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History · Graettinger

Graettinger’s post office opened in 1884, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: old-book passages.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Graettinger began

When was Graettinger founded?

1884

The Graettinger post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 832142 years
Founding year: the first Graettinger post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Graettinger’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 Graettinger are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Graettinger’s homes were built before 1957.
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Start Graettinger’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Graettinger’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Graettinger came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Graettinger.

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Graettinger got its start in the 1880s, following construction of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway through that territory. The land was originally owned by Dr. Alois Graettinger, a German physician who had immigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He gave the land to the railway under the condition that the town were to be named after him. Members of the Graettinger family still live in the town. They are descendants of Dr. Graettinger's brother, Blasius, who was a stone cutter by trade but moved to Iowa to farm.

ChaptersAbout Dr. Alois Graettinger

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Graettinger in 1910

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

school. The next year a floor was added, but no shingles on the roof. The present school house was constructed in 1898. Many other stores, houses and business places of all kinds have been added to Graettinger until at present it is a growing town and has the reputation of shipping more freight ove…
History of Palo Alto county, Iowa1910 · page 151Read the page →
Read the text

school. The next year a floor was added, but no shingles on the roof. The present school house was constructed in 1898. Many other stores, houses and business places of all kinds have been added to Graettinger until at present it is a growing town and has the reputation of shipping more freight over the railroad than any other town of its size in Iowa.

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.

By decade

Graettinger, decade by decade

Today2 recent
GraettingerIowaPopPlot2021GraettingerIowaPopPlotIAMap-doton-Graettinger2004IAMap-doton-Graettinger

Questions about Graettinger’s history

What year was Graettinger founded?

The Graettinger post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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 (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.