Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Tripoli

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Tripoli

Tripoli’s post office opened in 1860, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1880.

1860first post office
0on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Tripoli’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Tripoli began

When was Tripoli founded?

1860

The Tripoli post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 65 in 18802020 census: 1,191166 years

How historic is Tripoli?

B−

More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Tripoli post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Tripoli’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tripoli is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Tripoli’s overall grade.
Founding era1860, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194043.0% of homes (±7.6) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%A+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical IA town 9.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 52%
NewerOlder

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 Tripoli’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Tripoli’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Tripoli’s homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tripoli’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRuth Husband (Woman's Home Missions, 19…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Tripoli, in brief

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

Tripoli ( tri-POH-lə) is a city in Bremer County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,191 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Waterloo–Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Tripoli Post Office opened in 1860.

Its first post office opened in 1860. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,313 to 1,191 (-9%).

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

Timeline

Tripoli, 1860 to 1971

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1860Post officeThe Tripoli post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1922In the archiveRuth Husband (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)
  5. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Tripoli, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
Ruth Husband (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)1922Ruth Husband (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
FI0004307 Tripoli 19202022FI0004307 Tripoli 1920Tripoli IA, October 20132013Tripoli IA, October 2013IAMap-doton-Tripoli2004IAMap-doton-Tripoli
On the map

Tripoli on the map, 1971 to 1984

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

Tripoli on the 1971 USGS mapTripoli on the 1984 USGS map1971Tripoli sheet · 1:24,000

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

Every building

Tripoli, building by building, 1915

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Tripoli fire insurance map, 1915, sheet 11915Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Ruth Husband (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)
Retake this viewRuth Husband (Woman's Home Missions, 1922), 1922

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Tripoli’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Tripoli, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,40018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,345

Between 65 and 1,345 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Tripoli’s post office has been open since 1860.

Gone or out of use
Tripolilocale

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

Questions about Tripoli’s history

What year was Tripoli founded?

The Tripoli post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Tripoli rank for history?

Tripoli is more historic than 52% 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.

How old are the homes in Tripoli?

43% of Tripoli’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1955.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.