A history of Marengo,
since 1845
Postcards, papers and photographs of Marengo from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Marengo was laid out in 1845 and platted in 1847. The city's name commemorates the Battle of Marengo, where Napoleon defeated the Austrian army.
The Iowa County Courthouse, built in 1893, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a group of escaped slaves from Missouri to Michigan. On February 20, the group stayed at the Draper B. Reynolds Farm 1.5 miles south of Marengo.
An explosion at the C6-Zero alternative fuel production plant resulted in a fire and multiple injuries December 2022, prompting the city to urge residents to evacuate and avoid the area until the toxic smoke cleared.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Marengo’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewBird's eye view of the city of Ma…, 1868: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Marengo
See all 8 →
Marengo, decade by decade
1990s
1 historic place in Marengo
1 place in Marengo is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Bird's eye view of the city of Marengo, Iowa Co., Iowa 1868 (1868) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (3) and the Library of Congress (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.