The Iowa Geographic Information Server has long had 1:24,000 and 1:100,000 topo maps available on its map and photo site, but the USGS has taken it one step further.
Zoom where you want. Then set a marker, get a list. Select and download. You must have cookies enabled to see the map. The PDFs are VERY large.
Search by place name here. (You must know the name of the “quadrangle”, though, which you likely don’t.)
For example, here’s what shows up for Traer:
- 2010 Traer topo map overlaid on aerial/satellite photos (1:24,000)
- 1971 Traer topo map with contours and dots for buildings (1:24,000) (the “traditional” topo map)
- 1984 Marshalltown (1:100,000) original
- 1984 Marshalltown (1:100,000) photorevised 1989
- 1955 Waterloo (1:250,000) original file (why this was made after the following I don’t know)
- 1954 Waterloo (1:250,000) revised 1967, one with a 1968 stamp and one with a 1973 stamp but otherwise apparently the same map
- 1954 Waterloo (1:250,000) revised 1978, shown with I-35 complete
The download list does not differentiate between the originals and photorevised versions without a little extra work. Hover over the year in the listing and it will give more information. It is not pure reverse chronological order.
Point. Click. Drink from the firehose.