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History · Deep River

Deep River’s post office opened in 1850, and 70% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters-Fire Station No. 1 and Shop Building. Below: maps from 1984 on and the census since 1890.

1850first post office
1on the National Register
70%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Deep River began

When was Deep River founded?

1850

The Deep River post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 291 in 18902020 census: 249176 years
Founding year: the first Deep River post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Deep River’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 Deep River are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Deep River’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 487 in 1920; 249 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Deep River’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Deep River, in brief

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

Deep River is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. It is also the name of the township which includes the city. The city population was 249 at the time of the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 279 to 249 (-11%).

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

People over time

Deep River, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 487

Peaked at 487 in 1920; 249 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Deep River in 1880

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

Deep River township is situated in the southeast corner of Poweshiek county, and is one of the most fertile and well cultivated in this region. Deep River, a small well timbered creek, flows through the "northern part, and numerous streams rise near the center and flow south.
The History of Poweshiek County, Iowa1880 · page 599Read the page →
Read the text

Deep River township is situated in the southeast corner of Poweshiek county, and is one of the most fertile and well cultivated in this region. Deep River, a small well timbered creek, flows through the "northern part, and numerous streams rise near the center and flow south.

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

Deep River, 1850 to 1984

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850Post officeThe Deep River post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 487
  5. 1943Born hereDavid Maxwell is born here
  6. 1984On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Deep River, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Welcome Sign2025Welcome SignCommunity Center2025Community CenterDeep RiverIowaPopPlot2021Deep RiverIowaPopPlotIAMap-doton-DeepRiver2004IAMap-doton-DeepRiver
On the map

Deep River on the map in 1984

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Deep River.

Deep River on the 1984 USGS map1984Grinnell sheet · 1:100,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Deep River.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Deep River

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2014
Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters-Fire St…
Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters-Fire Station No. 1 and Shop Building
Buildings
Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters-Fire Station No. 1 and Shop BuildingBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Deep River’s post office has been open since 1850.

Gone or out of use
Deep Riverlocale
1cemetery inside Deep River
Goldenrod

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

Questions about Deep River’s history

What year was Deep River founded?

The Deep River post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Deep River?

One place: the Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters-Fire Station No. 1 and Shop Building (listed 2014).

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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.