The Leon post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, South Independence (1853), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 820 in 18702020 census: 1,822171 years
How historic is Leon?
B
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Leon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Leon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Leon is more historic than 62% 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 Leon’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 Leon’s 5.3 sits near the middle of its state (45% 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 (±6.1 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 Leon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Center Township was organized as part of the formation of the county on 1 April 1850. Because Decatur City was inaccessible to the rest of the county during the area's periodic floods, a majority of the county voted to move the county seat to a nearby location east of the Little River. Because the residents of Decatur City refused to respect the results of the vote, the county records were stolen and moved by ox-drawn wagon under cover of darkness. The new settlement was originally named Independence, but that name was soon discovered to have already been taken by another town in Buchanan County. It was then renamed South Independence before the state legislator and veteran W.H. Cheevers successfully argued for renaming it Leon in honor of the Jewish "Fighting Doctor" David Camden de Leon in 1855.
Passages that mention Leon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Decatur County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 123Read the page →
Read the text
In 18.56 the population of Leon had increased to 600. In 1871 it was only 8o0, but the arrival of the railroad during that year brought many people to the place so that the population had increased to 1,367 in 1880. The greater portion of the main line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad through Iowa and also the branch from Chariton to Leon was constructed during the year 1871.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Decatur County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 20Read the page →
Read the text
would use his inffiience to have a special act of the Legislature allowing the voters of the county to locate by vote at the April election in 1853, and at that election a large majority of the votes were cast in favor of Leon. The citizens of Decatur City would not encourage the building up of Leon, but discouraged strangers from settling in the county seat at Leon, with the result that these strangers did not settle in either place for more than twenty-five years, but went to other counties where there was no factional fight
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
Leon, 1853 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Leon’s post office has been open since 1855. Another post office, South Independence, opened and closed inside today’s town.
South Independence
1853–1855
Leon
1855–today
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Leonlocale
1cemetery inside Leon
Leon
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Leon’s history
What year was Leon founded?
The Leon post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Leon rank for history?
Leon is more historic than 62% 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 Leon?
One place: the Decatur County Courthouse (listed 1981).
How old are the homes in Leon?
31% of Leon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (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.
1939
Date?
2013
2004
