Kamrar was platted in 1881. The city was named in honor of Judge J. M. Kamrar, a prominent lawyer of the vicinity, who served as an officer of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company. J. M. Kamrar resided in Blue Earth, Minnesota in his final years, where he was among the first citizens to own a car. There is a statue of memorial in the town square. A post office has been in operation in Kamrar since 1882.
Peaked at 288 in 1940; 179 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kamrar’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Kamrar in 1912
Passages that mention Kamrar, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Hamilton County, Iowa1912 · page 116Read the page →
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agricultural pursuits for several years. In 1890, he came to Hamilton county, locating on a farm just south of Williams in Rose Grove township. He subsequently purchased a place in the vicinity of Kamrar, but several years later he disposed of that and removed to Kamrar. His had always been too active and enterprising a life, however, for him to retire while his physical strength enabled him to continue working, so he later rented a farm in the vicinity of Kamrar in the cultivation of which he is
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Hamilton County, Iowa1912 · page 97Read the page →
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In the same year that Mr. Henderson came to Kamrar he was appointed postmaster and has been serving since that time ably and conscientiously and to the complete satisfaction of the general public. He owns besides his furniture business his attractive home in Kamrar, which is supplied with all the appointments and comforts found in a modern dwelling.
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
Kamrar, 1881 to 1978
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 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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