Founding year: the first Milford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Milford’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Milford is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #109 of 140 in Iowa. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Milford’s overall grade.
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 Milford’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 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 →
The Iowa Great Lakes Area was settled in the 1850s. It attracted many colonists because of the rich black soil, water from the lakes, and an abundance of wild game and fish. As the population increased at these times, there was a need for a good flouring mill because the nearest mills were those in Mankato, Minnesota and Fort Dodge, Iowa. In 1861, there was an attempt to build one on Mill Creek, at the outlet of the Great Lakes but the attempt was abandoned after the Dakota-U.S. War of 1862 and the extremely low water level that year. In 1868 one was successfully built, and sawmill was built and put into operation in 1869. The mills began to attract many customers, and the small community began to grow around Old Town. In 1870, the company that operated the mill bought a section of land northwest of Old Town and laid out a plan for the town of Milford.
Passages that mention Milford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa1917Read the page →
Read the text
The land upon which the new town of Milford, or North Milford as it was called, was laid out, was purchased from John Lawler. The town was laid out by him, surveyed, platted, and the plat filed at the Dickinson County courthouse August 21, 1882.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa1917 · page 350Read the page →
Read the text
MILFORD The town of Milford had its start on account of the ei'ection of the Milford flouring mill in the summer of 1869. A small community began to grow around the location of the mill. The company which operated this mill procured a half section of land and, after completing the erection of the mill and other improvements, laid out a plat of the town of
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.
Timeline
Milford, 1870 to 1970
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born 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 Milford post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Milford rank for history?
Milford is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #109 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.
How old are the homes in Milford?
17% of Milford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 the Library of Congress (6), 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.
1900
1900
1936
1936
