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A−History
History · St. Ansgar

St. Ansgar’s post office opened in 1855, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 75% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the First Lutheran Church and the Saint Ansgar Public School. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1870.

1855first post office
2on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How St. Ansgar began

When was St. Ansgar founded?

1855

The St. Ansgar post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 360 in 18702020 census: 1,160171 years

How historic is St. Ansgar?

A−

More historic than 75% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first St. Ansgar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives St. Ansgar’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, St. Ansgar is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of St. Ansgar’s overall grade.
Founding era1855, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194040.5% of homes (±8.0) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register2 listings, 16.6 per 10,000 residents · typical IA town 9.1 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 75%
NewerOlder

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 St. Ansgar’s 16.6 sits above most of its state (66% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 →

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

Start St. Ansgar’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Ansgar’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

How St. Ansgar came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Ansgar.

Read it all →

St. Ansgar is named for the patron saint of Scandinavia, a French Benedictine monk who Christianized much of Denmark, Sweden, and northern Germany between 830 and 865 A.D. The town is the site of First Lutheran Church of St. Ansgar, a pioneer Norwegian Lutheran Church founded in December 1853 by Claus Lauritz Clausen, who was commissioned by the Lutheran Church of Norway to form congregations for Norwegian immigrants in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Ansgar, 1855 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855Post officeThe Saint Ansgar post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1980Born hereRyan Hannam is born here
By decade

St. Ansgar, decade by decade

Today3 recent
St. Ansgar, Iowa2011St. Ansgar, IowaIowahighway105JCTsign2007Iowahighway105JCTsignIAMap-doton-StAnsgar2004IAMap-doton-StAnsgar
On the map

St. Ansgar on the map, 1972 to 1985

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

St. Ansgar on the 1972 USGS mapSt. Ansgar on the 1985 USGS map1972St Ansgar 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 St. Ansgar.

On the National Register

2 historic places in St. Ansgar

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
First Lutheran Church
First Lutheran ChurchSaint Ansgar Public School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1
First Lutheran ChurchGothic Revival
All 2 listings
Saint Ansgar Public SchoolBuilding · listed 2020

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

People over time

St. Ansgar, census by census

02004006008001,0001,200188019001920194019601980200020201,160

Grew from 360 people in 1870 to 1,160 in 2020, 3 times over.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Ansgar
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Ansgar
First LutheranSaint Ansgar

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

Questions about St. Ansgar’s history

What year was St. Ansgar founded?

The St. Ansgar post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does St. Ansgar rank for history?

St. Ansgar is more historic than 75% 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.

What is on the National Register in St. Ansgar?

Two places: the First Lutheran Church (listed 1976) and the Saint Ansgar Public School (2020).

How old are the homes in St. Ansgar?

41% of St. Ansgar’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1953.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.