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History · St. Charles

St. Charles dates to 1852, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Imes Covered Bridge. Below: maps from 1951 on and the census since 1880.

1852founded

1on the National Register

23%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How St. Charles began, and where its name came from

When was St. Charles founded?

1852

St. Charles dates its founding to 1852 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 183 in 18802020 census: 640174 years

How did St. Charles get its name?

St. Charles was named after the city of St. Charles, Missouri.

Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1853. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about St. Charles’ 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. Charles are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

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Start St. Charles’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

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The story

How St. Charles came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Charles.

Read it all →

St. Charles was platted in 1852. It was named after the city of St. Charles, Missouri. St. Charles was incorporated as a city in 1876.

From 2015, the city annually hosts the Hinterland Music Festival, which is considered to be the largest music festival in Iowa. In 2018, the city also became the site of the Big Country Bash, a country music festival which had previously been hosted in Des Moines.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about St. Charles in 1915

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

Annual reunions have been held since that time and with one or two exceptions, when it was held at Patterson, the meetings have been held in the vicinity or within the Town of St. Charles, where the society was organized. Reunions are usually held during the month of August. Many look forward to th… — **History of Madison County, Iowa, and its people**1915Read the page →
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Annual reunions have been held since that time and with one or two exceptions, when it was held at Patterson, the meetings have been held in the vicinity or within the Town of St. Charles, where the society was organized. Reunions are usually held during the month of August. Many look forward to this day as a day of meeting old friends and neighbors, and there congregate annually in the grove north of the Opera House, now owned by the Park Association, from one to three thousand people. Those who have been chosen president since 1902 are as follows: C. W. Faust, Dr. f. Roberts, Lewis Kimer, R. D.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

The Keokuk & Western Railroad, now a part of the Burlington System, was built in 1882 as a narrow gauge and entered the county in South Township, just east of St. Charles, making that place its first station in the county. Running in a southwesterly direction, its next stopping point is Truro, from… — **History of Madison County, Iowa, and its people**1915 · page 175Read the page →
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The Keokuk & Western Railroad, now a part of the Burlington System, was built in 1882 as a narrow gauge and entered the county in South Township, just east of St. Charles, making that place its first station in the county. Running in a southwesterly direction, its next stopping point is Truro, from whence it bends southward and then taking a curve on section 26, in Ohio Township, trends in a northeasterly direction and leaves the township and county at section 24. It was changed to a standard gauge about 1896. With these lines Madison County is pretty well supplied with railroad facilities. A number of other
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

St. Charles, 1852 to 1951

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

19th century
1852
FoundingSt. Charles is established
1853Post officeThe Saint Charles post office opens
1870BuiltImes Covered Bridge is built
20th century
1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

St. Charles, decade by decade

Today3 recent

2024Central Iowa to move (29)

2024Central Iowa to move (26)

2004IAMap-doton-StCharles

On the map

St. Charles on the map, 1951 to 1983

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

1951St Charles sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Charles.

On the National Register

1 historic place in St. Charles

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1979

Imes Covered Bridge

Structures

Imes Covered BridgeBuilt 1870

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

People over time

St. Charles, census by census

Between 183 and 653 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to St. Charles

Nobody well known was born in St. Charles itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →

John WayneAmerican actor · b. 1907

Stanley B. PrusinerAmerican neurologist and biochemist · b. 1942

Cloris LeachmanAmerican actress and comedian · b. 1926

Corey TaylorAmerican musician · b. 1973

Bill BrysonAmerican-British author · b. 1951

Brandon RouthAmerican actor · b. 1979

Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

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

Hamlets and corners on the map

Saint Charles

Gone or out of use

Saint Charleslocale

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

Questions about St. Charles’ history

What year was St. Charles founded?

In 1852, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. St. Charles’ post office opened in 1853, and the census of 1880 counted 183 people here.

What is on the National Register in St. Charles?

One place: the Imes Covered Bridge (listed 1979).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

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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 (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.

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