Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1880.
Monroe dates its founding to 1851 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monroe is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Monroe’s 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.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Monroe’s history is told.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1895Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Monroe.
Monroe was laid out in 1851 by Adam Tool and was originally called Tool's Point. The name was soon changed to Monroe."Tool's point" is now the name of a park located in the city.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Monroe, cut from the printed page as they were published.
State of Iowa, Monroe County. Be it remembered that on this 2Gth day of March, A. 1). 1859, a petition was heard by the County Court of said county and State, for the incorporation of the town of Albia, and it appears to the Court that all necessary and preliminary steps have been taken for the incorporation of said town of Albia, and that a majority of the legal voters are in favor of said incorporation. It is therefore ordered by the Court that the said town
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Pottawattamie County, as everyone knows, does not "lie directly west of Monroe County," being one tier of counties north of the Monroe County tier. The geography of western Iowa was not very well known at that time, and for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Mormon settlement at Cainsville was included in the territory directly west of Monroe County. Judge Mason and Judge Weber, the latter a surveyor, were sent west on a surveying tour to ascertain
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Along about the year 1890, Frank Fritchle laid out the town of Minerstown, a half-mile west of the present town of Foster, in -Monroe Township. The town was regularly surveyed and platted, and was intended as a rival of Foster, just starting. There was but one house er(H?ted in the town, but the streets and avenues remain on paper, and are well preserved.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first settlement in Monroe County was made in 1843, by Mr. John R. Gray, about two miles from the present site of Eddyville; and in the Summer of 1844, a log school house was built by Gray, William V. Beedle, C. Renfro, Joseph McMullen and Willoughby Randolph, and the first school was opened by Miss Urania Adams. The building was occupied for school purposes for nearly ten years. About a year after the first cabin was built at Oskaloosa, a log school house was built, in which school was opened by Samuel W. Caldwell in 1844.
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.
Born hereBucky O'Connor is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Monroe. 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 Monroe.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Monroe’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 982 people in 1880 to 1,967 in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Monroe’s Wikipedia page.
Monroe’s post office has been open since 1852. Another post office, Tool's Point, 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 1851, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Monroe’s post office opened in 1848, and the census of 1880 counted 982 people here.
Monroe is more historic than 41% 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.
24% of Monroe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 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 (2), the Library of Congress (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, 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.
Date?
2009
2004