Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #188 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of Mountain Iron was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1900.
Mountain Iron dates its founding to 1892 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1900.
Mountain Iron was named after the nearby Mountain Iron Mine.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mountain Iron is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #188 of 273 in Minnesota. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Mountain Iron’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Mountain Iron’s post office has been open since 1913. Four other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mountain Iron’s history is told.
Peaked at 4,134 in 1980; 2,878 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mountain Iron’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mountain Iron.
Mountain Iron was founded in 1892 as a mining village in the former Nichols Township. It was named after the nearby Mountain Iron Mine.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveLeonidas Merritt and family 1892 Mountain Iron MN IMG 1495
In the archiveMountain Iron Mine
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mountain Iron. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mountain Iron.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mountain Iron’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Mountain Iron itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1892, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Mountain Iron’s post office opened in 1892, and the census of 1900 counted 470 people here.
Mountain Iron is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #188 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
8% of Mountain Iron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1974.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), 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.
2012
2012
2012
2012
2012
2012
2012
2012
2011
