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History · Rock Falls

Rock Falls’ post office opened in 1872, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Rock Falls Bridge. Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1870.

1872first post office
1on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Rock Falls began

When was Rock Falls founded?

1872

The Rock Falls post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Shell Rock Falls (1855), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 221 in 18702020 census: 150154 years
Founding year: the first Rock Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rock Falls’ 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 Rock Falls are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Rock Falls’ homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rock Falls’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rock Falls’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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The story so far

Rock Falls, in brief

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

Rock Falls is a city in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States, along the Shell Rock River. The population was 150 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area. A post office named Shell Rock Falls opened in 1855; in 1872 this was changed to Rock Falls.

Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 155 to 150 (-3%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Rock Falls in 1910

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

At the time the family located at Rock Falls, Iowa, Valentine Blien was but a child. He grew up there and received his education in the district schools. He remained at home until he was twenty-two years of age, then began working at the trade of plasterer. In 1873 he moved to Mason City and follow…
History of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa. From materials in the public archives, the Iowa Historical Society's collection, the newspapers and data of personal interviews1910 · page 498Read the page →
Read the text

At the time the family located at Rock Falls, Iowa, Valentine Blien was but a child. He grew up there and received his education in the district schools. He remained at home until he was twenty-two years of age, then began working at the trade of plasterer. In 1873 he moved to Mason City and followed his trade until 1885, then bought his father's business at Rock Falls. In 1895 he took his brother L. C, into partnership and in 1905 they took in another brother, John, establishing the store at Plymouth,

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

Rock Falls, 1855 to 1973

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Shell Rock Falls post office opens
  3. 1872Post officeThe Shell Rock Falls post office closes
  4. 1872Post officeThe Rock Falls post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1973Post officeThe Rock Falls post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Rock Falls on the map, 1959 to 1985

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

Rock Falls on the 1959 USGS mapRock Falls on the 1985 USGS map1959Nora Springs 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 Rock Falls.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Rock Falls

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
1998
Rock Falls Bridge
Rock Falls Bridge
Structures

Architectural styles listings

Concrete Open Spandrel Arch1
All 1 listings
Rock Falls BridgeStructure · listed 1998

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

People over time

Rock Falls, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 221

Between 85 and 221 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Rock Falls had its own post office from 1872 to 1973. Another post office, Shell Rock Falls, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Shell Rock Falls
1855–1872
Rock Falls
1872–1973
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Rock Falls Post Officepost office

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

Questions about Rock Falls’ history

What year was Rock Falls founded?

The Rock Falls post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Rock Falls?

One place: the Rock Falls Bridge (listed 1998).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.