Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #37 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 62 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1870.
The Eldora post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eldora is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #37 of 140 in Iowa. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Eldora’s 248 sits above most of its state (95% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 65 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Eldora’s history is told.
The 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.
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Eldora.
Eldora was platted in 1853. It was incorporated on July 1, 1895.
The name Eldora was given to the town by a local mother in honor of her dead infant daughter. It is derived from the Spanish name for "the gilded".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Eldora, cut from the printed page as they were published.
township, were in the school house erected on the Conger farm, about two and a half miles southeast of the present town of Eldora, in the fall of 1853. Rev. J. It. Lowrance, a Cumberland Presbyterian, who had lately settled in the township, conducted the exercises and preached the discourse. There arc now in the township
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Her father lived in Philadelphia until his death. Mr. McElroy came to Hardin county in August, 1856, and bought land for a farm in the town of Eldora; his family came the following year. They lived on this farm for fifteen years, when they removed to the village of Eldora, where they have since lived. Mr. and Mrs.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveEldora Township with Eldora, Iowa, and Xenia, Iowa -1875BuiltHardin County Courthouse is built
Born hereStuart Buchanan is born here
Born hereGeorge Gardner Fagg is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2021EldoraIowaPopPlot
2016Rusted remains of a vintage tractor at the Hardin Cou…
2016Old farm truck at the Hardin County Farm Museum, a fa…
2016Large and well-maintained barn at the Hardin County F…
2016Vintage farming device at the Hardin County Farm Muse…
2016Old Caboose on display in
2016Eldora Public Library Building
2016CCC POW Recreation Hall NRHP 11001056 Hardin County, …
2015Hardin County IA Courthouse
2004IAMap-doton-EldoraEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Eldora. 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 Eldora.
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 Eldora’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 3,553 in 1940; 2,663 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Eldora’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Eldora’s post office has been open since 1853.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Eldora post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Eldora is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #37 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Hardin County Courthouse (listed 1981, the first), and 1 historic district, the Eldora Downtown Historic District, with 62 contributing buildings. 65 historic buildings in all.
33% of Eldora’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
