Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns · #63 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Iowa Mutual Insurance Company Home Office. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1870.
DeWitt dates its founding to 1836 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, DeWitt is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #63 of 140 in Iowa. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 DeWitt’s 3.6 sits near the middle of its state (41% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how DeWitt’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of DeWitt. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of DeWitt.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveBirds eye view of the city of De Witt, Clinton Co., Iowa 1868
Born hereDanny Moeller is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveM.E. Church
In the archivePerkins Motel, De Witt, Iowa (87989)
Born hereCasey Kreiter is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of DeWitt.
DeWitt was platted in 1836. The city started under the name Vandenburg, but was later named after DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828), an early American politician who served as United States Senator and sixth Governor of New York.
Ralph Waldo Emerson gave a lyceum lecture at DeWitt in January 1866.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention DeWitt, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Methodist Episcopal people held services in DeWitt beginning in 1840. ‘Traveling preachers had a territory that extended from Maquoketa to Davenport. In 1850 a small church was erected and in 1851 there was what was called the DeWitt mission, embracing DeWitt, Lyons, Camanche, Center Grove, Buena Vista and Warren’s Settlement.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The township of Camanche began at the Mississippi River at the head of Beaver Island and extended west to where the city of DeWitt is now, then south to the Wapsie River which formed the county line. It included a part of Clinton, nearly all of Eden and part of DeWitt ‘Townships.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ship eighty-one north, range two and three east, and township eighty-two north, range two and three east, together with the fractional townships eighty north, range two and three east." This township included in its boundaries the majoi part of the present township of DeWitt and all of Orange, Olive, Welton and Berlin, as now mapped.
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.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on DeWitt’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 1,749 people in 1870 to 5,514 in 2020, 3 times over.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on DeWitt’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
DeWitt had its own post office from 1895 to 1935. Another post office, Vandenburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1836, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. DeWitt’s post office opened in 1842, and the census of 1870 counted 1,749 people here.
DeWitt is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns, #63 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.
One place: the Iowa Mutual Insurance Company Home Office (listed 2024).
17% of DeWitt’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.5 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1973.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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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