1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1868.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Van Meter’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Van Meter is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Van Meter’s overall grade.
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 Van Meter’s 18.4 sits above most of its state (68% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.9 points). Two sources give 1869.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Van Meter’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Van Meter was laid out as a town in 1869. The city was named for Jacob Rhodes Van Meter and his family, Dutch settlers from Meteren, the Netherlands. Van Meter was incorporated on December 29, 1877.
The Van Meter Visitor is a local legend that arose from 1903 newspaper reports of people claiming to have seen a winged, bat-like creature in and around Van Meter, reported to be able to shoot light from the horn situated on its forehead and be unaffected by bullets.
The legend includes modern-day claims of sightings, with the Van Meter Visitor Festival held annually around the anniversary of alleged events, attracting tourist business for the town.
Passages that mention Van Meter, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History of Dallas County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. ..1879 · page 483Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Van Meter was incorporated a little more than a year ago. The petition for incorporation was granted June 1, 1877, and was filed for record December 28, 1877. J. R. Van Meter, T. E. Moore, G. 0. Briggs, W. H. Jennings and B. F. Goar were duly appointed as commissioners on corporation and corporation elections. We have not been able to ascertain who were the first town officers elected, nor the date on which the first election was held, but it was not long after the petition of incorporation was granted by the court.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Dallas County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. ..1879 · page 505Read the page →
Read the text
The first church organization formed in the township was that of a Methodist Episcopal church, some time during 1847, and the first church building erected and dedicated in the township was probably the one in the town of Van Meter. The township has five different grave-yards within its limits: one at De Soto, one at Yan Meter, one near Levi Wright's, and two others.
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
Van Meter, 1868 to 1968
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
In 1869, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Van Meter’s post office opened in 1868, and the census of 1880 counted 376 people here.
How does Van Meter rank for history?
Van Meter is more historic than 56% 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.
What is on the National Register in Van Meter?
One place: the Robert William Andrew Feller Farmstead (listed 1999).
How old are the homes in Van Meter?
14% of Van Meter’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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