Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Rolfe

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Rolfe

Rolfe’s post office opened in 1862, and 48% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1980 on and the census since 1890.

1862first post office
0on the National Register
48%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Rolfe began

When was Rolfe founded?

1862

The Rolfe post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 529 in 18902020 census: 509164 years
Founding year: the first Rolfe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rolfe’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 Rolfe are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,122 in 1940; 509 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Rolfe’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rolfe’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rolfe’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Rolfe, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,122

Peaked at 1,122 in 1940; 509 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story so far

Rolfe, in brief

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

Rolfe is a city in Pocahontas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 509 at the time of the 2020 census. This city was named after the Englishman John Rolfe, who married Pocahontas in Jamestown, Virginia.

Its first post office opened in 1862. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 584 to 509 (-13%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Rolfe in 1904

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

Toledo, who boarded at the home of John Eraser, a pioneer of Powhatan, while plastering the depot at Rubens, but now at Rolfe. The towns of Rubens, Havelock and Laurens were established along the line of this railroad in this county, and the depots at these places were completed in the
The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time1904Read the page →
Read the text

Toledo, who boarded at the home of John Eraser, a pioneer of Powhatan, while plastering the depot at Rubens, but now at Rolfe. The towns of Rubens, Havelock and Laurens were established along the line of this railroad in this county, and the depots at these places were completed in the

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Presbyterian church at Rolfe was organized at the old town of Rolfe, Oct. 31, 1880, during the ministry of Rev, L. C. Gray, of Fort Dodge, with a membership of fourteen persons.
The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time1904Read the page →
Read the text

The Presbyterian church at Rolfe was organized at the old town of Rolfe, Oct. 31, 1880, during the ministry of Rev, L. C. Gray, of Fort Dodge, with a membership of fourteen persons.

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

Rolfe, 1862 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Rolfe post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 1,122
  5. 1980On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rolfe, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Rolfe, Iowa 0012018Rolfe, Iowa 001IAMap-doton-Rolfe2004IAMap-doton-Rolfe
On the map

Rolfe on the map in 1980

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rolfe.

Rolfe on the 1980 USGS map1980Rolfe 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 Rolfe.

Questions about Rolfe’s history

What year was Rolfe founded?

The Rolfe post office opened in 1862, 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 (2), 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.