The Methodist Episcopal Church established the Iowa Conference Male and Female Seminary here in 1853, and it changed its name to Cornell College four years later.

After the American Civil War the town's economy expanded with larger factories, and the area's prosperity included the vast agricultural lands that surround Mount Vernon.

Early residential development began around the college campus on its east and north side.

Construction of buildings on the Cornell Campus continued after the post-World War II population boom.

This article about a property in Linn County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.