Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1973 on, and the census since 1900.
The Wellman post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Wassonville (1849) and Daytonville (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wellman 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.
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 Wellman’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.
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 Wellman’s history is told.
Wellman’s post office has been open since 1879. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Wellman.
Wellman is named for Joseph Edward Wellman, who in July, 1879, provided 40 acres (160,000 m2) of his farmland for railroad construction including lots for development near the depot. Mr. Wellman was born in Lawrence County, Kentucky on 12 May 1824, acquired his farm in 1859, and died in Wellman on 14 January 1901.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Wellman, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Fesler; there he remained till the fall of 1879, when he came to the town of Wellman and built him a commodious room and opened a full line of hardware and agricultural implements; his was the first storeroom finished in the town, although there were several others under way
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Fesler; thei-e he remained till the fall of 1879, when he came to the town of Wellman and built him a commodious room and opened a full line of hardware and agricultural implements; his was the first storeroom finished in the town, although there were several others under way
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
abundant resources from which a town of considerable size might draw sustenance. However, the shriek of the first engine on the railroad sounded the death knell of Dayton and what of life and vitality it once possessed has now transmigrated to the body corporate of Wellman. WELLMAN. Wellman is situated on English river, section 24. It is a thriving business town, it having achieved all its growth since September, 1879. There are now four stores of general merchandise, two drug stores, two harness
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.
In the archiveRose M. Dawson (Woman's Home Missions, 1922)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wellman. 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 Wellman.
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 Wellman’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 654 people in 1900 to 1,524 in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Wellman’s Wikipedia page.
The Wellman post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Wellman 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.
23% of Wellman’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (10), 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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