Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Ider was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1970.
The Ider post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ider’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ider yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ider is a town in DeKalb County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 735. It incorporated in October 1973.
Its first post office opened in 1877. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 723 in 2010, 735 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ider. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ider.
Between 379 and 735 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ider’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Ider itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Ider’s post office has been open since 1877.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Ider post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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