Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the East Dubuque School and the Henry N. Frentess Farmstead. Its Register listings are the East Dubuque School and the Henry N. Frentess Farmstead. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1880.
The East Dubuque post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Dunleith (1854), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 73% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, East Dubuque is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so East Dubuque’s 27.2 sits above most of its state (88% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 2,408 in 1970; 1,505 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on East Dubuque’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of East Dubuque.
East Dubuque was originally called Dunleith, and under the latter name was platted in 1853. The present name comes from the city's location east of Dubuque. A post office was established at Dunleith in 1854, and the post office was renamed East Dubuque in 1879.
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.
Born hereEdward E. Burns is born here
In the archiveThe Burlington Zephyr. East Dubuque, Illinois, LOC image
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archive19971013 02 BNSF ZCHCSTP E Dubuque, Illinois2 decades in the archive, from the 1940s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1940The Burlington Zephyr. East Dubuque, Illinois, LOC im…
1940The Burlington Zephyr. East Dubuque, Illinois
1940Waiting for the train to Minneapolis
1940Waiting for the train to Minneapolis
1940Waiting for the train to Minneapolis
1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: The Burlington Z…
1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Waiting for the …
1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Waiting for the …Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of East Dubuque. 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 East Dubuque.
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 year, then a sheet.
1908Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn 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 East Dubuque’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
East Dubuque’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Dunleith, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The East Dubuque post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
East Dubuque is more historic than 73% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the East Dubuque School (listed 1982) and the Henry N. Frentess Farmstead (2011).
24% of East Dubuque’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1961.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (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 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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