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History · Decatur

Decatur’s post office opened in 1852

Most of Decatur was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1981 on, and the census since 1880.

1852first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Decatur’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Decatur began

When was Decatur founded?

1852

The Decatur post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 235 in 1880174 years
Founding year: the first Decatur post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Decatur’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 367 in 1900; 175 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Decatur’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDecatur, Raised Area: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Decatur, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 367

Peaked at 367 in 1900; 175 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Decatur came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Decatur.

Read it all →

Decatur was the first county seat of Decatur County, until 1853, when the seat was transferred to Leon.

In 2023, the city council had the city's name clarified through a vote in the regular city election (public measure) as previously there are documents calling it both Decatur and Decatur City. Upon the certification of that election in November 2023, the city is officially named the city of Decatur.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Decatur, 1887–1915

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

parties, aided by subscriptions along the line. The company was organized at Osceola in 1880 and the actual work of construction was begun in the spring of 1881. In 1882 the road was built south from Osceola to Decatur City, in Decatur County. There it stopped for some months, the officers of the c…
History of Decatur County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 217Read the page →
Read the text

parties, aided by subscriptions along the line. The company was organized at Osceola in 1880 and the actual work of construction was begun in the spring of 1881. In 1882 the road was built south from Osceola to Decatur City, in Decatur County. There it stopped for some months, the officers of the company apparently undecided Avhich way to go. Decatur Township contributed over twenty thousand dollars in tax, besides the subscriptions. The following year the road turned at a right angle and came to Leon, arriving October

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This explains why all the first settlers of Decatur County were in the southern portion. They were not supposed to be in Decatur County at all, but in the State of Missouri, and hence not trespassers upon Indian lands.
Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Decatur counties, Iowa1887 · page 712Read the page →
Read the text

This explains why all the first settlers of Decatur County were in the southern portion. They were not supposed to be in Decatur County at all, but in the State of Missouri, and hence not trespassers upon Indian lands.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
During this same year, 1882, the road was built south from Osceola to Decatur City, in Decatur County. There it stopped for some months, the officers of the company seeming undecided which way to go.
Biographical and historical record of Ringgold and Decatur counties, Iowa1887 · page 763Read the page →
Read the text

During this same year, 1882, the road was built south from Osceola to Decatur City, in Decatur County. There it stopped for some months, the officers of the company seeming undecided which way to go.

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

Decatur, 1852 to 1981

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1852Post officeThe Decatur post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 367
  5. 1937In the archiveDecatur, Raised Area
  6. 1981On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Decatur, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s1 item
Decatur, Raised Area1937Decatur, Raised Area
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
DecaturCityIowaCityPark2024DecaturCityIowaCityParkDecatur City park, aerial view2024Decatur City park, aerial viewDecatur CityIowaPopPlot2021Decatur CityIowaPopPlotDecatur Memorial Hospital2018Decatur Memorial HospitalIAMap-doton-Decatur2004IAMap-doton-Decatur
On the map

Decatur on the map in 1981

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Decatur.

Decatur on the 1981 USGS map1981Davis City 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 Decatur.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Decatur, Raised Area
Retake this viewDecatur, Raised Area, 1937

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Decatur’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

Decatur’s post office has been open since 1852.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Decatur City
Gone or out of use
Decatur Citylocale

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

Questions about Decatur’s history

What year was Decatur founded?

The Decatur post office opened in 1852, 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 →
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 (6), 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.