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–Not graded
History · Lowry

Lowry’s post office opened in 1887, and 38% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1900.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
38%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Lowry began

When was Lowry founded?

1887

The Lowry post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Ben Wade (1884), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 260 in 19002020 census: 334139 years
Founding year: the first Lowry post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Lowry’s 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 Lowry are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Lowry’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lowry’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Lowry came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lowry.

Read it all →

Lowry was platted in March 1887, and named for Thomas Lowry, a railroad official. A post office has been in operation at Lowry since 1887.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lowry, 1884 to 1968

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Ben Wade post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Ben Wade post office closes
  4. 1887Post officeThe Lowry post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1968On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Lowry on the map, 1968 to 1986

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

Lowry on the 1968 USGS mapLowry on the 1986 USGS map1968Lowry 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 Lowry.

People over time

Lowry, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 334

Between 225 and 334 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Lowry’s post office has been open since 1887. Another post office, Ben Wade, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Ben Wade
1884–1887
Lowry
1887–today
18801950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Ben Wade TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lowry’s history

What year was Lowry founded?

The Lowry post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.