Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 8 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1880.
Dunkirk dates its founding to 1852 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). 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 Dunkirk.
Dunkirk was platted in 1852 when the railroad was extended to that point. The village was named after Dunkirk, New York. A post office has operated since 1854.
In 2006, Dunkirk was identified by the Ohio Department of Transportation as a potential junction for the Ohio Hub high-speed rail project.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Passages that mention Dunkirk, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Town op Dunkirk. According to old residents there was a tov\m projected about one-half mile south of the present site of the town of Dunkirk and named Geneva, several years before the Pennsylvania railroad was built through Hardin county, but it came to nothing because
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Leaving school at the age of fifteen years, Samuel Kumley remained with his parents until coming of age. when he began farming on his own account, renting land for three or four years. Subsequently buying land in Dunkirk, he carried on general farming for three years, after which he lived in the village of Dunkirk for a year. Subsequently locating in Dudley township, Mr. Kumley rented the old Rubin farm, which he managed successfully until selling at an advantage in 1887.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
J. A. Orth has for years been a prominent factor in the business affairs of the town of Dunkirk, Ohio. He is a native of this state, born in Wayne county February 26, 1836, but since he was six weeks old he has lived in Hardin county, ami must of the time since 1871 has made his home in Dunkirk. Here he has acquired considerable property and has varied interests. When a young man he ran a sawmill for seven years, and for more than thirty years his planing mill, situated on North Main street, just outside the corporation limits and covering about two
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1838, they removed to Washington Township, this county, where they settled north of Hog Creek Marsh. Mr. Gum erected the first cabin in Dunkirk, which was of hewed logs, about 1851, just south of the railroad. He also opened the first store in this village. He is still a resident of the town.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveUnited Brethren Church
In the archiveBird's Eye View of
In the archiveMasonic Temple3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dunkirk. 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 Dunkirk.
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 Dunkirk’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 774 and 1,311 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dunkirk’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Dunkirk itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Dunkirk’s post office has been open since 1854.
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.
In 1852, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Dunkirk’s post office opened in 1854, and the census of 1880 counted 1,311 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 (12), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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1925
2015
2015
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