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History · Luzerne

Luzerne’s post office opened in 1868, and 77% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1880.

1868first post office
0on the National Register
77%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Luzerne began

When was Luzerne founded?

1868

The Luzerne post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Buckeye (1862), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 265 in 18802020 census: 112158 years
Founding year: the first Luzerne post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Luzerne’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 Luzerne are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Luzerne’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Luzerne’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Luzerne came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Luzerne.

Read it all →

Luzerne was founded following construction of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway through the territory. Luzerne was named and platted as a town on the railroad by Isaac B. Howe, the Superintendent of the Iowa Div. of the railway, in 1868.

In October 1867 it was determined to relocate a station at "Buckeye" to an empty place in the plains midway between Blairstown and Belle Plaine. This move was a mere 2 miles to the east. The new station was named Luzerne, named by IB Howe for the Swiss town that he longed to visit. Buckeye no longer exists but would now be an empty place 2 miles to the west of Luzerne.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Luzerne, 1862 to 1965

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Buckeye post office opens
  3. 1868Post officeThe Buckeye post office closes
  4. 1868Post officeThe Luzerne post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Luzerne on the map, 1965 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Luzerne. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Luzerne on the 1965 USGS mapLuzerne on the 1984 USGS map1965Keystone South 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 Luzerne.

People over time

Luzerne, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 265

Between 96 and 265 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Luzerne

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

See all →
Eugene Burton ElyAmerican aviation pioneer · b. 1886
B
Bruce Charles HeezenAmerican geologist · b. 1924
Marjorie CameronAmerican actress and occultist · b. 1922
G
George NissenAmerican inventor of the modern trampoline · b. 1914
Mona GuerrantAmerican tennis player · b. 1948
M
Mildred BensonFiction writer and journalist · b. 1905
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Luzerne’s post office has been open since 1868. Another post office, Buckeye, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Buckeye
1862–1868
Luzerne
1868–today
18601940today
Gone or out of use
Luzerne Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Luzerne’s history

What year was Luzerne founded?

The Luzerne post office opened in 1868, 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 →
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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.