Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Valley Springs was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Its Register listing is the Valley Springs School. Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1980.
The Valley Springs post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rolling Prairie (1843), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Valley Springs’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Valley Springs.
Valley Springs Academy was a private high school in Valley Springs. It was established in 1870. It was supported by the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Valley Springs. 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 Valley Springs.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 167 and 200 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Valley Springs’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Valley Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Valley Springs’s post office has been open since 1874. Another post office, Rolling Prairie, 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).
The Valley Springs post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Valley Springs School (listed 1992).
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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