Founding year: the first New Sharon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives New Sharon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Sharon is more historic than 49% 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 New Sharon’s overall grade.
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 New Sharon’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 (±10.9 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 New Sharon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of New Sharon yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
New Sharon is a city in Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,262 at the time of the 2020 census. The first building was erected in 1856 by Edward Quaintance.
Its first post office opened in 1858. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,293 to 1,262 (-2%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about New Sharon in 1878
Passages that mention New Sharon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Mahaska County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics ..1878 · page 502Read the page →
Read the text
Johnson Busby was probably tbe first justice of tbe peace in tbe town of New Sharon. Tbe present city of New Sharon is a place calculated to attract more tban passing notice from the visitor to its precincts. Tlie streets are wide, smooth, and laid out in such a manner as to greatly serve tbe convenience of its citizens and tbe beauty of tbe town. In a greater ])art of the city young shade trees are springing up, and have already in many places attained sucli a growtb and foliage as to add mucb to tbe comfort of tbe
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Mahaska County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics ..1878 · page 512Read the page →
Read the text
Universalist Church. — A building, under control of the denomination, Universalists, was l)uilt in New Sharon, in 1877. The city contains quite a large element of those who are called liheral in religious thought, and the occasion of the building of this church was the refusal of an orthodox pnlpit to one of their ministers. The platform on which the church was erected, was that it should be forever equally free to all denominations.
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.
The New Sharon post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does New Sharon rank for history?
New Sharon is more historic than 49% 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 New Sharon?
36% of New Sharon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.9 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (6), 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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