Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Peosta was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2006. Below: maps from 1901 on and the census since 1940.
The Peosta post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Peosta is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Peosta’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.
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 →
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 Peosta’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Peosta. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Peosta.
From Wikipedia’s history of Peosta.
Peosta is named after the leader of a local Native American people that once lived in Dubuque County. Chief Peosta, of the Meskwaki people, was a close friend of Julien Dubuque, one of the first European settlers in the area. Dubuque was also the founder of the City of Dubuque, Iowa, and was allegedly married to Chief Peosta's daughter, who was reportedly named "Potosa".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Peosta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Peosta, located fifteen miles from Dubuque, on the Dubuque & Sioux City- Railroad, in Vernon Township, is a pleasant town, properly a suburb named for the wife of him who is celebrated in history as the first white man who established a home on the west bank of the Mississippi.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
After the war, the town relapsed into its quiet, unpretentious manner of life. The days came and went with unvarying regularity, and unattended by events of grave import. Peosta is to-day a lovely village, nestled among the hills, and as attractive to the searcher after quiet and the happiness of a retired life as was the “loveliest village of the plain.”
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.
Grew from 45 people in 1940 to 1,908 in 2020, more than tenfold.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Peosta’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Peosta itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Peosta post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Peosta is more historic than 14% 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.
2% of Peosta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 2006.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, 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.
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