Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1969 on and the census since 1910.
The Quimby post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Quimby’s history is told.
Peaked at 424 in 1980; 249 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Quimby’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Quimby yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Quimby is a city in Cherokee County, Iowa, United States. The population was 249 at the time of the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1887. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 319 to 249 (-22%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Quimby, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Quimby is the first station south of Cherokee. on the li n 3 of the Onawa branch of the Illinois Central Railroad, and is ten miles from Cherokee, in the heart of a most excellent farming section. It is situated in the Little Sioux Valley, in section 11, township 90, range 41. It was platted October 3, 1887, since which time it has had a rapid growth for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A postoffice was secured at Quimby in the fall of 1887, soon after the completion of the railroad. The first postmaster was A. J.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Quimby. 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 Quimby.
Quimby’s post office has been open since 1887.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Quimby post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.
