Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Janesville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
BHistory
History · Janesville

Janesville dates to 1849, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1880.

1849founded
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Billwhittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Janesville began

When was Janesville founded?

1849

Janesville dates its founding to 1849 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 273 in 18802020 census: 1,034177 years

How historic is Janesville?

B

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Janesville’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Janesville is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Janesville’s overall grade.
Founding era1849, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194018.4% of homes (±5.7) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IA town 9.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 57%
NewerOlder

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 Janesville’s 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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.7 points). Two sources give 1849.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Janesville’s 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 Janesville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1849: 177 years of Janesville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Janesville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Janesville’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
Timeline

Janesville, 1849 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849
    FoundingJanesville is established
  3. 1854Post officeThe Janesville post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1962Born hereBill Dix is born here
  6. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Janesville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Janesville.

Read it all →

Janesville was founded in 1849 by John T. Barrick, a Quaker and abolitionist who had relocated to Iowa from Ohio. According to the book, "The Janesvillians, Volumes I and II" by Maxine Leonard, John T. Barrick built the first mill and frame house in the area. He platted the town of Janesville, which he named in honor of his wife, Jane McPherson Barrick. A post office was established in 1854.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Janesville, decade by decade

Today1 recent
IAMap-doton-Janesville2004IAMap-doton-Janesville
On the map

Janesville on the map, 1963 to 1972

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

Janesville on the 1963 USGS mapJanesville on the 1972 USGS map1963Waverly 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 Janesville.

People over time

Janesville, census by census

02004006008001,000188019001920194019601980200020201,034

Grew from 273 people in 1880 to 1,034 in 2020, 3 times over.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Janesville’s post office has been open since 1854.

Gone or out of use
Fort Johnmilitary

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

Questions about Janesville’s history

What year was Janesville founded?

In 1849, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Janesville’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1880 counted 273 people here.

How does Janesville rank for history?

Janesville is more historic than 57% 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.

How old are the homes in Janesville?

18% of Janesville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1974.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.