Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 4 old photos and papers from 1909 on and old-book passages.
The Toledo post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name.
Toledo was named after Toledo, Ohio.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Toledo is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Toledo’s 25.4 sits above most of its state (71% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 5 listings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Toledo’s history is told.
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Toledo.
Toledo was founded in 1853 as the county seat of Tama County. It was named after Toledo, Ohio. Toledo was incorporated as a city in 1866.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Toledo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 186S the voters of the Southern one-third part of Toledo township, vxdiicli included Tama City, presented to the Board of Supervisors a petition requesting that the South third of Toledo township be set apart as a new township to be known as Tama township. The reasons urged for this division by tlie petitioners were that they would be much better acconnuodated with township ofiicers, and it was also understood that it would to a gi'eat extent tend to allay the unpleasant strife between the two towns
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Meanwhile, matters were growing worse. Toledo, two miles and a half from a railroad, could not hope to retain the county seat of Tama county. In 1S68 and 1869, meetings were held in Toledo, at which the qiie.stion of a branch road was extensively discussed, and in 1870, the agitation culminated in the organization of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1866, the town of Toledo was incorporated as a city of the third class, and at the first election, the following officers were chosen: Mayor, W. F. Johnston; Recorder, S. C. Rogers; Marshal, S. O.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the first sermon at that time. This organization was called the Tama Mission, with Ira Taylor as class Leader. Their first quarterly meeting was held on November 26th. 1853 at the house of Zebedee Rush, near Toledo. They built the first church in the summer of 1857 at Toledo. Elder Ingham is still a resident of this County and is a hard working, zealous Chrietain, who has spent much time in laboring for his Master. For many years he traveled from settlement to
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltTama County Jail is built
Born hereKing Cole is born hereBuiltHope Fire Company Engine House is built
Born hereDonald Hayworth is born here
In the archiveChildren and teachers posed outside of Mesquakie Day School, near
In the archiveRalph Batcher's station from the February 1916 QST page 33BuiltFirst United Brethren Church is built2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Toledo’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Toledo’s post office has been open since 1853.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Toledo post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Toledo is more historic than 76% 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.
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Wieting Theater (listed 1979, the first).
34% of Toledo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1965.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
1909
1909