Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1870.
The Iatan post office opened in 1855, 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 Iatan’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Iatan. 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 Iatan.
From Wikipedia’s history of Iatan.
The community is said to derive its name from Iatan, a chief of the Otoe tribe who supposedly derived his name from battles with the Comanche who were sometimes also referred to as Iatan; a variant spelling was Iotan. The town site was platted in 1842. A post office called Iatan was established in 1855, and remained in operation until 1964.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Between 39 and 129 people in every census since 1870.
8 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Iatan’s Wikipedia page.
Iatan had its own post office from 1855 to 1968.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Iatan post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 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.
