Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1980 on, and the census since 1880.
The Martinsburg post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Martinsburgh (1855), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
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 Martinsburg’s history is told.
Peaked at 332 in 1900; 110 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Martinsburg’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Martinsburg.
In 1861, Martinsburg was a half-mile long row of houses mostly on the north side of the road. In 1874, Martinsburg had two general stores, a hotel, and a Presbyterian church. There were two physicians, and a wagonmaker who also had a vineyard. The proprietors of a nearby sawmill and grain mill also lived in town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Martinsburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Nebraska. The Martin family has been a very prominent one in this section of the state of Iowa ever since their removal here. The father, Daniel Martin, leaves his name to posterity in the name of the town of Martinsburg-, Iowa, which he laid out in 1855. He was a man of much public spirit, which he bequeathed to his son, who has a live interest in every movement affecting the welfare of his fellow-townsmen and advocates and assists to the extent of his ability every measure which in his judgment tends to the advancement of the interests of his count}, and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
county, Indiana. In the year 1854 Mr. Speirs removed with his familv to Keokuk county, where he settled in Jackson township, and where for thirty-six years he continued to reside engaged actively in the cultivation of his farm. In 1890 he located in Martinsburg and bought an interest in the Martinsburg Bank, of which he became vice president. On the 6th of February, 1899. this bank was reorganized and Mr. Speirs was chosen as its president. This is one ol the most solid financial institutions of the county, its officers being men of the very highest stand-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
one time bid fair to become a central shipping point for the surplus agricultural products of that region; but, alas! for the expectations of those early times! the Muscatine & Missouri Railway got no further than paper, and Martinsburg still remains a quiet country village, supporting a postoffice, hotel, some prosperous bnsiness houses and a flourishing lodge. The only post-office in the township is at Martinsburg, but three others are of easy access: Walden, in Jackson, Uayesville, in Lancaster, and Slagle, in Benton.
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.
In the archiveMartinsburg [and vicinity]
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Martinsburg.
1980Hedrick sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Martinsburg.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
![Martinsburg [and vicinity]](https://images.townratings.com/story/5281/15953d69514344fbe500-l.jpg)
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Martinsburg’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Martinsburg itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Martinsburg’s post office has been open since 1893. Another post office, Martinsburgh, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Martinsburg post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.
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