Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 2000.
The Prattville post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Big Meadows (1868), 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 Prattville’s history is told.
Peaked at 33 in 2010; 24 people lived here in 2020.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Prattville’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Prattville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Prattville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Plumas County, California, United States. The population was 24 at the 2020 census, down from 33 at the 2010 census.
Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 33 to 24 (-27%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereAnnette Abbott Adams is born here
In the archiveJohn H. Hogan - Camping at
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Prattville. 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 Prattville.
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 Prattville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Prattville had its own post office from 1874 to 1914. Another post office, Big Meadows, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Prattville post office opened in 1874, 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 (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
