Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Dietrich was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Its Register listing is the Paul, Denton J., Water Tank.
The Dietrich post office opened in 1909, 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 Dietrich’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dietrich yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Dietrich is a city in Lincoln County, Idaho, United States. The population was 284 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1909. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 332 to 284 (-14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Dietrich itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Dietrich had its own post office from 1909 to 1972.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Dietrich post office opened in 1909, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Paul, Denton J., Water Tank (listed 1983).
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2004