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B−History
History · Dyer

Dyer dates to 1838, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #390 of 593 in Indiana. What drives it

Most of Dyer was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listing is the Joseph Ernest Meyer House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1984 on, and the census since 1910.

1838founded
1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dyer’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dyer began

When was Dyer founded?

1838

Dyer dates its founding to 1838 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 545 in 19102020 census: 16,517188 years

How historic is Dyer?

B−

More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1857.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Dyer’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dyer is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #390 of 593 in Indiana. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dyer’s overall grade.
Founding era1838, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19402.7% of homes (±2.1) · typical IN town 14.4% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 0.6 per 10,000 residents · typical IN town 7.9 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 48%
NewerOlder
Indiana towns of 2,500+ (593)Ahead of 34%

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 Dyer’s 0.6 sits near the middle of its state (45% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1838.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Dyer’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1838: 188 years of Dyer.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dyer’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dyer’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewThoroughbred: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Dyer, 1838 to 1995

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838
    FoundingDyer is established
  3. 1857Post officeThe Dyer post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1906Born hereJack Chevigny is born here
  6. 1963In the archiveThoroughbred
  7. 1984On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1995Born hereMike Miklusak is born here
The story

How Dyer came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dyer.

Read it all →

In 1830, the first permanent white settlers came to Northwest Indiana. The earliest historical records date back to 1838. On June 1, 1855, the original plat of the town was established. Aaron Norton Hart, a settler from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, played a key role in developing Dyer's infrastructure in the 1860s and 1870s. Hart supervised construction of roads and the implementation of a drainage ditch system, allowing agricultural and commercial use of the marshy land. Hart was killed in 1883 while working on a ditch near Plum Creek. Hart Street, one of Dyer's major north–south streets, bears his name. Hart's wife, Martha Dyer Hart, is the town's namesake.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Dyer in 1915

Passages that mention Dyer, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Dyer and A. N. Hart The village of Dyer, about four miles to the northwest of St. John, on the Monon line, is just east of the Illinois boundary. At an early day a settlement was made on Thorn Creek, and in 1838 the State Line House was built. In the middle '50s, when the Joliet Cut Off was being p…
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 189Read the page →
Read the text

Dyer and A. N. Hart The village of Dyer, about four miles to the northwest of St. John, on the Monon line, is just east of the Illinois boundary. At an early day a settlement was made on Thorn Creek, and in 1838 the State Line House was built. In the middle '50s, when the Joliet Cut Off was being put through Cady's marsh, there were two taverns for travelers at that locality, as well as a few residences. The event which brought growth to Dyer and developed the adjacent country into fertile and productive

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mr. Hart's Death In view of JMr. Hart's great prominence as the founder of Dyer and a leading promoter of the county's agricultural interests, the circumstances of his death, which caused widespread notice, are here given as narrated by the local press: "Friday morning about 11:30 o'clock, Mr. Hart…
A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region1915 · page 190Read the page →
Read the text

Mr. Hart's Death In view of JMr. Hart's great prominence as the founder of Dyer and a leading promoter of the county's agricultural interests, the circumstances of his death, which caused widespread notice, are here given as narrated by the local press: "Friday morning about 11:30 o'clock, Mr. Hart was superintending the construction of a ditch cutting off a large bend in Plum Creek, which flows through his farm at Dyer. The ditch had already been cut through and a current was flowing. The

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

Dyer, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s2 items
Thoroughbred1963ThoroughbredThoroughbred1965Thoroughbred
1970s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today22 recent
South Bridge, 19092008South Bridge, 1909PostcardRadiant Motel, 19562008Radiant Motel, 1956PostcardLincoln Highway, U. S. 30, 19382008Lincoln Highway, U. S. 30, 1938PostcardInterior View of Dyer Catholic Church, circa 19102008Interior View of Dyer Catholic Church, circa 1910PostcardDyer Post Office and Street Looking East, 19062008Dyer Post Office and Street Looking East, 1906PostcardChapel, Our Lady of Mercy Hospital-Sanitarium, 19532008Chapel, Our Lady of Mercy Hospital-Sanitarium, 1953PostcardTeibel's Tourist Court, circa 19502007Teibel's Tourist Court, circa 1950PostcardStreet Scene, circa 19102007Street Scene, circa 1910PostcardLooking South, circa 19102007Looking South, circa 1910PostcardHome, 19092007Home, 1909PostcardHigh School, circa 19092007High School, circa 1909PostcardHart Street Bridge over Plum Creek, circa 19102007Hart Street Bridge over Plum Creek, circa 1910PostcardGreetings from Dyer, circa 19352007Greetings from Dyer, circa 1935PostcardGreetings from Dyer, 19472007Greetings from Dyer, 1947PostcardUnion Church, circa 19102006Union Church, circa 1910Neighborhood in2006Neighborhood inUnderwood Motel, circa 19652006Underwood Motel, circa 1965PostcardUnderwood Motel, circa 19652006Underwood Motel, circa 1965PostcardUnderwood Motel, circa 19552006Underwood Motel, circa 1955PostcardSauzer's Little Waffle Shop, circa 19402006Sauzer's Little Waffle Shop, circa 1940PostcardSauzer's Little Waffle Shop, 19482006Sauzer's Little Waffle Shop, 1948PostcardRinehart Motel, circa 19552006Rinehart Motel, circa 1955Postcard
On the map

Dyer on the map, 1984 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dyer. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Dyer on the 1984 USGS mapDyer on the 1998 USGS map1984Kankakee sheet · 1:100,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dyer.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Thoroughbred
Retake this viewThoroughbred, 1963

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dyer’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Dyer

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Joseph Ernest Meyer House
Joseph Ernest Meyer House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Jacobethan Revival1
Joseph Ernest Meyer HouseJacobethan Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Dyer, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,00018,00019201940196019802000202016,517

Grew from 545 people in 1910 to 16,517 in 2020, more than tenfold.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dyer’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Dyer

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Jack ChevignyAmerican football player and coach, college ath… · b. 1906
M
Mike MiklusakBasketball player · b. 1995
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

ScherervilleIts storyC−St. John Township2 historic placesB−Munster1 historic placeCNorth Township24 historic placesA

Questions about Dyer’s history

What year was Dyer founded?

In 1838, according to Wikidata. Dyer’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1910 counted 545 people here.

How does Dyer rank for history?

Dyer is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #390 of 593 in Indiana. 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.

What is on the National Register in Dyer?

One place: the Joseph Ernest Meyer House (listed 1984).

How old are the homes in Dyer?

3% of Dyer’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1993.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (24), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.