Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #31 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Universalist Church. Below: maps from 1930 on and the census since 1880.
Mitchellville dates its founding to 1816 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mitchellville is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #31 of 140 in Iowa. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Mitchellville’s 11.6 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Mitchellville’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereBuck Shaw is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJack Justin Stiffler is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Mitchellville.
Mitchellville was founded by Thomas Mitchell (1816–1894) in 1856 and it incorporated as a city on September 30, 1875. Mitchell's farm was later purchased by Polk County, becoming Thomas Mitchell Park. Mitchell was the first white settler in Polk County, Iowa.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Mitchellville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In July, 1856, Thomas Mitchell, Milton Ferguson, and Wilson Jones, laid out a town on section two, township seventy-nine, range twenty-two, and called it Mitchellville. In May, 1867, the new town of Mitchellville was laid out by Thomas Mitchell, on the northwest quarter of section twelve. This town was made a station on the line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad. Its growth has been steady and its career has been marked by a gradual and healthy prosperity, until the present time, when it has become something more than simply a country trading point. Business
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Ten years later, June 2d, ISGY, the same energetic proprietor started the village of Mitchellville, on the line of the Rock Island Railroad. The improvements here have been rapid and permanent; and Mitchellville, with its thousand inhabitants, and its popular institution of learning, is a credit to the county, as well as to the enterprising gentleman who founded it.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This is the name of a thriving young academic institution, located in the incorporated town of Mitchellville. It was named in honor of Hon. Thomas Mitchell, whose liberal donation of lots and lands formed the inception of the enterprise. It is controlled by a Board of Trustees, appointed by the Iowa Universalist Convention, but the school is non-sectarian in its management. The corner stone of the very fine edifice was laid on the 4th day of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
raised and educated in the old log school-house with its u slab benches and puncheon floors.” In 1856 he moved to Hardin county, Ohio, and there followed farming until 1862, when he came to Iowa and located in this county near Mitchellville, living there for one year and then moved into the old town of Mitchellville. In 1865 he moved to his farm on section 7> of this township, where he owns 240 acres of well-improved land. In 1874
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mitchellville. 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 Mitchellville.
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.
Grew from 745 people in 1880 to 2,485 in 2020, 3 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mitchellville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Mitchellville’s post office has been open since 1860. Another post office, Nobleton, 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).
In 1816, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Mitchellville’s post office opened in 1860, and the census of 1880 counted 745 people here.
Mitchellville is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #31 of 140 in Iowa. 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.
One place: the Universalist Church (listed 2005).
28% of Mitchellville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1965.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (7), 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.
2014
2010
2010
2010
2010
2010
2004
