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History · Quasqueton

Quasqueton’s post office opened in 1844, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Lowell E. Walter House and the State Savings Bank. Its Register listings are the Lowell E. Walter House and the State Savings Bank. Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1880.

1844first post office

2on the National Register

22%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Quick answers

How Quasqueton began

When was Quasqueton founded?

1844

The Quasqueton post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 529 in 18802020 census: 570182 years

Founding year: the first Quasqueton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Quasqueton’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Quasqueton are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19033 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 1982. Watch Quasqueton change.Deep rootsA post office since 1844: 182 years of Quasqueton.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Quasqueton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Quasqueton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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On the map

Quasqueton on the map, 1903 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Quasqueton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1903Winthrop sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Quasqueton.

Timeline

Quasqueton, 1844 to 1981

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1844Post officeThe Quasqueton post office opens
1875Born hereZada Mary Cooper is born here
20th century
1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1981BuiltLowell E. Walter House is built

The story

How Quasqueton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Quasqueton.

Read it all →

Quasqueton is the oldest community in Buchanan County. It first appears in the 1840 Census, although later sources state it was founded in 1842. Quasqueton's name is of Meskwaki (Fox) origins; it was originally called "Quasquetuck" or "Quaquetuck".

Quasqueton's population was 43 in 1840. At that time, it was the county seat of Buchanan County. The first grist mill in Quasqueton was built in 1842.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Quasqueton in 1881

Passages that mention Quasqueton, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Rowley Station on the Burlington road, in an eastlynortherly direction, we come to the oldest and next to the largest town in the county — the goodly village of Quasqueton, picturesquely located on the Wapsie in the township of Liberty, just within the southern border of the finest body of timber i… — **History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches**1881 · page 31Read the page →
Read the text
Rowley Station on the Burlington road, in an eastlynortherly direction, we come to the oldest and next to the largest town in the county — the goodly village of Quasqueton, picturesquely located on the Wapsie in the township of Liberty, just within the southern border of the finest body of timber in the county. Thus, in our enumeration and location of the villages of the county, the first is last.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

In the early days, during some of the seasons the settlers subsisted on hulled corn, and especially when the winters were severe. The nearest mill was twenty-five miles away, at the village of Quasqueton. The first store was kept by Sufficool & Marshall, in 1856, at what is now called Littleton. Su… — **History of Buchanan County, Iowa, with illustrations and biographical sketches**1881 · page 312Read the page →
Read the text
In the early days, during some of the seasons the settlers subsisted on hulled corn, and especially when the winters were severe. The nearest mill was twenty-five miles away, at the village of Quasqueton. The first store was kept by Sufficool & Marshall, in 1856, at what is now called Littleton. Sufficool subsequently sold to John Cameron. The early settlers had for food venison, sometimes beef, chickens, wild and domesticated, and
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

Quasqueton, decade by decade

Today6 recent

2018State Savings Bank

Airy living room at Castle Rock, the Lowell and Agnes Walter House, completed in 1950

2016Airy living room at Castle Rock, the Lowell and Agnes…

Orderly farmstead array near Quasqueton in Buchanan County, Iowa

2016Orderly farmstead array near Quasqueton in Buchanan C…

2016Quasqueton Veterans Memorial

2016Quasky rapids and mill block

2004IAMap-doton-Quasqueton

On the National Register

2 historic places in Quasqueton

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1983

Lowell E. Walter House

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Romanesque Revival1

Lowell E. Walter HouseBuilt 1981

State Savings BankRomanesque Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Quasqueton, census by census

Between 342 and 599 people in every census since 1880.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Quasqueton’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Quasqueton’s post office has been open since 1844.

Hamlets and corners on the map

Ben Haven Mobile Home Park

Gone or out of use

Quasquetonlocale

1cemetery inside Quasqueton

Quasqueton

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Quasqueton’s history

What year was Quasqueton founded?

The Quasqueton post office opened in 1844, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Quasqueton?

Two places: the Lowell E. Walter House (listed 1983) and the State Savings Bank (1999).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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 (4), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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.

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