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 1
Edition
Sheets
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Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Morning Sun, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Morning Sun yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Morning Sun is a city in Morning Sun Township, Louisa County, Iowa, United States. The population was 752 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Muscatine Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Its first post office opened in 1851. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 836 to 752 (-10%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Morning Sun in 1911
Passages that mention Morning Sun, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 19121911Read the page →
Read the text
In the records of the county court is found the account of the filing of a petition of H. C. Blake and twenty others asking Judge Derbin to order an election to be held in the village of Morning Sun to decide on the question "Shall the addition to Morning Sun laid oft" by Wilson Giffin, and generally known as Giffin's addition to Morning Sun, be added to and become a part of said village"? This election appears to have been ordered, and held on Nov. 7, 1857, resulting in a majority in favor of the proposition.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 19121911 · page 446Read the page →
Read the text
March 19, 1886 An Act to legalize the acts and ordinances of the town council of the incorporated town of Morning Sun. April 5, 1886 At establishing the office of county attorney.
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
Morning Sun, 1851 to 1981
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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