Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1870.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mediapolis’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mediapolis is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mediapolis’ overall grade.
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Mediapolis’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.5 points). Two sources give 1869.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Mediapolis’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Mediapolis was founded in the year 1869. It was first a train station for the city of Kossuth, Iowa at a point on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railway (later part of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific) between Burlington and Wapello. Media, meaning "middle," was appended to polis, meaning "village," as Mediapolis is halfway between Wapello and Burlington.
From 1875 to the mid 20th century, Mediapolis was a railroad junction where the Burlington and Northwestern Railway to Washington (later a branch of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy) met the original north–south line.
MEDIAPOLIS The construction of the Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railroad gave rise to the Town of Mediapolis. What caused it to be given this name I do not know. The railroad was built through this part of the county in 1869. When the road was projected it was thought it would go near to Kossuth, but to pass Kossuth at its western limits, would be to deflect it further east than a direct line to Wapello and Cedar Rapids would justify. The building of the road caused the permanent decay of Kossuth. As the mountain would not go
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Des Moines county, Iowa, containing a history of the country, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers ..1879 · page 607Read the page →
Read the text
The Independent District School, of Mediapolis, was established in temporary quarters in 1873, and taught by Miss Maggie Bruce. During the summer of 1877, a two-story frame schoolhouse was built at a cost of $2,500. The first teachers in the new schoolhouse were Miss Maggie Getty and Miss Minnie Cartright. The present teachers are Miss Maggie Getty and Miss May Cramer.
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week days. As soon as the people of the new town got a fair start, they commenced to build churches and schoolhouses. Mediapolis is the best and most thriving town in the county outside of Burlington. Has a number of banking institutions. Has a good flour mill, elevators, hotels, boarding houses, a large number of stores, a large tile factory and other industries which support a large population. One thing it does not have and will not have and that is saloons.
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.
Timeline
Mediapolis, 1869 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Mediapolis’s post office has been open since 1870.
Gone or out of use
Mediapolislocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Mediapolis’ history
What year was Mediapolis founded?
In 1869, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Mediapolis’ post office opened in 1870, and the census of 1880 counted 423 people here.
How does Mediapolis rank for history?
Mediapolis is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Mediapolis?
26% of Mediapolis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1971.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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