Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
Winthrop dates its founding to 1857 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1853.
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 Winthrop’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Winthrop yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Winthrop is a city in Buchanan County, Iowa, United States. The population was 823 at the time of the 2020 census.
Winthrop was established in 1857. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 850 to 823 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Winthrop, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The village of Winthrop on the railroad eight miles east of Independence, which had been laid out by A. P. Foster in 1857, and in which the first building had been erected by A. E. Dutton in 1859 grew to be a thriving town, with stores, shops, grain warehouses and elevators, and a population of several hundred. Nine miles to the west of Independence, on the same road, sprung up the village of Jesup in the same manner.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Up to that time there had been no regularly laid out roads in the county, except a territorial road from Marion to Fort Atkinson, crossin" the river at Quasqueton, and running thence nearly north through the county, passing near where is now the village of Winthrop. This was know as the "Mission" road. And another from Marion to the north line of the State laid out in 1846, crossing the river at the same place and passing about two miles east of Independence, at the edge of the timber. The settlers followed such routes as suited their con-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
was born in England in 1818 and, coming to America, was employed as a farm hand in the state of New York for two years. He then made his way westward to Illinois, where he worked upon a farm for a similar period, and in 1855 he came to Iowa, entering a tract of government land four miles north of Winthrop. He then returned to Illinois, where he remained for one year, and in the spring of 1856 he again went to Winthrop, making the journey across the country with ox teams. With characteristic energy he began to break the sod, till the fields and otherwise improve the property. He lived there for ten years, keeping
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 hereRobert S. Doran is born here
Born hereMichelle Monaghan is born hereWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Another post office, Pine, 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).
In 1857, according to Wikidata. Winthrop’s post office opened in 1853.
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 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.