The Jesup post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Perry Valley (1858), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 569 in 18802020 census: 2,508166 years
How did Jesup get its name?
Jesup was named for Morris Ketchum Jesup, president of the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad.
How historic is Jesup?
C
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Jesup post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
History grade
What drives Jesup’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jesup is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #116 of 140 in Iowa. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jesup’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 Jesup’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 D to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.6 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 Jesup’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Jesup yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Jesup is a city in Buchanan County and partly in Black Hawk County in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 2,508 at the time of the 2020 census. It was named for Morris Ketchum Jesup, president of the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad. The Black Hawk County portion of Jesup is part of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan area. The community of Jesup has undergone many changes in recent years. With new subdivisions, the population for the small community is on the rise due to the town's proximity to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Metropolitan Area.
Its first post office opened in 1860. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,520 in 2010, 2,508 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Jesup in 1881
Passages that mention Jesup, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches1881 · page 46Read the page →
Read the text
which the first building had been erected by A. E. Dutton in 1859 grew to be a thriving town, with stores, shops, grain warehouses and elevators, and a population of several hundred. Nine miles to the west of Independence, on the same road, sprung up the village of Jesup in the same manner. On the night of March 16, 1864. the office safe of the county treasurer was broken open, and robbed of about twenty-six thousand dollars in money. Two men — Knight and Rorabacher — were accused of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches1881 · page 315Read the page →
Read the text
for two or three years he devoted himself solely to an effort to regain it, and in 1865, mainly in pursuit of that object, he emigrated to Buchanan county, Iowa, and was among the early settlers of the town of Jesup. He has almost constantly occupied positions of trust, and was in 187 1 elected to the legislature, serving acceptably.
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
Jesup, 1858 to 1971
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Jesup’s post office has been open since 1860. Another post office, Perry Valley, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Perry Valley
1858–1860
Jesup
1860–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Midway Trailer CourtNorth Street Mobile Home Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Jesup’s history
What year was Jesup founded?
The Jesup post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Jesup rank for history?
Jesup is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #116 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.
How old are the homes in Jesup?
10% of Jesup’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (2), 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.
2026
2004
