Founding year: the first Moville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1889.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Moville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Moville is more historic than 42% of U.S. towns. 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 Moville’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 Moville’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 (±5.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1889 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Moville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
John B McDermott is credited with naming the town of Moville after his birthplace in Moville, Ireland (County Donegal). In 1868, he and other men from the area established a post office at the McDermott home. Because McDermott and his wife Martha housed the post office, they chose to name their new town "Moville." Only two Movilles exist in the world. It is pronounced "MOH-vil."
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Moville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1964Moville sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Moville.
People over time
Moville, census by census
Grew from 296 people in 1890 to 1,687 in 2020, 5 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Moville’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone
Moville’s post office has been open since 1872.
Gone or out of use
Movillelocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Moville’s history
What year was Moville founded?
The Moville post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1889.
How does Moville rank for history?
Moville is more historic than 42% 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.
How old are the homes in Moville?
25% of Moville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 Wikipedia, 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.
