Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wenzil Taylor Building · Photo: Kevin Schuchmann · CC BY-SA 3.0Its Register listing is the Wenzil Taylor Building. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1906 on, and the census since 1880.
Spillville dates its founding to 1849 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Spillville. 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 Spillville.
From Wikipedia’s history of Spillville.
Spillville was platted by German Joseph Spielmann in 1860. Originally named Spielville after the founder, Joseph Spielman, the community's name was misread and became Spillville.
It was largely settled by Bohemian, German and Swiss immigrants.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveDvorak-ve Spillvillu
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAntonín Dvořák's memorial at
In the archiveAntonín Dvořák pohlednice Spillville1
In the archiveDvorak-Spillville-Festival4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Spillville’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.
Between 304 and 415 people in every census since 1880.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Spillville’s Wikipedia page.
Spillville’s post office has been open since 1860.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1849, according to Wikidata. Spillville’s post office opened in 1860, and the census of 1880 counted 340 people here.
One place: the Wenzil Taylor Building (listed 1979).
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1941
2004