Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Yale High School Gymnasium. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1910.
The Yale post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1901.
Yale was named for its founder, Milo Yale.
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 Yale’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Yale.
Yale was platted in 1882. It was named for its founder, Milo Yale.
In 1932, the Yale High School Gymnasium was built. The round building has fallen into disuse, but is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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 archivePostcard showing Yale Iowa in early 1900s
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Yale. 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 Yale.
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.
1914Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Yale’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 220 and 304 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Yale’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Yale itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Yale’s post office has been open since 1882.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Yale post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1901.
One place: the Yale High School Gymnasium (listed 2018).
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 (4), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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