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History · Rembrandt

Rembrandt’s post office opened in 1901, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1910.

1901first post office
0on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Rembrandt began

When was Rembrandt founded?

1901

The Rembrandt post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Orsland (1900), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 128 in 19102020 census: 209125 years
Founding year: the first Rembrandt post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rembrandt’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 Rembrandt are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 302 in 1940; 209 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Rembrandt’s homes were built before 1952.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rembrandt’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rembrandt’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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People over time

Rembrandt, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 302

Peaked at 302 in 1940; 209 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Rembrandt, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rembrandt yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Rembrandt is a city in Buena Vista County, Iowa, United States. The population was 209 at the time of the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1901. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 203 to 209 (+3%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Rembrandt, 1900 to 1971

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Orsland post office opens
  3. 1901Post officeThe Orsland post office closes
  4. 1901Post officeThe Rembrandt post office opens
  5. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 302
  6. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rembrandt, decade by decade

Today1 recent
IAMap-doton-Rembrandt2004IAMap-doton-Rembrandt
On the map

Rembrandt on the map, 1971 to 1985

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

Rembrandt on the 1971 USGS mapRembrandt on the 1985 USGS map1971Rembrandt sheet · 1:24,000

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Rembrandt’s post office has been open since 1901. Another post office, Orsland, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Orsland
1900–1901
Rembrandt
1901–today
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Rembrandtlocale

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

Questions about Rembrandt’s history

What year was Rembrandt founded?

The Rembrandt post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.