The story
Read it all →How Liscomb came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Liscomb.
Liscomb was platted in 1869. It was named for an official of the Iowa Central Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Liscomb
Liscomb’s post office opened in 1869, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1880.
1869first post office
0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Liscomb began, and where its name came from
When was Liscomb founded?
1869
The Liscomb post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Norris (1865), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 452 in 18802020 census: 291157 years
How did Liscomb get its name?
Liscomb was named for an official of the Iowa Central Railroad.
Founding year: the first Liscomb post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
What stands out about Liscomb’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Liscomb’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Liscomb’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Liscomb in 1878
Passages that mention Liscomb, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Marshall County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and promi1878 · page 530Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Liscomb was laid out in 1869, after the building of the Central Road of Iowa. It was laid out by J. W. Tripp, who has been greatly interested in the growth and prosperity of the place. The town was named for H. P.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Marshall County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and promi1878 · page 579Read the page →
Read the text
0. Liscomb ; born in New York in 1846; came to this county in 1855; owns eighty acres of land. He put up the first house in the village of Liscomb.
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
Liscomb, 1865 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people 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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Liscomb on the map, 1954 to 1975
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Liscomb. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1954Waterloo sheet · 1:250,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Liscomb.
People over time
Liscomb, census by census
Between 258 and 452 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Liscomb’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Liscomb’s post office has been open since 1869. Another post office, Norris, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Norris
Liscomb
18601940today
1cemetery inside Liscomb
Liscomb
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Liscomb’s history
What year was Liscomb founded?
The Liscomb post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
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, 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.