Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1880.
The Vail post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Vail’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Vail.
Vail was laid out in 1871, and incorporated in 1875. The city was named for C. E. Vail, a relative of railroad magnate John Insley Blair.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 635 in 1920; 396 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Vail’s Wikipedia page.
Passages that mention Vail, cut from the printed page as they were published.
cordingly, in April, 1873, came to Crawford county, Iowa. At that time much of the land was still in its wild state and the homes of the settlers were widely scattered, there being but two houses between his home in East Boyer township and the village of Vail. However, he began working diligently and persistently and as the years passed, success came to him so that at the time of his death, which occurred in May, 1892, he was the owner of five hundred and twenty acres of valuable land in Crawford county. He was one of a family of three sons and two daughters, but was the only member who came to the United
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 hereWilliam John Dieter is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vail.
1980Vail sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Vail.
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 sheet.
1913Sheet 2 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The Vail post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (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.
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