Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Lu Verne City Jail. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1900.
Lu Verne dates its founding to 1880 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1900.
Lu Verne was named after Luverne, Minnesota.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lu Verne’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lu Verne.
Lu Verne was platted in 1880. It was named after Luverne, Minnesota.
Lu Verne was formerly serviced by Iowa Highway 408, which was decommissioned in 1980.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lu Verne, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The township of Lu Verne comprises the extreme southeastern congressional township of the county, and its territory lay within the neutral ground, staked off in 1832 to separate the Sioux from the Sacs and Foxes. In the early days of the county this territory was the lower grazing ground for deer and elk, though the number of the latter was comparatively small. Prairie creek, cutting through the western portion of the township as it does, made the bottom lands along its route favorite herding grounds for cattle for several years after the first settlements began to appear. Joe Walker has the honor for having been the first
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Lu Verne held her incorporation election July 6, 1887, and won by a vote of nineteen to seven, and proceeded to take under her wing the other towns — Whitman and Vernon, since which time they have lost their identity. The first mayor was George W. Hanna. then in order came J. C. Raymond, Henry Klindt, O. B.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltLu Verne City Jail is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lu Verne. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lu Verne.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 258 and 610 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lu Verne’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Lu Verne itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1880, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lu Verne’s post office opened in 1881, and the census of 1900 counted 534 people here.
One place: the Lu Verne City Jail (listed 1992).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
