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History · Sioux Rapids

Sioux Rapids’ post office opened in 1870, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Sioux Theatre. Below: maps from 1916 on and the census since 1870.

1870first post office
1on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Bill Whittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Sioux Rapids began

When was Sioux Rapids founded?

1870

The Sioux Rapids post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 61 in 18702020 census: 748156 years
Founding year: the first Sioux Rapids post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sioux Rapids’ 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 Sioux Rapids are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,080 in 1920; 748 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Sioux Rapids’ homes were built before 1957.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sioux Rapids’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sioux Rapids’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

Sioux Rapids, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,080

Peaked at 1,080 in 1920; 748 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

The story

How Sioux Rapids came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sioux Rapids.

Read it all →

Two early surveyors, Lane and Ray, found the area so attractive for settlement that in 1855 they illegally laid a claim and built a cabin in section 12 of Barnes Township and over-wintered there. William S. Lee was a wealthy New Yorker who came to Sioux Rapids in 1858, staked a very early claim, and soon controversially acquired around 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) of "swamp land" at 16¢ ($5.95 in 2025) per acre, totaling roughly $9,600 ($357,231 in 2025). For this he was contracted to build a courthouse and construct a bridge over the Little Sioux River, but never did. He sold large amounts of this land, but after years of legal action, Lee and his purchasers lost all their claims in 1882 in a final case against them. Lee returned to New York in 1863 to educate his children, returning in 1868 to find his early claim had been "jumped" by a William Fuller. In 1870, after reversal of an earlie…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sioux Rapids, 1870 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Sioux Rapids post office opens
  3. 1889Born hereIra Noel Gabrielson is born here
  4. 1891Born hereGuy Gabrielson is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 1,080
  7. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Sioux Rapids, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Sioux rapids iowa2010Sioux rapids iowaIAMap-doton-SiouxRapids2004IAMap-doton-SiouxRapids
On the map

Sioux Rapids on the map, 1971 to 1985

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

Sioux Rapids on the 1971 USGS mapSioux Rapids on the 1985 USGS map1971Sioux Rapids 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 Sioux Rapids.

Every building

Sioux Rapids, building by building, 1916

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 sheet.

Sioux Rapids fire insurance map, 1916, sheet 11916Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Sioux Rapids

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
2012
Sioux Theatre
Sioux Theatre
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Art Moderne1
All 1 listings
Sioux TheatreBuilding · listed 2012

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Sioux Rapids

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Ira Noel GabrielsonAmerican entomologist, botanist and ornithologi… · b. 1889
G
Guy GabrielsonAmerican politician · b. 1891
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Sioux Rapids’s post office has been open since 1870.

Gone or out of use
Sioux Rapidslocale

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

Questions about Sioux Rapids’ history

What year was Sioux Rapids founded?

The Sioux Rapids post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Sioux Rapids?

One place: the Sioux Theatre (listed 2012).

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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.