Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1934 on and the census since 1880.
The Derby post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Henderson (1866), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
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 Derby’s history is told.
Peaked at 334 in 1920; 90 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Derby’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Derby yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Derby is a city in Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 90 at the time of the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 115 to 90 (-22%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Derby, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Population m 1880, 174. The village of Derby was laid out by- Messrs. Perkins and Manchester, trustees for the owners of the land on | which it is situated, it being on the southwest quarter of section twenty- !
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
On the 27th day of April, 1878, a society of the Presbyterian Church was orjranized, and incorporated, at Derby, by the following persons: Reverend W. C. Hollyday, pastor; I. M. Taylor, elder; and A. D. Leech, and Goodman AbeU, deacons. The names of the other members of the society are not given in the record. They proceeded at once to erect a church at an expense of about one thousand dollars. Their pastors have been Reverends Messrs. Hollyday, Edgar, and Allen, but at the present time they have none.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Derby. 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 Derby.
Derby’s post office has been open since 1872. Another post office, Henderson, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Derby post office opened in 1872, 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), 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2025
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2021
2004