The story
Read it all →How Cerro Gordo came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Cerro Gordo.
Cerro Gordo was incorporated in 1874, taking its name from the 1847 Battle of Cerro Gordo in Mexico.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Cerro Gordo
Cerro Gordo’s post office opened in 1853, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1880.
1853first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Cerro Gordo began
When was Cerro Gordo founded?
1853
The Cerro Gordo post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Mount Tabor (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 90 in 18802020 census: 131173 years
Founding year: the first Cerro Gordo post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Cerro Gordo’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Cerro Gordo’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cerro Gordo’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Cerro Gordo, census by census
Peaked at 379 in 1940; 131 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cerro Gordo’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Cerro Gordo, 1853 to 1953
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Cerro Gordo on the map, 1953 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cerro Gordo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1953Chadbourn sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cerro Gordo.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Cerro Gordo
Nobody well known was born in Cerro Gordo itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Cerro Gordo’s post office has been open since 1853. Another post office, Mount Tabor, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Cerro Gordo
Mount Tabor
18501940today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Cerro Gordo’s history
What year was Cerro Gordo founded?
The Cerro Gordo post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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.