Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Presbyterian Church. Below: old-book passages.
The West Point post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 West Point’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereArthur Emanuel Hertzler is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of West Point.
West Point was incorporated on March 25, 1858. The name of West Point was chosen by officers of the garrison at Fort Des Moines (Montrose).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention West Point, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The brothers, William and Isham Burton, came from Indiana and made claims in the neighborhood of the present village of West Point. These brothers are still living in the county. They have the honor of making the bricks that were used in the erection of the old Pi-esbyterian Church at West Point, which is believed to have been the first church edifice erected in what is now the State of Iowa. The building was torn down in later years, and part of the old material Avas used in the walls of the present Presbyterian Church edifice at that place. Gen. A. C. Dodge, the first delegate elected to Congress from
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At a special meeting of the Board, held at the house of C. L. Cope, in the town of Fort Madison, on the 10th day of July, 1837, Hawkins Taylor, having paid f 8 into the county treasury, it was ordered that said Hawkins Taylor have license to keep store in West Point, with the permission to retail goods, wares and merchandise at West Point, in Lee County, for the terra of one year from the 10th day of July, 1837, L. G. Bell was licensed to keep a store in the town of Salem, for one year from the 10th of July. John L. Cotton was also licensed to '• keep a store at
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.
The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
West Point’s post office has been open since 1838.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The West Point post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Presbyterian Church (listed 2022).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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