Its Register listings are the Ida County Courthouse, the Moorehead Stagecoach Inn and the Alvin Bushnell Bell House. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1870.
The Ida Grove post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ida (1857), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 30 in 18702020 census: 2,051149 years
How historic is Ida Grove?
B+
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Ida Grove post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ida Grove’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ida Grove is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ida Grove’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 Ida Grove’s 15.3 sits above most of its state (66% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% 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 (±7.5 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 Ida Grove’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Founded in 1871, the town now known as "Old Ida Grove" was located on the north side of the river. However, when the railroad was built through the neighborhood in 1877 on the south side, Ida Grove was relocated there.
Ida Grove was incorporated on May 31, 1878, and was named for the county, which was named for Mount Ida, Greece.
The Ida Grove post office contains an oil on linen mural, Preparation for the First County Fair in Ida Grove–1872, painted by Andrene Kauffman in 1940. Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department.
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.
The Ida Grove post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ida Grove rank for history?
Ida Grove is more historic than 74% 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 Ida Grove?
Three places: the Ida County Courthouse (listed 1974), the Moorehead Stagecoach Inn (1974) and the Alvin Bushnell Bell House (1983).
How old are the homes in Ida Grove?
35% of Ida Grove’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.5 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 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.
1987
1987
1987
1987
