Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: maps from 1891 on and the census since 1880.
The Grand Mound post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Grand Mound’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grand Mound. 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 Grand Mound.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grand Mound.
The Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad was built through the town site in 1858, and a train station was built. Grand Mound was platted in 1866. Grand Mound was named for nearby Sand Mound; a recording error accounts for the error in spelling, which was never corrected. Legend has it, that it is the grandest of all mounds.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltFarmers and Merchants Savings Bank is builtThe 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.
Between 234 and 676 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grand Mound’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Grand Mound itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Grand Mound post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Three places: the Dugan's Saloon (listed 2001), the Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank (2001) and the Grand Mound Town Hall and Waterworks Historic District (2001).
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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