The story so far
Waverly, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Waverly yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,022 to 963 (-6%).
Azure Mountain Fire Observation Station · Photo: Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0–Not graded
History · Waverly
33% of Waverly’s homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Azure Mountain Fire Observation Station. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1919 on, and old-book passages.
1on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
What stands out about Waverly’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 Waverly’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Waverly’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Waverly on the map, 1919 to 1964
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Waverly. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1919Nicholville 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 Waverly.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Waverly in 1914
Passages that mention Waverly, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement1914 · page 236Read the page →
Read the text
kotas. Considerable grading had been accomplished up to 1876, when the company failed. The Dubuque & Dakota Railroad Company was then organized and finished the work from Waverly to Hampton. Eventually the road was completed, is now under the control and management of the Chicago Great Western and is known by that name.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement1914 · page 224Read the page →
Read the text
"On the 5th day of July, 1859, I arrived in Franklin county. I left Illinois, with others, in a wagon with a team of horses, having with me books and other necessaries. On July 4th we traveled from Sumner to Waverly. It started to rain, and there being no houses between the Wapsipinicon river and Waverly, we traveled straight across the prairie. The rain turned to snow, which fell to a depth of all of four inches, but it melted before we got to Waverly, This was a phenomenon I had never seen before nor since, of a snow of
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.
Timeline
Waverly, 1872 to 1932
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1872
In the archivePlates 19 and 20- West Farms, Westchester Co. N.Y. - Waverly, Town of East Chester - 1873Post officeThe Saint Regis Falls post office opens
- 20th century
- 1906Post officeThe Gile post office opens
- 1919
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1932Post officeThe Gile post office closes
By decade
Waverly, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewPlates 19 and 20- West Farms, Westchester Co. N.Y. - Waverly, Town of East Chester, 1872
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Waverly’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in Waverly
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2001
Azure Mountain Fire Observation Station
Structures
Architectural styles listings
Utilitarian1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Waverly
Nobody well known was born in Waverly itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Gile, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Saint Regis Falls
Gile
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GileSaint Regis Falls
Gone or out of use
Guide Board SchoolschoolLake Ozonia SchoolschoolPalmer SchoolschoolSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 5school
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Waverly
ForestSaint Anns
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.
Questions about Waverly’s history
What is on the National Register in Waverly?
One place: the Azure Mountain Fire Observation Station (listed 2001).
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.