Most of Dunnellon was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 70 buildings. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Dunnellon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dunnellon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dunnellon is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dunnellon’s overall grade.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dunnellon’s 316 sits above most of its state (99% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 70 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Dunnellon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Dunnellon was founded in 1887, two years before the 1889 discovery of phosphate in the area. The community was named after, John F. Dunn, an early settler who worked in the railroad industry. The City of Dunnellon was platted in 1890, and officially incorporated as a municipality in 1891. The subsequent mining boom, the first of its kind in Florida, lasted until the early 1910s, but the city's nickname is still known as "Boomtown". The original mining took place in and around the Rainbow River (then called Blue Run,) using the river's natural flow to transport phosphates. One of the original mining pits is now called the 'Blue Cove' subdivision. Phosphate industry operations began to shift south to the Polk County area, and by the 1960s, Dunnellon's last mine closed. Dunnellon survived the bust period, unlike other nearby phosphate communities that became ghost towns, such as Romeo, LeR…
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Dunnellon post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dunnellon rank for history?
Dunnellon is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Dunnellon?
One place: the Dunnellon Boomtown Historic District (listed 1988).
How old are the homes in Dunnellon?
6% of Dunnellon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1984.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (7), the Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1890
1890
1890
1890![Florida [Hamilton County - Sarasota County (part)]](https://images.townratings.com/story/2307/c06d5e2ec647233bf608-s.jpg)
1940
1949
1956
2007