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History · Lockridge

Lockridge’s post office opened in 1840, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1980 on and the census since 1880.

1840first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Lockridge began

When was Lockridge founded?

1840

The Lockridge post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 49 in 18802020 census: 244186 years
Founding year: the first Lockridge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lockridge’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 Lockridge are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1840: 186 years of Lockridge.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lockridge’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Lockridge, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lockridge yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Lockridge is a city in Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 244 at the time of the 2020 census. Lockridge was one of the communities considered for the county seat in 1839, but lost out to Fairfield.

Its first post office opened in 1840. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 268 to 244 (-9%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Lockridge in 1876

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

Passage from Jefferson County, Iowa that mentions Lockridge
Jefferson County, Iowa1876Read the page →

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Lockridge, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Lockridge, Iowa2008Lockridge, IowaIAMap-doton-Lockridge2004IAMap-doton-Lockridge
On the map

Lockridge on the map in 1980

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lockridge.

Lockridge on the 1980 USGS map1980Lockridge East sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lockridge.

People over time

Lockridge, census by census

010020030018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 279

Between 49 and 279 people in every census since 1880.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lockridge’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Lockridge

Nobody well known was born in Lockridge itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
J
James A. Van AllenAmerican astrophysicist · b. 1914
H
Harry HarlowAmerican psychologist · b. 1905
J
Jerry WinholtzOlympic wrestler · b. 1874
Samuel M. ShortridgeAmerican politician · b. 1861
John ElliottAmerican actor · b. 1876
Ricky PhillipsAmerican bassist · b. 1953

Questions about Lockridge’s history

What year was Lockridge founded?

The Lockridge post office opened in 1840, 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.