The story
Read it all →How Orient came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Orient.
Orient was incorporated on March 21, 1882, on land set aside by the nearby Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Orient
Orient’s post office opened in 1870, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1981 on and the census since 1880.
1870first post office
0on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
4famous people
Quick answers
How Orient began
When was Orient founded?
1870
The Orient post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1879.
First census: 31 in 18802020 census: 368156 years
Founding year: the first Orient post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1879.The full story ↓
What stands out about Orient’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 Orient’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orient’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Orient, census by census
Peaked at 500 in 1920; 368 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Orient’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Orient in 1915
Passages that mention Orient, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 83Read the page →
Read the text
Mr. and Mrs. Hennessy are members of the Catholic church. He still owns seven acres of land in the village of Orient. He was mayor of the town for a number of years and is now city treasurer, a position which he has occupied for seventeen years. He has also served on the school board and he drew up the first ordinance for the village, which thirty years later his daughter Nellie rewrote.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Adair County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 70Read the page →
Read the text
I. T. Clayton was reared under the parental roof and received his education in the district schools. When a vouno; man of twentv-two vears he besran Ins independent business career and for many years followed agricultural pursuits. In 1902, however, he began dealing in horses at Orient and the following year he became the owner of a livery stable and garage, which he has since conducted. Both the stable and garage are well equipped and, as he is obliging and thorouglily lionorable in all of his business dealings, it is but natural that he should be well patronized. He is recognized as one of the successful business men of Orient and is a
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
Orient, 1870 to 1981
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1870Post officeThe Orient post office opens
- 1888
Born hereHenry A. Wallace is born here - 1891
Born hereDazzy Vance is born here - 20th century
- 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 500
- 1921
Born hereJack E. Conger is born here - 1962Born hereSteve McClain is born here
- 1981
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Orient, decade by decade
Today2 recent
2025
2004On the map
Orient on the map, 1981 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Orient. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1981Orient 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 Orient.
Famous people
See all →4 famous people were born in Orient
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Orient’s post office has been open since 1870.
Gone or out of use
Orientlocale
1cemetery inside Orient
Orient
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Orient’s history
What year was Orient founded?
The Orient post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1879.
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), 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 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.