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History · Hospers

Hospers was first counted by the census in 1880, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 1880.

1880first census
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Hospers began

When was Hospers founded?

1880

Hospers first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 51 in 18802020 census: 718146 years
Founding year: the first census.The full story ↓

What stands out about Hospers’ 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 Hospers are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Hospers’ homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hospers’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Hospers came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hospers.

Read it all →

Hospers was founded in 1891 when the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad was extended to that point. The city was named for Henry Hospers, an Iowa banker and developer, who got many Dutch immigrants and Dutch settlers from other parts of the country to relocate to Sioux County.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Hospers, decade by decade

Today2 recent
HospersIowaPopPlot2021HospersIowaPopPlotIAMap-doton-Hospers2004IAMap-doton-Hospers
On the map

Hospers on the map, 1964 to 1985

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

Hospers on the 1964 USGS mapHospers on the 1985 USGS map1964Hospers 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 Hospers.

Every building

Hospers, building by building, 1914

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Hospers fire insurance map, 1914, sheet 11914Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

People over time

Hospers, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020718

Grew from 51 people in 1880 to 718 in 2020, more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Hospers’ history

What year was Hospers founded?

The Hospers post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1890.

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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.