Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns · #101 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Allen House and the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier, Church and Rectory. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1880.
Dyersville dates its founding to 1851 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
Dyersville was named for early landowner James Dyer (1820–1864).
More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dyersville is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #101 of 140 in Iowa. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dyersville’s 6.8 sits near the middle of its state (50% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
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 Dyersville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dyersville. 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 Dyersville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Dyersville.
Dyersville was laid out in 1851. It was named for early landowner James Dyer (1820–1864). Dyer immigrated from Banwell, England and established a hotel, The Clarendon, in 1857. His sons, James Andrew Dyer, with 6th Iowa Cavalry Regiment and Henry Andrew Dyer, with 21st Iowa Infantry Regiment, served in the American Civil War.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Dyersville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
tentious structure of solid stone was constructed and was dedicated in 1855 by Bishop Smyth. The last church was built in 1884-7 after which the old church of 1855 was devoted to school purposes. St. Francis Xavier church at Dyersville was an offspring of St. Boniface church. So was Holy Trinity at Luxemburg and others. The present church is one of the finest in the west. It cost $80,000, is built of limestone, gothic in style and 172x62 feet.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At a distance of twenty-nine miles west of Dubuque, and by the wayside of the Iowa Division of the Illinois Central Railroad, is the flourishing and beautifully located town of Dyersville, situated on a prominent eminence in the western portion of Dubuque County, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country. The town is nearly encircled by a large belt of forest timber, while the beautiful and undulating prairies beyond, rolling away in the distance, dotted here and there with numerous pine groves, present to the eye of the observer a combination of beauty and majesty rivaled by no country in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Francis Seminary. Alilwaukee. where, on March 16. 1872, he was ordained to the priesthood ; succeeding which, in regular order, he was stationed at Keokuk. Richmond, Centralia, Worthington, Dyersville and Dubuque, but it was in this county that he became most widely known. Through his instrumentality the church and school at Worthington were built ; at Dyersville he remodeled the church, established a high school and founded an academy for girls.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the year 1849, James Dyer, Sr., fitted up an apartment in one of his houses for church and Sabbath-school purposes. The location was one mile east of the present town of Dyersville, near the cemetery, in which the Rev. William Trick, Sr., preached regularly and held class and Sabbath school for a number of years.
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.
Born hereClarence Morley is born here
BuiltBasilica of St. Francis Xavier, Church and Rectory is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveDyersville, IA - c. 1909
In the archiveBirdeye view of
In the archiveNorth Fork Maquoketa River3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1908Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dyersville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 975 people in 1880 to 4,477 in 2020, 4 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dyersville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Dyersville’s post office has been open since 1854.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1851, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Dyersville’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1880 counted 975 people here.
Dyersville is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns, #101 of 140 in Iowa. 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.
Two places: the Allen House (listed 1975) and the Basilica of St. Francis Xavier, Church and Rectory (1999).
14% of Dyersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1975.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1912
2003