Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Steamboat Rock Consolidated Schools Building. Below: maps from 1979 on and the census since 1880.
The Steamboat Rock post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lithopolis (1857), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Steamboat Rock was named from a large rock on the river bluff which is said to resemble a queue of steamboats from a distance.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Steamboat Rock’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Steamboat Rock.
Steamboat Rock was platted in 1855. It was named from a large rock on the river bluff which is said to resemble a queue of steamboats from a distance.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJohn Herbert Quick is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Steamboat Rock. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Steamboat Rock.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 264 and 523 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Steamboat Rock’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Steamboat Rock’s post office has been open since 1856. Another post office, Lithopolis, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Steamboat Rock post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Steamboat Rock Consolidated Schools Building (listed 2004).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (4), 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) 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.
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