Long Grove dates to 1838, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
Most of Long Grove was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Its Register listing is the Alexander Brownlie House. Below: maps from 1891 on and the census since 1920.
Alexander and James Brownlie came to the area in August 1838, having followed the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Wapsipinicon River, then west along its banks. The two purchased a nearby timber ridge from a man named Coats, settling the claim for $160 plus timberland and all the prairie they wished to own. The first log cabin was built shortly thereafter, in a cluster of trees at the east edge of the timber, just south of the original town site.
A stage road, from Davenport to DeWitt and Dubuque passed through the village and a blacksmith shop and harness shop once lined the streets.
Passages that mention Long Grove, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa1910 · page 666Read the page →
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being Fritz and Marie Meier. The father was a laborer in the old country and was the first of his family to come to the United States. Later, in 1859, two of his sisters, Minnie, the wife of Christian Voss, and. Caroline, the wife of Charles Fent, followed, settling in Long Grove, Scott county, Iowa. In 1862, a brother, William, who is now deceased, also came to this county, and the next year the rest of the family, consisting of father, mother, a brother Fritz, and sisters Rica, Mary, and Augusta came here, aU of them locating in Long Grove township, this county. The father died one year after coming here, but his
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History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa1910 · page 791Read the page →
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which the pupils took turns in writing. At that time there was no public fund for school purposes, so each family boarded the teacher for a time and paid a certain sum for each of its members who attended. Such was the first school Mr. Quinn attended, but later he went to the school at Long Grove. Indians were then seen in large numbers, but they were peaceable and caused no trouble. Mr. Quinn remained with his father, assisting in the arduous work oi preparing the prairie land for cultivation, until 1852, when he started to farm on his own account. He bought from his father eighty acres, which he broke up
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 (4), Wikidata (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 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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