Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns · #74 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Webster City Post Office, the Kendall Young Public Library and the William J. and Hattie J. Zitterell House. Its Register listings are the Webster City Post Office, the Kendall Young Public Library and the William J. and Hattie J. Zitterell House. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
The Webster City post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Webster City is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #74 of 140 in Iowa. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Webster City’s 3.9 sits near the middle of its state (42% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Webster City’s history is told.
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 year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Webster City.
Webster City was originally called Newcastle by settlers of European descent. Under the latter name it was changed in 1854 by Wilson Brewer. In 1855, Walter C. Willson came to Newcastle.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Webster City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
of service. One readily can understand that nothing less than the pioneer hardships of frontier life could satisfy them, so they made their way westward in 1848, and founded the town of Newcastle, now Webster City, Iowa.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereAbastenia St. Leger Eberle is born here
BuiltWilliam J. and Hattie J. Zitterell House is built
Born hereMacKinlay Kantor is born here
In the archiveWebster City, Ia
In the archiveWebster City IA
In the archiveFlamingo Motel -- Webster City, Iowa (87541)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJenny Simpson is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Webster City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Webster City.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Webster City’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,339 and 8,572 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Webster City’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Webster City’s post office has been open since 1855.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Webster City post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Webster City is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #74 of 140 in Iowa. 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.
Three places: the Webster City Post Office (listed 1982), the Kendall Young Public Library (1983) and the William J. and Hattie J. Zitterell House (1996).
38% of Webster City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1955.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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