Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Dual Freq · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 71% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Calhoun County Courthouse, the Perry C. and Mattie Forrest Holdoegel House and the Rockwell City Bridge. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1880.
Rockwell City dates its founding to 1876 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rockwell City is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Rockwell City’s 12.5 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Rockwell City’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rockwell City.
Rockwell City was platted in 1876. It is named for its founders, John M. Rockwell, and his wife Charlotte M. Rockwell.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Rockwell City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Such episodes as that of capturing a railroad train are not uncommon in war times, but it remained for County Attorney E. C. Stevenson, of Rockwell City, to demon¬ strate that occasions may arise making the like possible in times of peace. For some reason news of the Pomeroy disaster did not reach Rockwell City until about 7:30 o’clock the morning after it occurred. Mr. Stevenson
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.
In the archiveRockwell City IA - 1912
BuiltCalhoun County Courthouse is built
BuiltPerry C. and Mattie Forrest Holdoegel House is built
Born hereCharles G. Boyd is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rockwell City. 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 Rockwell City.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1909Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rockwell City’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 90 and 2,396 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rockwell City’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Rockwell City’s post office has been open since 1877.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1876, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Rockwell City’s post office opened in 1877, and the census of 1880 counted 90 people here.
Rockwell City is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Three places: the Calhoun County Courthouse (listed 1981), the Perry C. and Mattie Forrest Holdoegel House (1992) and the Rockwell City Bridge (1998).
31% of Rockwell City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1955.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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