6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 38 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1875 on and old-book passages.
Founding year: the first Greenfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Greenfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Greenfield is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Greenfield’s overall grade.
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Greenfield’s 232 sits above most of its state (95% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 44 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Greenfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area surrounding Greenfield was settled in 1854. The plan for the town of Greenfield was designed in 1856, after Milton C. Munger purchased the land that the town would be built on. Munger is responsible for the design of Greenfield's unique Lancaster-style town square, and the city park located at Grant and NE Second Street was also included in the original plat. Greenfield is named after Greenfield, Massachusetts. Greenfield became the county seat in 1875, after battling out nearby Fontanelle for the title. The city was incorporated on May 22, 1876.
Passages that mention Greenfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 85Read the page →
Read the text
field, acquiring extensive holdings in the eastern part of the town, while subsequently he built on the farm where the fair grounds are now located. He owned this property and resided thereon until 1880, when he disposed of the farm and moved back into the town of Greenfield, there passing away at the age of eightyeight or eighty-nine years. His wife was in her ninetieth year when called to licr final rest. D. M. Priddy served as justice of the peace iij Greenfield for many years and enjoyed an extensive and favorable acquaintance throughout the county.
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.
Timeline
Greenfield, 1856 to 1953
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Greenfield’s post office has been open since 1856.
Gone or out of use
Greenfieldlocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Greenfield’s history
What year was Greenfield founded?
The Greenfield post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Greenfield rank for history?
Greenfield is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Greenfield?
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Warren Opera House Block and Hetherington Block (listed 1979, the first), and 1 historic district, the Greenfield Public Square Historic District, with 38 contributing buildings. 44 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Greenfield?
41% of Greenfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1948.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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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