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History · Gilmore City

Gilmore City’s post office opened in 1882, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1979 on, and the census since 1900.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Gilmore City began

When was Gilmore City founded?

1882

The Gilmore City post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Blooming Prairie (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 687 in 19002020 census: 487144 years
Founding year: the first Gilmore City post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Gilmore City’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 919 in 1920; 487 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Gilmore City’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gilmore City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gilmore City’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 viewGilmore Locker Coke sign, Main Street: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Gilmore City, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 919

Peaked at 919 in 1920; 487 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Gilmore City came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gilmore City.

Read it all →

Gilmore City was platted in 1884, not long after the railroad had been built through that territory in 1882.

Gilmore City was originally known as Blooming Prairie. The name was changed to Gilmore City in the early 1880s. The city was named for Charles N. Gilmore. Gilmore was the superintendent of the Fort Dodge & Des Moines rail line and later became division superintendent after the road was leased by the Rock Island Railway Company. Gilmore died in Des Moines on April 5, 1912. He is buried in Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa. The community was incorporated on April 16, 1887.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Gilmore City, 1878 to 1987

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Blooming Prairie post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Blooming Prairie post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Gilmore City post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 919
  7. 1979On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1987In the archiveGilmore Locker Coke sign, Main Street
By decade

Gilmore City, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s2 items
Gilmore Locker Coke sign, Main Street1987Gilmore Locker Coke sign, Main StreetMasonic sign1987Masonic sign
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
Today4 recent
Gilmore CityIowaPopPlot2021Gilmore CityIowaPopPlotGilmore City, Iowa 0022018Gilmore City, Iowa 002Gilmore City, Iowa 0012018Gilmore City, Iowa 001IAMap-doton-GilmoreCity2004IAMap-doton-GilmoreCity
On the map

Gilmore City on the map, 1979 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gilmore City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Gilmore City on the 1979 USGS mapGilmore City on the 1984 USGS map1979Gilmore 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 Gilmore City.

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.

Gilmore Locker Coke sign, Main Street
Retake this viewGilmore Locker Coke sign, Main Street, 1987

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Gilmore City’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Blooming Prairie, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Blooming Prairie
1878–1882
Gilmore City
1882–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Stein's Rockin R Mobile Home Park

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

Questions about Gilmore City’s history

What year was Gilmore City founded?

The Gilmore City post office opened in 1882, 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.