Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
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 Gowrie’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gowrie.
A post office called Gowrie has been in operation since 1871. The city was named after Gowrie, in Scotland.
Gowrie began as a stop on the railroad. It grew in its early years as the Swedish settlers built a local economy which served area farmers. Today, the town has a swimming pool, golf course, athletic stadium, and curb-and-gutter throughout the town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Gowrie, cut from the printed page as they were published.
This township was organized October 10th, 1871, and embraces township 86, north of range 30, west. Tlie first settler in the township, outside of the village of Gowrie,.was John Steinholm. Th('n> were no settlers in this township until the Des Moines & Fort Dodge railroad was built, and the village of Gowrie established. The township has but little history apart from the village. Quite a large emigration has come in during the past six montlis, and the township is settling up rapidly. There are two school-houses outside of tlie village, wliere schools are taught.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
two years. At the expiration of that period he aliandoned farming and went to Lehigh, Iowa, as an employe in the lilack Diamond coal mines. He spent one winter in this occupation and then remo\ed to Gowrie, where he worked on a section of the railroad during the summer. Leaving his family established in Gowrie Mr. Ciruver determined to try his fortunes as a trapper. He located his headquarters at Sibley, Osceola count}-, Iowa, and trajjped in thai section of the country for a few months. He had a short time pre\ ious to
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.
Born hereCarl A. Youngdale is born hereWriters, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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