Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Soldier

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 · Soldier

68% of Soldier’s homes were built before 1940

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

0on the National Register
68%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Billwhittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0

What stands out about Soldier’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 Soldier are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Soldier’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 323 in 1950; 184 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Soldier’s collection

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

Soldier, in brief

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

Soldier is a city in Monona County, Iowa, United States, along the Soldier River. The population was 184 at the time of the 2020 census. Soldier was so named from a nearby unmarked grave of a soldier.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 174 to 184 (+6%).

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

People over time

Soldier, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 323

Peaked at 323 in 1950; 184 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Soldier in 1890

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

warm and productive bluff deposit, or loess, of the geologist, is the equal of any to be found in Western Iowa and is wonderfully fertile. Crossing tlie Northwest center of the town runs the Soldier River, and this with its tributaries and affluents affords ample drainage and an abundant supply of …
History of Monona County, Iowa1890 · page 277Read the page →
Read the text

warm and productive bluff deposit, or loess, of the geologist, is the equal of any to be found in Western Iowa and is wonderfully fertile. Crossing tlie Northwest center of the town runs the Soldier River, and this with its tributaries and affluents affords ample drainage and an abundant supply of run ning water. There is no railroad or station within its limits, the only village being tiie little hamlet

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The district township of Soldier, then embracing two Congressional towns, was organized at a meeting held on the first Saturday in March, 1867, of wliich T. F. Spellman was Chairman and M. .T.
History of Monona County, Iowa1890 · page 280Read the page →
Read the text

The district township of Soldier, then embracing two Congressional towns, was organized at a meeting held on the first Saturday in March, 1867, of wliich T. F. Spellman was Chairman and M. .T.

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.

By decade

Soldier, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Soldier iowa2008Soldier iowaIAMap-doton-Soldier2004IAMap-doton-Soldier
On the map

Soldier on the map, 1971 to 1980

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

Soldier on the 1971 USGS mapSoldier on the 1980 USGS map1971Moorhead 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 Soldier.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Gone or out of use
Soldierlocale

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Soldier’s history

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 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.