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History · Leland

Leland’s post office opened in 1885, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: old-book passages.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Leland began

When was Leland founded?

1885

The Leland post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lelandsburgh (1881), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 249141 years
Founding year: the first Leland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Leland’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Leland are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Leland’s homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Leland’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Leland’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Leland came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Leland.

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Leland was platted in 1887, and named for one of its founders, John D. Leland. Leland was incorporated as a city in 1894.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Leland in 1917

Passages that mention Leland, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The official plat of the town of Leland was filed July 15, 1887. The town was laid out by the county surveyor, L. T. Thompson, by direction of John D. Leland, on the southeast quarter of the northeast fractional quarter of Section 2, Township 98, Range 24 West. The survey of this forty acres was ma…
History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement ..1917 · page 147Read the page →
Read the text

The official plat of the town of Leland was filed July 15, 1887. The town was laid out by the county surveyor, L. T. Thompson, by direction of John D. Leland, on the southeast quarter of the northeast fractional quarter of Section 2, Township 98, Range 24 West. The survey of this forty acres was made on July 8 and 9, 1887.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Benson, afterward changed to Lelandsburg and tlion Leland, was platted and tlie j)lat filed May 19, 1880. It was laid out at the direction of David Secor and John Law on the southwest quarter of the northwest fractional quarter of Section 1, Township 98, Range 24 West.
History of Winnebago County and Hancock County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement ..1917 · page 149Read the page →
Read the text

Benson, afterward changed to Lelandsburg and tlion Leland, was platted and tlie j)lat filed May 19, 1880. It was laid out at the direction of David Secor and John Law on the southwest quarter of the northwest fractional quarter of Section 1, Township 98, Range 24 West.

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

Leland, 1881 to 1946

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Lelandsburgh post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Lelandsburgh post office closes
  4. 1885Post officeThe Leland post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1946Born hereTerry Branstad is born here
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Leland’s post office has been open since 1885. Another post office, Lelandsburgh, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lelandsburgh
1881–1885
Leland
1885–today
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Lelandlocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Leland’s history

What year was Leland founded?

The Leland post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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, 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.