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History · Swan

Swan was first counted by the census in 1880, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1880.

1880first census
0on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
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Photo: PopePompus · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Swan began

When was Swan founded?

1880

Swan first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 99 in 18802020 census: 76146 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about Swan’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 Swan are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 419 in 1890; 76 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Swan’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Swan’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

Swan, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 419

Peaked at 419 in 1890; 76 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Swan, in brief

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

Swan is a city in Marion County, Iowa, United States. The population was 76 at the time of the 2020 census. On April 18th 2025 the city council of Swan voted to disincorporate the city.

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 72 to 76 (+6%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Swan, 1872–1915

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

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad enters the township from the south, about two miles from the southwest corner, and follows a course a little west of north to the Town of Swan, where it turns to the west and crosses the western boundary of the county about a mile south of the Des Moines Ri…
History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 132Read the page →
Read the text

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad enters the township from the south, about two miles from the southwest corner, and follows a course a little west of north to the Town of Swan, where it turns to the west and crosses the western boundary of the county about a mile south of the Des Moines River. Swan is the only station in the township.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
SWAN Swan is an incorporated town on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, sixteen miles northwest of Knoxville and in the northwest corner of Swan Township. Soon after the railroad was completed the company bought forty acres of land in the southwest quarter of section 17, township 77, range …
History of Marion County, Iowa, and its people1915 · page 180Read the page →
Read the text

SWAN Swan is an incorporated town on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, sixteen miles northwest of Knoxville and in the northwest corner of Swan Township. Soon after the railroad was completed the company bought forty acres of land in the southwest quarter of section 17, township 77, range 21, from John Shook, with the view of founding a town and establishing a station. In September, 1879, Anselmo B. Smith, a civil engineer, laid out a town of

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
As above defined it included all of the present township of Perry and all that of Swan, except two sections and four half sections belonging to town. 76, range 21, since added to Swan. The place of holding elections was at the house of Win.
Pioneers of Marion county, consisting of a general history of the county from its early settlement to the present date. Also, the geography and history of each township, including brief biographical sketches of some of the more prominent early settlers in1872 · page 301Read the page →
Read the text

As above defined it included all of the present township of Perry and all that of Swan, except two sections and four half sections belonging to town. 76, range 21, since added to Swan. The place of holding elections was at the house of Win.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It was called Swan from the beauty and brevity of the name, by the suggestion of a former citizen of Swan township, Athens county, Ohio.
Pioneers of Marion county, consisting of a general history of the county from its early settlement to the present date. Also, the geography and history of each township, including brief biographical sketches of some of the more prominent early settlers in1872 · page 310Read the page →
Read the text

It was called Swan from the beauty and brevity of the name, by the suggestion of a former citizen of Swan township, Athens county, Ohio.

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

Swan, 1880 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Swan post office opens
  3. 1890CensusPopulation peaks at 419
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Swan, decade by decade

Today3 recent
SwanIowaVeteransMemorial2024SwanIowaVeteransMemorialSwanIowaCityHall2024SwanIowaCityHallIAMap-doton-Swan2004IAMap-doton-Swan
On the map

Swan on the map, 1910 to 1965

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

Swan on the 1910 USGS mapSwan on the 1965 USGS map1910Milo 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 Swan.

Famous people

Famous people close to Swan

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

See all →
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
Joey JordisonAmerican musician · b. 1975
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Swan’s post office has been open since 1880.

Gone or out of use
Swanlocale

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

Questions about Swan’s history

What year was Swan founded?

The Swan post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (3), 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.