The Walcott post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Wolcott (1854), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 362 in 19002020 census: 1,551128 years
How historic is Walcott?
C+
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Walcott post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Walcott’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walcott is more historic than 40% 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 Walcott’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 Walcott’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 (±6.6 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 Walcott’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The City of Walcott was originally platted in 1854. The first passenger train route west of the Mississippi River began service in 1855 and helped Walcott grow. William Walcott, who was a director of Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, donated $500 in 1855 for the construction of a school building, with the stipulation that the fledgling town along the railroad tracks near Davenport be named after him.
Long before Walcott was even a vision to William Walcott, it was a great expanse of open prairie inhabited by the Kaskaskia people. The Kaskaskias were later driven out of the Quad Cities area by the renegade Meskwaki tribe. This tribe, a splinter of the Canadian Iroquois, was America's largest Indian nation.
Walcott was laid out in 1853, on sections 7 and S, by Cook & Sargent, and the first passenger train that ever run over the M. & M. Railroad carried a delegation to attend a sale of lots in the village.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa1910 · page 365Read the page →
Read the text
for about twenty-five years. In 1884 he came to Walcott, arriving here on the 9th of January, and was first employed as operator and later as agent, and the long period of his service with this company is ample proof of the capable and faithful manner in which he discharged his duties. On the loth of February, 1904, he severed his connection with railroad interests to take charge of the organization of the Farmers Savings Bank of Walcott, of which he was one of the principal founders. It was organized on the ist of April, 1904, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, and he was appointed its first cashier, in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
was reared on a farm and received a limited school education, but is mostly self-educated. He came with his parents to Scott County in 1853. In 1866 he engaged in grain and stock speculation at Walcott, which he followed until 1867, when he traveled through Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska on the civil engineers corps; returned to Walcott in 1869, and bought the elevator in company with Philip Dietz and A. Stockdale, which they still operate, deal heavily in grain and live stock and are making a financial
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa1910 · page 395Read the page →
Read the text
While still a resident of Blue Grass township, Mr. Soenke served as school director for a number of years and was formerly on the directorate of the Walcott Savings Bank and the Walcott Creamery Company and he still is a stockholder in these two concerns. He has been treasurer of the German Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Walcott since 1882. In former years his life was one of continuous activity, in which was accorded due recognition of labor, and today he is numbered among the substantial citizens of Davenport and Scott county. His interests have at all times been thoroughly identified with those of
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
Walcott, 1854 to 1898
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Walcott’s post office has been open since 1898. Another post office, Wolcott, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Wolcott
1854–1898
Walcott
1898–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Walcott Eststes
1cemetery inside Walcott
Walcott
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Walcott’s history
What year was Walcott founded?
The Walcott post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Walcott rank for history?
Walcott is more historic than 40% 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 Walcott?
23% of Walcott’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (8), 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.
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