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History · Harris

Harris’ post office opened in 1889, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1900.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Harris began, and where its name came from

When was Harris founded?

1889

The Harris post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rush Lake (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 217 in 19002020 census: 151137 years

How did Harris get its name?

Harris was named for one of its founders, A. W. Harris.

Founding year: the first Harris post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Harris’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Harris are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 359 in 1920; 151 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Harris’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Harris, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 359

Peaked at 359 in 1920; 151 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

The story

How Harris came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Harris.

Read it all →

Harris had its start in the year 1889 by the building of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway through Fairview Township. It was named for one of its founders, A. W. Harris. Homer E. Richards was postmaster of Harris from 1900 until 1910; after being elected county treasurer he relocated his family to Sibley on 1 January 1911.

Harris has acted as a city since 1903, the year the Rock Island Line took over the railroad. But incorporation papers could not be found in county nor state archives, so by legislative act effective 1 July 1979 the incorporation of the City of Harris was legalized.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Harris in 1892

Passages that mention Harris, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The town of Harris was named after the head of this firm, who laid out the townsite, and still owns it except what lots have been sold. They put up the first building on the Harris townsite, and at present are the only grain buyers there. This firm located in Sibley in 1887, and are very prominent …
History of Osceola county, Iowa, from its organization to the present time1892 · page 269Read the page →
Read the text

The town of Harris was named after the head of this firm, who laid out the townsite, and still owns it except what lots have been sold. They put up the first building on the Harris townsite, and at present are the only grain buyers there. This firm located in Sibley in 1887, and are very prominent in their line of business in Osceola County.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Smith has a lumber yard; also a harness shop. J. Ryckman runs a coal yard and John Waiting is the blacksmith. The station agent is Homer Richards, and Harris has a decorative painter, Frank P. Burley. This about comprises the business interests of Harris, and no doubt the historian ten years from n…
History of Osceola county, Iowa, from its organization to the present time1892 · page 199Read the page →
Read the text

Smith has a lumber yard; also a harness shop. J. Ryckman runs a coal yard and John Waiting is the blacksmith. The station agent is Homer Richards, and Harris has a decorative painter, Frank P. Burley. This about comprises the business interests of Harris, and no doubt the historian ten years from now will be able to make an extensive record, which will come from its future growth.

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

Harris, 1878 to 1970

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Rush Lake post office opens
  3. 1889Post officeThe Rush Lake post office closes
  4. 1889Post officeThe Harris post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 359
  7. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Harris, decade by decade

Today2 recent
HarrisIowaPopPlot2021HarrisIowaPopPlotIAMap-doton-Harris2004IAMap-doton-Harris
On the map

Harris on the map, 1970 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Harris. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Harris on the 1970 USGS mapHarris on the 1985 USGS map1970Harris 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 Harris.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Harris’s post office has been open since 1889. Another post office, Rush Lake, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Rush Lake
1878–1889
Harris
1889–today
18701950today

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

Questions about Harris’ history

What year was Harris founded?

The Harris post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.