The story
Read it all →How Early came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Early.
Early was incorporated on May 22, 1883, and is named after D.C. Early, a local settler.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Early
Early’s post office opened in 1877, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1980 on, and the census since 1890.
1877first post office
0on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Quick answers
How Early began
When was Early founded?
1877
The Early post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 277 in 18902020 census: 587149 years
Founding year: the first Early post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Early’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Early’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Early’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Early, census by census
Peaked at 824 in 1960; 587 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Early’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Early in 1878
Passages that mention Early, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Fayette County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of the No1878 · page 344Read the page →
Read the text
Early in October, Mr. Rogers commenced building the first house on the town plat, on Block 17. It was built of hewed logs, 18x26 feet, one and one-half stories, and was finished and occupied by Mr. Rogers and his family December 25, 1849. The roof was covered with long shingles, and lumber was hauled from Elkader for the floors.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Appanoose County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prom1878 · page 381Read the page →
Read the text
Early in November, 1866, while a singing-school was in progress one evening, a little way south of where Moulton now stands, two horses which had been ridden to the school, were stolen. One was owned by Elder Jordan, of Orleans, and the other by Mr. Adams.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Fayette County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of the No1878 · page 376Read the page →
Read the text
Early in the Fall of 1855, Rev. Mr. Thompson, with his family, came to Township 94 north. Range 10 west, near where Bethel Post Office now is, and commenced to build a house and make a farm. His family consisted of four sons and one daughter. One morning, Mr. Thompson, with his son, a boy about 12 or 13 years of age, started for Hickory Grove, about two miles north of his farm, to secure timber for a cattle shed. They had loaded their wagon and started for home about noon or shortly after. At this time, a prairie fire was raging, and, it being late in the Fall, the grass was tall and dry, and made
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
Early, 1877 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1877Post officeThe Early post office opens
- 20th century
- 1910
In the archiveEarly Iowa Jan 1910 - 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 824
- 1980
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Early, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1910s1 item
1920s–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
2021
2012
2010
2004On the map
Early on the map in 1980
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Early.
1980Early sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Early.
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.
Retake this viewEarly Iowa Jan 1910, 1910
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Early’s page.
Retake this view · +15Places that used to be
Places now gone
Early’s post office has been open since 1877.
Gone or out of use
Earlylocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Early’s history
What year was Early founded?
The Early post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), 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.