Designated: September 4, 1935, as a spur from US 59 eastward to Northboro
Paving history: There were no paved segments at designation.
1964: Segment west of US 59 was paved, and subsequently decommissioned.
1970: Segment between US 71 and the Fremont/Page county line was paved, and subsequently decommissioned.
1980: Segment in Page County paved, and subsequently decommissioned. The post-1980 segment was entirely paved.
Major alignment changes:
June 30, 1937: Extended eastward to IA 208 north of Blanchard; the spur to Northboro became IA 343.
June 7, 1939: Extended westward from US 59 to US 275 in Hamburg
June 1, 1943: Extended eastward from IA 208 through College Springs to US 71 south of Shambaugh, following the former IA 84 (I) along the way.
October 3, 1945: Straightened to run due eastward from US 59 to US 71 north of Braddyville, per the official route description. Maps from 1946 to 1948 continued to show IA 333 going through College Springs, but both the old and new segments of IA 333 remained under state control. The December 13, 1948, Clarinda Herald-Journal reported that IA 333 was re-routed along the straight segment, with the former segment through College Springs becoming the unsigned IA 999, Iowa's first 900-series highway.
1951: Realigned, again, to follow the former IA 84 (I) through College Springs. The old segment was designated, but not signed, as IA 333A before it was renumbered as IA 999 in 1965.
November 1, 1964: Truncated west of US 59 (and signed as County Road J64 after the present-day county road numbering system was adopted), leaving only the segment between US 59 and US 71.
March 1969: Truncated north and east of Spruce Street in College Springs. The old segments north of College Springs became County Road J52, Nutmeg Avenue, and Missouri Avenue.
1970: Truncated west of the Fremont/Page County line after paving, temporarily removing the highway from Fremont County.
May 15, 1974: Straightened to run due eastward from US 59 to US 71, replacing the aforementioned IA 999. The segment between College Springs and relocated IA 333 held the IA 999 designation until December 15, 1980; it is now Maple Avenue in Page County and South Street, Omaha Avenue, Kansas Street, and Missouri Avenue in College Springs.
December 15, 1980: Original segment in Page County decommissioned; the segment, which reopened as a paved road on December 6, became County Road J64.
December 19, 1980: Routed westward from US 59 to I-29 at Hamburg along the former County Road J64. This segment ran parallel to the Missouri state line, with only one mile separating the two. It became a state highway as the result of a proposed exchange of roads announced in February — Fremont County would take IA 184 in exchange for an extension of IA 145 and a new connecting road between I-29 and US 275. On June 19, a state appeals board ruled that the DOT had to keep IA 184 while the county could take IA 42, but the board upheld a lower appeals board's ruling that the state also had to take J64 — which it did not want — between I-29 and US 275. While the DOT unsuccessfully appealed that ruling, the Fremont County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on October 29 stating that J64 became the state's responsibility on October 10. (The legal holdup may explain IA 333's absence from the 1981 state transportation map.)
July 1, 2003: Truncated east of US 275 in Hamburg. The old segment between US 275 and US 59 became County Road J64 (its pre-1980 designation).
Jeff Morrison's site has a series of maps showing IA 333's long and complicated history.
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