Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1872.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lenox’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lenox is more historic than 66% 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 Lenox’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 Lenox’s 6.4 sits near the middle of its state (48% 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 A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.2 points). Two sources give 1871.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Lenox’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lenox was established in 1872, following construction of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad through the territory. The settlement was incorporated on July 2, 1875.
According to The Des Moines Register, residents of Lenox and nearby New Market in Taylor County recall sundown town ordinances to restrict the presence of people of color. Helen Janson, Taylor County Historical Society president, stated, "Lenox was violently opposed to blacks. It was well-known."
Passages that mention Lenox, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Taylor County, Iowa1881 · page 620Read the page →
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Rev. A. Brown enlarged it in 1879. Michigan Avenue is the church site, and one of the most beautiful streets in the really pretty city of Lenox. The Presbyterians near the eastern extremity, the Methpdists some two blocks further west, a new and beautiful brick school-house, the United Presbyterian Church next on the west, and the Catholic Church still further west, furnish the people of Lenox with sightly structures and school and church conveniences that are rarely equaled in a place of its size.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Taylor County, Iowa1881 · page 619Read the page →
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Rev. W. McKendrie Campbell, assistant preacher on the Creston and Lenox circuit, delivered the first Methodist sermon at Lenox, in the summer or fall of 1873, at the depot of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. Rev. H. Avery continued the appointment more or less frequently until in January, 1874, when he was sent to Creston, and Rev. U. P. Golliday, the most eminent and gifted divine in the State, to Lenox. In 1874 the school-house was used for sabbath services, and a class of thirteen members, with three on probation, was organized. In
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Taylor County, Iowa1910 · page 153Read the page →
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In 1879, a man named Kennedy v/as on a spree in the town of Lenox and George and William Hartzell who were peace officers arrested him. Kennedy resisted and was struck with a “billy” by William Hartzell and instantly killed.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Taylor County, Iowa1910 · page 307Read the page →
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The enterprising town of Lenox finds a well-known representative of its busi¬ ness interests in S. E. Wainwrig'ht, who for eight years has been connected with the lumber trade at this place. He has made his home in Iowa since 1869 ‘and has lived within the borders of Taylor county since 1893. He is numbered among the native sons of Illinois, his birth having occurred near Rockford, in Winne¬ bago county, on the 9th of Alay, 1867. He was therefore only two years old when his parents crossed the Alississippi into this state, taking up their abode upon a farm near Keokuk, where the subject of this review was reared. He was trained
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
Lenox, 1871 to 1998
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 Lenox’s history
What year was Lenox founded?
In 1871, according to Wikidata. Lenox’s post office opened in 1872.
How does Lenox rank for history?
Lenox is more historic than 66% 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 Lenox?
One place: the Lenox Hotel (listed 2002).
How old are the homes in Lenox?
36% of Lenox’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1962.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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