The story
Read it all →How Urbana came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Urbana.
Urbana (previously known as Hoosier Point and Marysville) was laid out in 1847.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick answers
How Urbana began
When was Urbana founded?
1857
The Urbana post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Marysville (1848), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 323 in 19002020 census: 1,554169 years
How historic is Urbana?
C
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 34% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Urbana post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Urbana’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Urbana is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Urbana’s overall grade.
Founding era1857, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194016.6% of homes (±7.4) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%BNational 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 34%
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 Urbana’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 (±7.4 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 Urbana’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Urbana’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Urbana’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Urbana in 1878
Passages that mention Urbana, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Benton County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics ..1878 · page 70Read the page →
Read the text
chief, was slain at the battle of Point Pleasant, and not long after Tecumseh, by his bravery, became the leader of his tribe. In 1795 he was declared chief, and then lived at Deer Creek, near the site of the present City of Urbana. He remained here about one 3'ear, when he returned to Piqua, and in 1798, he went to White River, Indiana. In 1805, he and his brother, Laulewasikan (Open Door), who had announced himself as a prophet, went to a tract of land on the Wabash River, given them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. From this date the chief
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
Urbana, 1848 to 1888
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Urbana, decade by decade
2016
2016
2016
2009
2007
2004On the map
Urbana on the map, 1888 to 1899
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Urbana. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Shellsburg sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Urbana.
People over time
Urbana, census by census
Grew from 323 people in 1900 to 1,554 in 2020, 4 times over.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Urbana’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Urbana
Nobody well known was born in Urbana itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and old corners
Urbana’s post office has been open since 1857. Another post office, Marysville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Marysville
Urbana
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Manatheka
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Urbana’s history
What year was Urbana founded?
The Urbana post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Urbana rank for history?
Urbana is more historic than 34% 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 Urbana?
17% of Urbana’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1994.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, 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.