Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Jesse J. and Mary F. Allee House. Its Register listing is the Jesse J. and Mary F. Allee House.
The Newell post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Sargentsville (1870), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
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 Newell’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Newell.
Newell was established in 1870 as a station for the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad, and was named after John Newell, then Vice President of the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad. Newell was incorporated in 1876.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Newell’s post office has been open since 1870. Another post office, Sargentsville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Newell post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Jesse J. and Mary F. Allee House (listed 1992).
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2004