Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1900.
The Klemme post office opened in 1889, 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 Klemme’s history is told.
Peaked at 620 in 1980; 441 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Klemme’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Klemme.
The city is named for Harmon J. Klemme, the original land owner. Klemme was established in 1889, and incorporated in 1899.
Harmon Klemme's Klemme home is preserved as the Klemme Homestead Museum. His home in Belmond, Iowa, where he lived for many years, is the Klemme House Bed and Breakfast.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Klemme, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Settlement of the new town of Klemme was at first slow, as is the case with many of the smaller towns. Schafer and Dow started a store first in 1889. However, by the year 1898 the population had reached a sufficient number to warrant the incorporation of the community. Accordingly a petition praying for the incorporation of the town was circulated among the citizens and signed by the following: S. B. Day, F. M. Hanson, Frank Gruetzmacher, Henry Terhufen, John L. Harr, George S. Gates, W. W. Lawrence, George Kluckhohn,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Klemme had 206 males and 198 females. Ellington Township had 457 males and 390 females. Erin Township had 274 males and 267 females.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Klemme. 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 Klemme.
The Klemme post office opened in 1889, 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 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 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.
