Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #77 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Science Hall, the Indianola High School and the Indianola Carnegie Library. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1860.
The Indianola post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Indianola is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #77 of 140 in Iowa. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Indianola’s 1.9 sits near the middle of its state (37% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Indianola’s history is told.
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 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions 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.
Born hereIlo Wallace is born here
BuiltIndianola Carnegie Library is built
In the archiveIndianola, IA
Born hereRosemary Lane is born here
Born herePriscilla Lane is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Indianola.
Indianola was founded in 1849 as the county seat of Warren County. The town was located near the geographic center of the new county. The town's name was taken from a newspaper account of a Texas ghost town of the same name.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Indianola, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The following petition was filed with the county court : To the Honorable County Court of Warren County, Iowa: Your petitioners, citizens of the town of Indianola, county of Warren, and State of Iowa, would respectfully pray your honor that the following described territory be incorporated under the name and style of the City of Indianola, which said territory embraces the aforesaid town of Indianola, together with all its additions, to-wit : Commencing at the half mile stake on the north side of section twenty-five, township seventy-six, north of range twenty-four west,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The one-half of said tax shall become due and eollcctable and shall be paid to the Chariton, Des Moines & Southern Railroad Company, so soon as said company shall have built and comi)leted the main trunk line of its said railroad from the city of Chariton, Lucas county, Iowa, to the city of Indianola, Warren county, Iowa, by the way of. or within one half mile of the town of Ackworth, in said Warren county, and shall have built and completed a permanent depot thereon at Indianola, and also shall have built and completed a permanent depot thereon within one half mile of said town of Ackworth, and the other, or
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Indianola. 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 Indianola.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Indianola’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 836 people in 1860 to 15,833 in 2020, more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Indianola’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Indianola’s post office has been open since 1849.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Indianola post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Indianola is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #77 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.
Three places: the Science Hall (listed 1991), the Indianola High School (2002) and the Indianola Carnegie Library (2017).
13% of Indianola’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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