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History · Williams

Williams’ post office opened in 1869, and 51% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Schultz Brothers Drug Store. Below: maps from 1978 on and the census since 1880.

1869first post office
1on the National Register
51%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Williams began

When was Williams founded?

1869

The Williams post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 79 in 18802020 census: 307157 years
Founding year: the first Williams post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Williams’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Williams are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Williams’ homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 519 in 1950; 307 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Williams’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Williams’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Williams, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Williams yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Williams is a city in Hamilton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 307 at the time of the 2020 census. Williams is a regional center of wind power generation.

Its first post office opened in 1869. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 344 to 307 (-11%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

People over time

Williams, census by census

010020030040050018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 519

Peaked at 519 in 1950; 307 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Williams’ Wikipedia page.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Williams in 1912

Passages that mention Williams, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Williams, spent two years at Grinnell College, and then began his business career in the State Bank of Williams, of which he is now cashier. Earl E., born on the 5th of January, 1887, completed his education at the Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames, of which institution he was a student for t…
History of Hamilton County, Iowa1912 · page 124Read the page →
Read the text

Williams, spent two years at Grinnell College, and then began his business career in the State Bank of Williams, of which he is now cashier. Earl E., born on the 5th of January, 1887, completed his education at the Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames, of which institution he was a student for three years. Leah M., born January 5, 1889, attended the Denver high school and Grinnell College for one year each and the Iowa State Teachers College at Cedar Falls for two years, and has taught the primary department of the Wil-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
October, 1842. and came to America with her family in 1846. They resided for some years in Illinois, coming from there to Hamilton county in 1884. Upon their arrival here they settled on a farm in this township, located four and a half miles north of Williams, which the father successfully cultivat…
History of Hamilton County, Iowa1912 · page 99Read the page →
Read the text

October, 1842. and came to America with her family in 1846. They resided for some years in Illinois, coming from there to Hamilton county in 1884. Upon their arrival here they settled on a farm in this township, located four and a half miles north of Williams, which the father successfully cultivated until the spring of 1906, when he retired from active work and removed to Williams. Here he passed away on March 19, 1909, but the mother is still living and continues to make her home in Williams in the residence which they purchased

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

Williams, 1869 to 1978

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Post officeThe Williams post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901BuiltSchultz Brothers Drug Store is built
  5. 1933Born hereAl McCoy is born here
  6. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 519
  7. 1978On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Williams, decade by decade

Today3 recent
CN 3175 Leads EB L570 Manifest Williams, IA 7-21-242024CN 3175 Leads EB L570 Manifest Williams, IA 7-21-24Williams iowa2009Williams iowaIAMap-doton-Williams2004IAMap-doton-Williams
On the map

Williams on the map, 1978 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Williams. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Williams on the 1978 USGS mapWilliams on the 1985 USGS map1978Williams sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Williams.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Williams

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1996
Schultz Brothers Drug Store
Schultz Brothers Drug Store, built 1901
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian1
Schultz Brothers Drug StoreLate Victorian · Built 1901

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Williams

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Al McCoyAmerican sports announcer · b. 1933
Douglas HoelscherAmerican political aide

Questions about Williams’ history

What year was Williams founded?

The Williams post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Williams?

One place: the Schultz Brothers Drug Store (listed 1996).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.