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–Not graded
History · Dexter

14% of Dexter’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1967 on.

0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Dexter’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Dexter are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dexter, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dexter’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Dexterville
1858–1934
Veedum
1901–1917
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DextervilleVeedum

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Dexter came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dexter.

Read it all →

The outline of the six mile square that would become the town of Dexter was first surveyed in the summer of 1851 by a crew working for the U.S. government. In November and December another crew marked all the section corners of the six mile square, walking through the woods and wading the swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dexter, 1858 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Dexterville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Veedum post office opens
  5. 1917Post officeThe Veedum post office closes
  6. 1934Post officeThe Dexterville post office closes
  7. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Dexter on the map, 1967 to 1984

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

Dexter on the 1967 USGS mapDexter on the 1984 USGS map1967Pittsville sheet · 1:62,500

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

HilesIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWoodIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRemingtonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCranmoorIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Dexter’s history

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.