Founding year: the first Lamoni post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lamoni’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lamoni is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lamoni’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 Lamoni’s 4.5 sits near the middle of its state (44% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.3 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 Lamoni’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Lamoni area was first settled in 1834 to 1840 by people who thought they were settling in slave-owning Missouri. It was only after the Sullivan Line separating Missouri and Iowa was formally surveyed when Iowa became a state in 1846 that they realized they were in non-slave-owning Iowa.
In 1851, freedom-seeking refugees from the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 sought to settle the area and form the community of New Buda (named for a neighborhood of Budapest). Their efforts did not result in a significant settlement.
Passages that mention Lamoni, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Decatur County, Iowa, and its people1915Read the page →
Read the text
THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE CHURCH The little City of Lamoni, la., is the headqnarters, the center, of the Latter Day Saints Church in the ^^orld. Here are located the general offices, the main church and the official publications. Besides the church at Lamoni there are in Decatur County branches of the church at the following places: Six miles southwest of Lamoni, four miles north of Lamoni, seven miles east of Lamoni, one at Davis City, one at Pleasanton and one at Leon.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lamoni, the story of a town established fifty years ago, 1879-19291929Read the page →
Read the text
REMOVAL TO LAMONI The town of Lamoni was started in 1879, and it was decided best to move the Methodist Church into the village. It was through the ef- ‘forts of Mrs. Edith Wharton Teale and others that this plan was carried out in 1881. At this time Rev. Dix was pastor. He supplied both Davis City and Lamoni.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lamoni, the story of a town established fifty years ago, 1879-19291929Read the page →
Read the text
The first business of the Council reflects the interests of the times and the nature of the people. The first ordinance passed in Lamoni was one prohibiting the existence of “beer saloons” and “gambling tables.” There had been one saloon before the incorporation of the town and this seems to have been a major issue in the voting for incorporation.
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
Lamoni, 1879 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Lamoni’s history
What year was Lamoni founded?
The Lamoni post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lamoni rank for history?
Lamoni is more historic than 59% 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.
What is on the National Register in Lamoni?
One place: the Liberty Hall (listed 1983).
How old are the homes in Lamoni?
27% of Lamoni’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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), 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.
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