The story
Read it all →How Olin came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Olin.
Olin is named for D. A. Olin, general superintendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Olin
Olin’s post office opened in 1872, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 18 buildings. Below: the census since 1880.
1872first post office
1on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Olin began
When was Olin founded?
1872
The Olin post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Walnut Fork (1841), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 362 in 18802020 census: 651154 years
Founding year: the first Olin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Olin’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 Olin’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Olin’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Olin in 1910
Passages that mention Olin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present1910 · page 555Read the page →
Read the text
On September 12, 1878, a petition was filed in the Circuit Court of Jones county, signed by numerous citizens of the town, praying for the incorporation of the town of Olin to include "section number 13, township 83, range 3. That in said section are located the towns of Rome, Walnut Fork, Smith's Addition to Olin and Cronkhite's Addition to Olin" and, "that the name proposed for said incorporated town shall be Olin."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present1910 · page 554Read the page →
Read the text
The postoffice in what is now the town of Olin, was among the first established in the county. The postoffice at Edinburg having been established in January, 1840. It would be difficult for the ordinary mind to travel backward to this early period and reveal with any degree of definiteness or certainty, the names of the men whom Uncle Sam had commissioned as postmasters. The official records at Washington, however, must be regarded as reliable and we give herewith the result of an investigation made at our request.
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
Olin, 1841 to 1891
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Olin, decade by decade
Today2 recent
2020
2004On the National Register
1 listing protects 18 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
18
each building in a district counts
first listed
2014
Business Part of Olin Historic District
Districts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Olin, census by census
Between 362 and 735 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Olin’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and places now gone
Olin’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Walnut Fork, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Walnut Fork
Olin
18401930today
Gone or out of use
Olinlocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Olin’s history
What year was Olin founded?
The Olin post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Olin?
One place: the Business Part of Olin Historic District (listed 2014).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.