Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1982 on, and the census since 1880.
Lyle dates its founding to 1854 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lyle.
Lyle was platted in 1870. The city was named after Robert Lyle, a farmer, territorial, and state legislator. Lyle was incorporated in 1875.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lyle, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Lyle Corrugated Culvert Company. The village of Lyle is closely associated with the corrugated pipe industry, for it was here, in 1905, that the first corrugated pipe seen in this section of the country was manufactured. The Lyle Corrugated Culvert Company was organized by parties from Ohio, who began operations in a small way, choosing Lyle as a suitable point for manufacturing purposes, on account of its splendid railroad facilities.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Cedar City was created as an election precinct April 27, 1857, and comprised the present township of Lyle. Lyle was organized Avitli its present boundaries April 16, 1858. Hamilton was created as an election precinct April 27, 1857, and occupied an irregular piece taken from what was then the precincts of High Forest and Frankford, and consisting of portions of what are now the towns of Pleasant Valley, Racine, •jrrand Meadow and Frankford. The name Hamilton was given
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveStreet Lyle Minn - old
In the archiveBirds Eye View Lyle RR Yards - GP Anderson
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lyle.
1982Lyle sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lyle.
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 Lyle’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 182 and 609 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lyle’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Lyle itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Lyle’s post office has been open since 1862. Another post office, Minnereka, 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.
In 1854, according to Wikidata. Lyle’s post office opened in 1862, and the census of 1880 counted 182 people here.
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 (6), 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 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.
1908
1909
1910
1910