Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Kelley post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Kelley’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Kelley.
A post office was established at Kelley in 1875, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 2013. The city was named after George Kelley, one of the town's earliest residents.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Kelley, cut from the printed page as they were published.
more than a beginning; Collins, Zearing, McCallsburg, were very new towns ; Colo was older than some of these, but not nearly so good a town as it is now, and the same is true of Gilbert Station. Huxley had hardly found a place upon the map. Kelley has made considerable improvement, and Iowa Center has survived conditions which have destroyed many another town, when the railroad came close without hitting it. In all of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.![gauge — as it was commonly known — was foUowetl by the appearance of the town Sheldahl in the county corner with additions in both Polk county and Hoone county, and also by the establishment of a station at Kelley on the township line six miles northward. The ])eculiar situation as to Sheldahl and …](https://images.townratings.com/story/5487/bk-116074522e557738-l.jpg)
gauge — as it was commonly known — was foUowetl by the appearance of the town Sheldahl in the county corner with additions in both Polk county and Hoone county, and also by the establishment of a station at Kelley on the township line six miles northward. The ])eculiar situation as to Sheldahl and the growing consequence of the village as the center of a Norwegian settlement that lay chietly in Story county but extended into both Polk and Boone counties led later on to a serious effort to change county lines and to include Story county those portions of the village
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.
Kelley’s post office has been open since 1875.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Kelley post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), 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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