Council Bluffs post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1854. Two smaller post offices, Kane (1848) and Lake Manawa (1889), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 2,011 in 18602020 census: 62,799176 years
How did Council Bluffs get its name?
Council Bluffs was named by Lewis and Clark for a bluff where they met the Otoe people on August 2, 1804.
How historic is Council Bluffs?
A−
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Council Bluffs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1854. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Council Bluffs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Council Bluffs is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #43 of 140 in Iowa. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Council Bluffs’ overall grade.
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 Council Bluffs’ 123 sits above most of its state (85% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 771 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1854 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 →
What stands out about Council Bluffs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Council Bluffs’s post office has been open since 1850. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Kane
1848–1852
Council Bluffs
1850–today
Lake Manawa
1889–1891
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bluff Acres Mobile Home ParkCountry Estates Mobile Home ParkGolden Spike Mobile Home ParkOverland Mobile Home ParkRegency of Iowa Mobile Home ParkWooded Lake Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Lake Manawa Post Officepost office
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Council Bluffs
Cedar LawnFairviewGraybillGreen ValleyMemorial ParkRidgewoodSaint JosephWalnut Hill
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first Council Bluff (which is singular) was on the Nebraska side of the river at Fort Atkinson, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of the city of Council Bluffs. It was named by Lewis and Clark for a bluff where they met the Otoe people on August 2, 1804.
The Iowa side of the river became an Indian Reservation in the 1830s for members of the Council of Three Fires of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi who were forced to leave the Chicago area under the Treaty of Chicago. This cleared the way for the city of Chicago to incorporate.
Passages that mention Council Bluffs, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 19071907 · page 16Read the page →
Read the text
In the summer of '54 the original town of Council Bluffs was surveyed, platted and recorded by Mr. Thomas Tostevin, who later filled the important offices of county surveyor, city engineer, county treasurer and mayor of the city, and died August, 1905, at the age of seventy -six years. In 1853 the name of the postoffice was changed to conform with that of the city. And in the same year the United States land office was opened and -peculators (lucked in armed with sacks of gold and silver, land warrants and revolvers.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 19071907 · page 207Read the page →
Read the text
Buck Townsend arrived in the fall of 1855 and laid out the town of Wooster in section 21 in the winter of 1855-56, and opened a store on the town site. Samuel Perrin of Council Bluffs was the surveyor who laid off the town of Wooster for Townsend. The original proprietors were Townsend, Samuel Knepper and Dr. S. M.
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
Council Bluffs, 1823 to 1928
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Council Bluffs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1956Council Bluffs North 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 Council Bluffs.
Every building
Council Bluffs, building by building, 1885–1896
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.
The Council Bluffs post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1854.
How does Council Bluffs rank for history?
Council Bluffs is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns, #43 of 140 in Iowa. 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.
What is on the National Register in Council Bluffs?
35 listings, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks: 26 buildings, among them the Pottawattamie County Jail and Sheriff’s Residence (a National Historic Landmark since 2023) and the Grenville M. Dodge House (listed 1966, the first), 6 historic districts with 739 contributing buildings, and 1 object. 771 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Council Bluffs?
27% of Council Bluffs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (33), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
1908
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