Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Klondike Hotel. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1890.
The Manilla post office opened in 1886, 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 Manilla’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,142 in 1920; 775 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Manilla’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Manilla.
Manilla is working to bolster its declining population by providing free land and property tax abatements to attract new residents.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Manilla, cut from the printed page as they were published.
He assisted in stacking liay on the ground where Manilla now stands the year before the town was founded and also assisted in hauling lumber for the first building in the new settlement. Having bravely borne his part of the burden, he now enjoys a well earned reward and also the respect of all who know him.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
which period they decided to become permanent residents of this county and so located upon a forty-acre farm, which they bought in the northeastern part of Denison township. They cultivated this property until 1887, at which time the town of Manilla began to boom, and on disposing of their farm they removed there. While residing in Manilla they lost two of their children with typhoid fever, following which they removed to Denison, where they continued to reside until Mrs. Smith passed away in 1907, at the age of sixty-eight. Mr. Smith
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Manilla. 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 Manilla.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1914Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Manilla’s 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.
The Manilla post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Klondike Hotel (listed 1996).
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 (6), the Library of Congress (1), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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