The story
Read it all →How Welton came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Welton.
Welton got its start in the year 1871, following construction of the Davenport and St. Paul Railroad through the territory.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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History · Welton
Welton’s post office opened in 1851, and 73% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: old-book passages.
1851first post office
0on the National Register
73%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Welton began
When was Welton founded?
1851
The Welton post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1871.
2020 census: 121175 years
Founding year: the first Welton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1871.The full story ↓
What stands out about Welton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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Start Welton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Welton’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Welton, 1879–1911
Passages that mention Welton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa1911Read the page →
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\\'hen the Da\enport & St. Paul railway was Ijuilt they located a station near the Seventh-Day Baptist settlement and called it Welton. The present town of Welton has grown up about the station. Probably William Lambertson was the first merchant to locate here, and at about the same time George W^allace. of De Witt, set up a store. He was succeeded by Irons & Perrine, tr)r many \-ears in business, and the}' by Haney Brothers.
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Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa1911Read the page →
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In the winter of 1909-10 there was established a new parish at the town of Welton, and the present pastor is a resident of the town, and a church to cost twenty thousand dollars is in process of erection. OUR lady of angels seminary.
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The history of Clinton County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns &c., biographical sketches of citizens1879 · page 641Read the page →
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The township of Welton comprises nearly all of Township 82 north. Range 3 east, the eastern half of Sections 24 and 25 and Sections 34, 35 and 36, being included in De Witt Township. It is bounded north by Bloomfield Township, west by Berlin Township, south by Orange and De Witt Townships, and east by De Witt and Washington ToAvnships. The township was organized in March, 1858, and the first election held in the Walrod Schoolhouse, the first Monday in April, 1858. With the exception of Lincoln, organized many years later, this was the last township organized, and its territory was
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The history of Clinton County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns &c., biographical sketches of citizens1879 · page 371Read the page →
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On the 11th of March, 1858, on petition of citizens. Congressional Township 82 north. Range 3 east, was taken from the townships of De Witt and Bloomfield and organized as a township, and called Welton. The first election was held at the Walrod schoolhouse, on the first Monday in April, 1858. By this organization, the six original townships at the organization had, by the increased population and its demands for convenience in the dispatch of business, been more than trebled, now numbering twenty civil townships. This number has since been increased to twenty-one by the organization of Lincoln
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.
By decade
Welton, decade by decade
2014
2014
2004Places that used to be
Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Welton’s post office has been open since 1851.
Hamlets and corners on the map
North Welton
Gone or out of use
Weltonlocale
1cemetery inside Welton
Seventh Day Baptist
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Welton’s history
What year was Welton founded?
The Welton post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1871.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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Sources
Where this page comes from
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.