Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers
How Walford began
When was Walford founded?
1889
The Walford post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Terry (1884), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 1,366137 years
How historic is Walford?
C−
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Walford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Walford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walford is more historic than 24% 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 Walford’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 Walford’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 C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 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 Walford’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Walford was originally called Terry, and under the latter name was laid out in the year 1884 when the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad was extended to that point. In 1889, the town's name was changed to Walford, primarily at the behest of the U.S. Postal Service due to the similarity of names between Terry and Perry, Iowa. In 1897, Walford gained national attention when the general store burned down, leaving a charred corpse; since two men were missing, news stories about the identity of the corpse and the hunt for the survivor made the headlines for weeks.
able farms of the state and there he continned {o be actively identified with the great basic industry of agriculture for a period of seventeen years. In 1891 he sold this fine farra and took up his residence in the village of Walford, Benton county, where he engaged im the grain and lunber business, in whieh he continued successftil operations in an individual way until 1902, when he sold the busmess and property to the Neola Elevator Company, for which eorporation he here continued as manager wntil March,
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
Walford, 1884 to 1889
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Walford’s post office has been open since 1889. Another post office, Terry, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Terry
1884–1889
Walford
1889–today
18801950today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Walford’s history
What year was Walford founded?
The Walford post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Walford rank for history?
Walford is more historic than 24% 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 Walford?
9% of Walford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1994.
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 (2), 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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