Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Moorland

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Moorland

Moorland’s post office opened in 1883, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1910.

1883first post office
0on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Moorland began

When was Moorland founded?

1883

The Moorland post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 137 in 19102020 census: 168143 years
Founding year: the first Moorland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Moorland’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 Moorland are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 281 in 1960; 168 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Moorland’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Moorland’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Moorland, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 281

Peaked at 281 in 1960; 168 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Moorland, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Moorland yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Moorland is a small town in Webster County, Iowa, United States. The population was 168 at the time of the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1883. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 169 in 2010, 168 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Moorland, 1883 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Moorland post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1936Born hereJim Halligan is born here
  5. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 281
  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.
Add from your album
On the map

Moorland on the map, 1965 to 1993

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

Moorland on the 1965 USGS mapMoorland on the 1985 USGS mapMoorland on the 1993 USGS map1965Moorland 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 Moorland.

Questions about Moorland’s history

What year was Moorland founded?

The Moorland post office opened in 1883, 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 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) 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.