Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Lime Springs Mill Complex. Below: 1 old photo or paper and old-book passages.
Lime Springs dates its founding to 1867 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1865.
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 Lime Springs’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lime Springs.
The Old Town of Lime Springs was platted in 1857. After the railroad was built into the area, the town relocated nearby to its tracks. The town, then called Lime Springs Station, was platted again in 1867.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lime Springs’s post office has been open since 1949. Two other post offices 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).
Passages that mention Lime Springs, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Minnesota, and Albion, Forest City and Chester. Northern Howard county, Iowa. The settlement, therefore, is divided into two parts by the state line, and into nearly two equal parts l)y the Upper Iowa river. Lime Springs is a town of tino inhabitants. In the language of railroad men, it is a town on the I. & M. division of the C, M. & St. P. R. R., half way between Austin and Calmer. One mile north of it is the old town of the same name. Four miles northeast is
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A word now about the three churches of Lime Springs. The churches of Bristol and I<\)rest(m were organized e.arlv in 1807. No church building was erected, however, for six or seven years after this. This may appear singular, that six years, after the great inllux of 1S(,7. should pass before the Welsh of Lime Springs built a church : and yet it is not hard to explain. The early settlers of Lime Springs differed fnnn the early settlers of Wisconsin fifty years ag-o. Those came directly
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.
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 Lime Springs’ page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
In 1867, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lime Springs’ post office opened in 1865.
One place: the Lime Springs Mill Complex (listed 1977).
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 Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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