Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Sherrill

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Sherrill

39% of Sherrill’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Sherrill Mount House. Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1940.

1on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Sherrill’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Sherrill are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19004 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1984. Watch Sherrill change.Old housesHalf of Sherrill’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sherrill’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sherrill’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Sherrill on the map, 1900 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sherrill. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Sherrill on the 1900 USGS mapSherrill on the 1956 USGS mapSherrill on the 1972 USGS mapSherrill on the 1984 USGS map1900Lancaster sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Sherrill.

The story

How Sherrill came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sherrill.

Read it all →

Sherrill was named for two brothers, Adam and Isaac Sherrill, and was originally called Sherrill's Mound or Mount, since the city is at the base of a prominent hill. In 1856, Peter Fries, an Austrian immigrant, built a large, stone inn at the main crossroads of the city. It was popular with newlyweds, and Jesse James and his gang were reported to have stayed there before their famous raid on Northfield, Minnesota. The structure has survived and been restored as the Black Horse Inn. Large numbers of German immigrants settled in Sherrill and the surrounding rural area in the 19th century. German Catholic (SS. Peter and Paul), German Lutheran (St. Matthew), German Methodist, and German Evangelical churches were founded and remain active. Sherrill was one of ten "Beer Towns" incorporated in Dubuque County in 1933 to ensure that the city's taverns could serve beer, under a possibly mistaken …

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Sherrill in 1880

Passages that mention Sherrill, cut from the printed page as they were published.

A short time previous to his death, he became involved in a quarrel with j two brothers named Adam and Isaac Sherrill, and, being worsted in the j encounter, he publicly proclaimed that he would shoot “ Ad Sherrill on sight.” This intelligence was brought to the knowledge of the intended victim, wh…
The history of Dubuque County, Iowa1880 · page 356Read the page →
Read the text

A short time previous to his death, he became involved in a quarrel with j two brothers named Adam and Isaac Sherrill, and, being worsted in the j encounter, he publicly proclaimed that he would shoot “ Ad Sherrill on sight.” This intelligence was brought to the knowledge of the intended victim, who was thus placed on his guard, and one day, seeing Anderson on the street in Durango, shot him dead. Sherrill was arrested, and arraigned before Joseph T.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Adam Sherrill and brother, Garry White and others, first located themselves at Sherrill’s mound, so called in their honor. They discovered remunerative diggings near by, and the settlement established by them became a central point in Jefferson Township.
The history of Dubuque County, Iowa1880 · page 372Read the page →
Read the text

Adam Sherrill and brother, Garry White and others, first located themselves at Sherrill’s mound, so called in their honor. They discovered remunerative diggings near by, and the settlement established by them became a central point in Jefferson Township.

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.

By decade

Sherrill, decade by decade

Today10 recent
View from the bluffs of Sherrill, Iowa, of the rich agricultural valley, near the Mississippi River, far below2016View from the bluffs of Sherrill, Iowa, of the rich a…View from the bluffs of Sherrill, Iowa, of the rich agricultural valley, near the Mississippi River, far below2016View from the bluffs of Sherrill, Iowa, of the rich a…View from the bluffs of Sherrill, Iowa, of the rich agricultural valley, near the Mississippi River, far below2016View from the bluffs of Sherrill, Iowa, of the rich a…The Black Horse Inn, a bed-and-breakfast inn at the old Sherrill Mount House, a roadhouse built in 18562016The Black Horse Inn, a bed-and-breakfast inn at the o…Abandoned farm near the town of Sherrill in Dubuque County, Iowa2016Abandoned farm near the town of Sherrill in Dubuque C…Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church2016Saints Peter and Paul Catholic ChurchKids enjoy the family treehouse outside Sherrill, Iowa2016Kids enjoy the family treehouse outside Sherrill, IowaSherrill Mount House2010Sherrill Mount HouseBarn Bar in2010Barn Bar inSherrilliowa12006Sherrilliowa1
On the National Register

1 historic place in Sherrill

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2002
Sherrill Mount House
Sherrill Mount House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Mid 19th Century1
Sherrill Mount HouseMid 19th Century

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Sherrill, census by census

010020019401960198020002020Peak: 208

Between 82 and 208 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sherrill’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Sherrill’s history

What is on the National Register in Sherrill?

One place: the Sherrill Mount House (listed 2002).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (3), the Library of Congress (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.