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History · Gladbrook

Gladbrook’s post office opened in 1880, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1890.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Gladbrook began

When was Gladbrook founded?

1880

The Gladbrook post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 556 in 18902020 census: 799146 years
Founding year: the first Gladbrook post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Gladbrook’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 Gladbrook are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Gladbrook’s homes were built before 1945.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gladbrook’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gladbrook’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

How Gladbrook came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Gladbrook.

Read it all →

A post office called Gladbrook has been in operation since 1880. The name Gladbrook was coined by a railroad official.

On March 21, 1910, the Green Mountain train wreck occurred between Gladbrook and Green Mountain, in which a derailment killed more than 50 people riding on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad line.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Gladbrook in 1883

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

(juarter of section 9. October 29, 1878, he sold his farm to W. F. Johnston and Leander Clark, who laid out the town of Gladbrook thereon. In the spring of 1880, Mr. Shultz engaged in the stock business at Garwin and followed this until June, 1880, when he came to Gladbrook and erected the store bu…
History of Tama County, Iowa, together with sketches of their towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history ... and biographies of representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races,1883 · page 936Read the page →
Read the text

(juarter of section 9. October 29, 1878, he sold his farm to W. F. Johnston and Leander Clark, who laid out the town of Gladbrook thereon. In the spring of 1880, Mr. Shultz engaged in the stock business at Garwin and followed this until June, 1880, when he came to Gladbrook and erected the store building now occupied

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

Gladbrook, 1880 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Gladbrook post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1918Born hereClifford Berry is born here
  5. 1944Born hereJohn Putney is born here
  6. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Gladbrook, decade by decade

Today5 recent
GladbrookIowaPopPlot2021GladbrookIowaPopPlotUntitled photo2021Untitled photoUntitled photo2014Untitled photoMatchstick Marvels Museum2006Matchstick Marvels MuseumIAMap-doton-Gladbrook2004IAMap-doton-Gladbrook
On the map

Gladbrook on the map, 1971 to 1980

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

Gladbrook on the 1971 USGS mapGladbrook on the 1980 USGS map1971Gladbrook 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 Gladbrook.

People over time

Gladbrook, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,015

Between 556 and 1,015 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Gladbrook

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
C
Clifford BerryAmerican computer scientist · b. 1918
J
John PutneyAmerican politician · b. 1944
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Gladbrook’s post office has been open since 1880.

Gone or out of use
Gladbrooklocale

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

Questions about Gladbrook’s history

What year was Gladbrook founded?

The Gladbrook post office opened in 1880, 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 (5), 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.