Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #132 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
Most of Grimes was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2009. Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1900.
Grimes dates its founding to 1881 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grimes is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #132 of 140 in Iowa. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Grimes’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
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 Grimes’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1930, then grew more than tenfold.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grimes’ Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grimes. 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 Grimes.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grimes.
Grimes was founded in 1881 and became incorporated as a city on May 7, 1894. It is named after James W. Grimes, a former U.S. senator and the third governor of Iowa.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Grimes, cut from the printed page as they were published.
district schools of which he acquired his preliminary education, which was later supplemented by three terms at Simpson College, Indianola. After com pleting his course he 'began teaching school, following that vocation in the win¬ ter and farming in the summer until 1882, at which time the town of Grimes was incorporated. Subsequent to this event he established a drug store in the new town which he conducted most successfully for seventeen years and then he sold out and engaged in banking. After being identified with the latter business for seven years he organized the Grimes Savings Bank with a capital
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.
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
Born hereBrandon Fricke is born here
Born hereBrett Moffitt is born hereWriters, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Grimes’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Osprey, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1881, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Grimes’ post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1900 counted 186 people here.
Grimes is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #132 of 140 in Iowa. 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.
3% of Grimes’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 2009.
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).
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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