Founding year: the first Palo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Palo’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Palo is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Palo’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 Palo’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 C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1854.
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 Palo’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1849 a regional post office was named by Marion resident Dr. Bardwell, shortly after the Battle of Palo Alto in the Mexican-American War. Dr. Bardwell, used the short name Palo. The town was surveyed in 1854 and the first building in Palo was built in the same year and the town took its name from the local post office.
Palo suffered severe damage during the 2008 flood. Approximately 980 residents, the entirety of the town, were ordered to abandon their homes and businesses. The mandatory evacuation was ordered by the Linn County Emergency Management department, due to flooding from the Cedar River.
Passages that mention Palo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Palo Alto county, Iowa1910 · page 192Read the page →
Read the text
Palo Alto Advan<;e, published in Old Town in 1870, no copies left, 8; published at, 90 Palo Alto Patriot, published in 1873, no copies left, 8; published in 1873, 91; started, 119; extra copy of, 119 note Palo Alto Tribune, 118 note
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.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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The Palo post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1854.
How does Palo rank for history?
Palo is more historic than 42% 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 Palo?
7% of Palo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 2006.
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 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.
