Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1972 on, and the census since 1910.
The Dougherty post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Dougherty’s history is told.
Peaked at 215 in 1930; 62 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dougherty’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Dougherty.
A post office called Dougherty has been in operation since 1900. Dougherty was named for a local farmer, whose relatives still live.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Dougherty, cut from the printed page as they were published.
It is a conservative statement to say that no one is more closely and prominently identified with the history of Dougherty township, Cerro Gordo county, than is Daniel Dougherty, pioneer and retired farmer now residing in the town of Dougherty. When it is known that he was the first permanent settler within this tract of country it will be easy to see how Dougherty township received its name. During the early days he was the best posted man concerning land in the southern part of the covinty. He acted as land
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dougherty. 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 Dougherty.
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 Dougherty’s page.
Retake this view · +15Dougherty’s post office has been open since 1900.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Dougherty post office opened in 1900, 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 (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2021
2004