Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Neola post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1882.
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 Neola’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Neola.
Neola got its start in the year 1869, following construction of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad through the territory.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Neola, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Neola Township had no special attractions until 1869, when the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was built, and the town of Neola laid out on lands owned by Messrs.
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Minden Township fi^i'med a part of the township of Neola iintil 1877, when, through the efforts of IMi-. .James Crow and a number of other citizens of that portion of Neola Township subsequently forming Minden, the petition jirosented by them to the Board of Supervisors was granted, and a new township formed, to be known as Minden Town-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Neola township had no special attractions until 1869, when the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was built and the town laid out on the lands owned by Messrs. Withrow, Wright and Allen. The first house where the city now stands was built by D. Little about 1868, who kept store in the building.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This he broke and fenced, erected buildings thereon and continued the work of opening up and developing a farm. For a time he kept bachelor's hall but later completed arrangements for having a home of his own by his marriage in Neola, on the 7th of August, 1884, to Miss Catherine D. Buchanan, a native of Scotland, who came to the new world when a maiden of eleven years with her father, John Buchanan, who on crossing the Atlantic established his home near Neola, Iowa. The young couple began their domestic life upon the farm where they have since lived. Mr. Miller has here erected a good residence, com-
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 hereRed Downs is born here
Born hereR. A. Lafferty is born hereWriters, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Neola post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1882.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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