In 1852 the city of Tabor was founded by "a few families from Oberlin, Ohio, almost all of them Congregationalists," "generous people, early settlers from New England and Ohio who had brought with them Puritan ideas of religion, and Sumner's and Phillips' and Garrison's ideas of freedom." Among them were the Christian clergymen George Gaston, Samuel A. Adams, and Rev. John Todd, and their families. They chose to settle in what is now Tabor in order to found a Christian college, which eventually became Tabor College. The founders were impressed with this high location and mutually selected the name "Tabor" after the Biblical name of Mount Tabor, a mountain near Nazareth, the town of Jesus' childhood.
Passages that mention Tabor, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Fremont County, Iowa1881 · page 573Read the page →
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“ Tb G. B. Gaston, J. L. Smith, John Todd, S. H. Adams, M L. Carpenter: “ Gentlemen : You are hereby appointed commissioners for the purpose of holding an election in the village of Tabor, Fremont county, Iowa, for the purpose of voting for incorporation, for or against incorporating the village of Tabor; and report your doings in the matter to this court.
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History of Fremont County, Iowa1881 · page 569Read the page →
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P. Matthews, of Tabor, Iowa, our attorney to sign our names to the village plat of the town of Tabor in Fremont and Mills counties, Iowa: hereby confirming such signature by our attorney the same as if we were personally present and did the same.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Tabor, 1852 to 1863
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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