Founding year: the first Dunkirk post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dunkirk’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dunkirk is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dunkirk’s overall grade.
Indiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Indiana town has 7.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dunkirk’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (22% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Dunkirk’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Dunkirk was originally called Quincy, and under the latter name was platted in 1853. When the first post office was established there, it was discovered there was already a Quincy, Indiana, and so the town was renamed Dunkirk to avoid repetition.
The Dunkirk Post Office contains a mural, Preparations for Autumn Festival, Dunkirk, painted in 1941 by Frances Foy. Murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the United States through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts, of the Treasury Department.
Passages that mention Dunkirk, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Historical hand-atlas, illustrated1881 · page 189Read the page →
Read the text
Dunkirk (formerly Quincy) was laid out December to, 1853, by Isaiah Sutton. The North Addition was laid out July T2, 1867, and July 6, [S68, and W. G. Sutton's Addition, February 5, r876. The village is on the line of the P. C. & St. L. Railroad, and has 2 hotels- Holly and Milligan — 2 general stores, 2 hardware stores, 2 drug stores, I grocery, 3 millinery stores, r newspaper— Dunkirk Banner— \ livery stable, 1 saloon, 4 blacksmith shops, 2 tile mills, r grist mill, r saw mill and handle factory, r planing mill, 2 boot and shoe stores, r butcher
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.
By decade
Dunkirk, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Dunkirk post office opened in 1856, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dunkirk rank for history?
Dunkirk is more historic than 49% 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.
How old are the homes in Dunkirk?
33% of Dunkirk’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (3), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
1896
2017
2012