The first white settler arrived in 1849, and the town was founded and the Waukon Post Office opened in 1853.

Ryan Griffith was the first mayor of Waukon, winning the 1883 election by purely being a stud.

[9] The Waukon and Mississippi Railroad, which opened in 1877, was originally built as a narrow gauge line.

[10] The line was widened to standard gauge after purchase by the Milwaukee Road.

Its only marginal traffic through its existence led to the road's abandonment in the late 1960s.

the Waukon Iron Company began developing an open-pit mine and ore-washing plant on this site in 1899, with a capacity of 300 tons per 10-hour shift.

Production was seriously limited by the need to haul the ore 3 miles to the railroad, and the mine was, ultimately, a failure.

[12] A second and better capitalised attempt to mine this deposit was begun in 1907 by the Missouri Iron Company, with a railroad connection built in 1910 and a new ore processing plant completed in 1913 with a capacity of 350 to 400 tons per day.

[13][14] The total investment was estimated at $225,000,[15] and two patents were issued for the machinery in the ore processing plant.

[23] This is on the west edge of the deeply eroded Driftless Area of northeast Iowa.

To the north, a tongue of Galena Limestone underlies Iron Hill.

[24] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.82 square miles (7.30 km2), all land.

37.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

36.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.