Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Fairview was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1936 on, and the census since 1970.
Fairview first appears in the census in 1970.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fairview’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fairview.
Settled in the 1840s, what is now Fairview was originally known as "Lawrence Chapel." The town began using its current name, after a local Methodist church, in the 1890s. By the early 1900s, the town was home to several mills and a popular resort hotel. The first high school was completed in 1923.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fairview. 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 Fairview.
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 Fairview’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 313 and 543 people in every census since 1970.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairview’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Fairview itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Fairview post office opened in 1970, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1963
2019
2019
2019
