The story
Read it all →How Ralston came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Ralston.
Ralston was incorporated in 1900. It was named for William Chapman Ralston, a California banker.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Ralston
Ralston’s post office opened in 1892, and 55% of its homes were built before 1940
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: maps from 1980 on and the census since 1910.
1892first post office
1on the National Register
55%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Ralston began, and where its name came from
When was Ralston founded?
1892
The Ralston post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 175 in 19102020 census: 81134 years
How did Ralston get its name?
Ralston was named for William Chapman Ralston, a California banker.
Founding year: the first Ralston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
What stands out about Ralston’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 Ralston’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ralston’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
Ralston, census by census
Peaked at 202 in 1940; 81 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ralston’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Ralston in 1912
Passages that mention Ralston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Carroll County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement1912 · page 106Read the page →
Read the text
laying aside the uniform and accoutrements of war Mr. Steele resumed the peaceful occupation of agriculture in Winnebago county, Illinois, breaking prairie with a seven-yoke ox team. In 1871 he came to Iowa and settled in Glidden township, east of Glidden, near the town of Ralston. Here he purchased eighty acres of land, tO' which he added one hundred and sixty acres, and made his home upon this place until 1882, when be took up his permanent residence at Coon Rapids. In 1884 he sold his farm, receiving thirty dollars per acre. This land is now worth one hundred 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.
Timeline
Ralston, 1892 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1892Post officeThe Ralston post office opens
- 20th century
- 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 202
- 1980
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Ralston, decade by decade
2020
2019
2019
2019
2006
2004On the map
Ralston on the map, 1980 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ralston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1980Glidden 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 Ralston.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Ralston
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1993
Lincoln Highway-West Greene County Rural Segment
Districts
Architectural styles listings
Lincoln Highway1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Ralston
Nobody well known was born in Ralston itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Places now gone
Ralston’s post office has been open since 1892.
Gone or out of use
RalstonlocaleRalston Post Officepost office
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Ralston’s history
What year was Ralston founded?
The Ralston post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Ralston?
One place: the Lincoln Highway-West Greene County Rural Segment (listed 1993).
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.