The story
Read it all →How Nashua came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Nashua.
Nashua was incorporated as a city in 1869. It is named after Nashua, New Hampshire, the native town of one of its founders.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Nashua
Nashua’s post office opened in 1858, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1870.
1858first post office
0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Quick answers
How Nashua began
When was Nashua founded?
1858
The Nashua post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 817 in 18702020 census: 1,551168 years
How historic is Nashua?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Nashua post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Nashua’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nashua is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Nashua’s overall grade.
Founding era1858, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194032.8% of homes (±6.8) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational RegisterNo listings counted · typical IA town 9.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 48%
NewerOlder
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 Nashua’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.
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 (±6.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Nashua’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Nashua’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Nashua’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Every building
Nashua, building by building, 1894–1909
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Nashua, 1858 to 1971
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1858Post officeThe Nashua post office opens
- 20th century
- 1901Born hereCharlton Laird is born here
- 1906
Born hereKent Taylor is born here - 1971
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Nashua, decade by decade
Date unknown1 to date
Date?Today2 recent
2011
2004On the map
Nashua on the map, 1971 to 1984
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nashua. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1971Nashua sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Nashua.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewLittle Brown Church in the Vale, State Route 346
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Nashua’s page.
Retake this view · +15People over time
Nashua, census by census
Between 817 and 1,846 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Nashua’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →2 famous people were born in Nashua
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Nashua’s post office has been open since 1858.
Gone or out of use
Harrison Landing Stripairport
1cemetery inside Nashua
Saint Michaels
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Nashua’s history
What year was Nashua founded?
The Nashua post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Nashua rank for history?
Nashua is more historic than 48% 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 Nashua?
33% of Nashua’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1962.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.