Chapin is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in northern

Franklin County, Iowa Franklin County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 10,019. The county seat is Hampton, Iowa, Hampton. The county was formed on January 15, ...

, United States. It lies along local roads just off

U.S. Route 65 U.S. Route 65 (US 65) is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of I ...

, north of the city of

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Franklin County. Although Chapin is unincorporated, it has a postal code of 50427. The Chapin post office opened on 29 February 1860 and closed in 2005. As of the 2020 census, its population was 71.

History

Chapin was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

ted in 1858 by

Josiah Bushnell Grinnell Josiah Bushnell Grinnell (December 22, 1821 – March 31, 1891) was a U.S. Congressman from Iowa's 4th congressional district, an ordained Congregational minister, radical abolitionist, one of the founders of Grinnell, Iowa and benefactor of Grin ...

, who had previously founded

Grinnell, Iowa Grinnell ( ) is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,564 at the time of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. It is best known for being the home of Grinnell College, as well as being the location of the ...

. He gave this new town the name Chapin, the maiden name of his wife. The population was 150 in 1940.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2020, there were 71 people, 38 households, and 18 families residing in the community. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 720.4 inhabitants per square mile (278.2/km²). There were 40 housing units at an average density of 405.9 per square mile (156.7/km²). The

racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

makeup of the community was 85.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.0% Black or African American, 0.0% Native American, 0.0% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.4% from other races and 12.7% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

persons of any race comprised 5.6% of the population. The most populous ancestries reported in Chapin are Russian (88 , 64.2%), French (22 , 16.1%), and Irish (6 , 4.4%), together accounting for 84.7% of all Chapin residents. Of the 38 households, 10.5% of which had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 5.3% were cohabitating couples, 34.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present and 15.8% had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 52.6% of all households were non-families. 50.0% of all households were made up of individuals, 28.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older. The median age in the community was 55.3 years. 14.1% of the residents were under the age of 20; 2.8% were between the ages of 20 and 24; 14.1% were from 25 and 44; 36.6% were from 45 and 64; and 32.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the community was 73.2% male and 26.8% female.

Education

Chapin is part of the

West Fork Community School District The West Fork Community School District is a consolidated rural public school district in Iowa, with campuses in Rockwell and Sheffield. It resides in sections of Cerro Gordo and Franklin counties, with smaller portions in Hancock and Wrigh ...

, formed in 2011 by the merger of the Sheffield–Chapin–Meservey–Thornton (SCMT) Community School District and the

Rockwell–Swaledale Community School District Rockwell–Swaledale Community School District was a school district headquartered in Rockwell, Iowa, USA. Located in Cerro Gordo County, it served Rockwell and Swaledale. History The district was formed in 1960 by the merger of the Rockwell C ...

. SCMT was formed in 1987 by the merger of the

Sheffield–Chapin Community School District Sheffield–Chapin Community School District was a school district headquartered in Sheffield, Iowa, serving Sheffield and Chapin. History It formed in 1960 as the result of the merger between the Sheffield Community School District and the Ch ...

and the

Meservey–Thornton Community School District Meservey–Thornton Community School District was a school district headquartered in Thornton, Iowa, serving Thornton and Meservey, Iowa, Meservey. - The page notes that the reorganization into the West Fork CSD, meaning when the district legally ...

. Sheffield–Chapin, in turn, formed in 1960 from the merger of the Sheffield Community School District and the Chapin Community School District.

References

Census-designated places in Franklin County, Iowa Census-designated places in Iowa 1858 establishments in Iowa Populated places established in 1858 {{FranklinCountyIA-geo-stub