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History · Grant

Grant’s post office opened in 1863, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 15 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1980 on, and the census since 1900.

1863first post office
1on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Grant’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Grant began

When was Grant founded?

1863

The Grant post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 249 in 19002020 census: 86163 years
Founding year: the first Grant post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Grant’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Grant’s homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Grant’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewNodaway River Bridge, Pilot Grove Count…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Grant came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Grant.

Read it all →

Grant is named for Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States. Its commercial district, which was developed from 1871 to 1952, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Grant, 1863 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1863Post officeThe Grant post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1927Born herePatricia Thompson-Woodworth is born here
  5. 1980On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Grant, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Nodaway River Bridge, Pilot Grove County Park (moved from Nodaway River)Date?Nodaway River Bridge, Pilot Grove County Park (moved …
Today4 recent
2022-09-11 16 24 12 Aerial view of northeastern Montgomery County, Iowa, centered on the city of20222022-09-11 16 24 12 Aerial view of northeastern Montg…GrantIowaPopPlot2021GrantIowaPopPlotGrant, IA2019Grant, IAIAMap-doton-Grant2004IAMap-doton-Grant
On the map

Grant on the map in 1980

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grant.

Grant on the 1980 USGS map1980Grant 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 Grant.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Nodaway River Bridge, Pilot Grove County Park (moved from Nodaway River)
Retake this viewNodaway River Bridge, Pilot Grove County Park (moved from Nodaway River)

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Grant’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 15 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
15
each building in a district counts
first listed
2002
Grant Commercial Historic District
Grant Commercial Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Italianate1
Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movement1
All 1 listings
Grant Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2002

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Grant, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 282

Between 86 and 282 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Grant’s post office has been open since 1863.

Gone or out of use
Grant Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Grant
GrantOld East

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

Questions about Grant’s history

What year was Grant founded?

The Grant post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Grant?

One place: the Grant Commercial Historic District (listed 2002).

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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.