Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1948 on and the census since 1910.
The Grandview post office opened in 1838, 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 Grandview’s history is told.
Peaked at 600 in 2000; 437 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grandview’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereMurray Wier is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Grandview.
Grandview was laid out in 1841 by Alvin Clark and Robert Childers.
Grandview was seriously affected by an EF3 tornado on June 1, 2007, which damaged or destroyed dozens of houses and impacted other parts of the city.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Grandview, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Springer's addition to Grandview. laid out by Francis Springer, surveyed by lohn Gilliland. Tune 7, 1843. It was laid out on land immediately south of the original town of Grandview. The part north of Monroe street which consists of six blocks containing six lots each, is said to be a part of the original plat as laid out by Clark and Childers.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
January 24, 1843, the legislature of Iowa passed an act incorporating a seminary of learning in Grandview, to be called the Grandview Seminary, and named as the incorporators, Henry Rockafellow, William Thompson, John Ronalds, Spencer Wilson, Robert Childres, Gabriel Walling, George Humphreys, Alexander Ross, Martin Gray and Clark Alexander. And in February. 1844, an act was passed incorporating the Grandview Literary & Philosophical Society, and naming as incorporators, Alexander McCall. Lewis Kinsey, Robert Childres, Spencer Wilson, Abraham McCleary.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grandview. 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 Grandview.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Grandview’s post office has been open since 1838.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Grandview post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (6), 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.
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