Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1891 on and the census since 1930.
Morley dates its founding to 1873 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1930.
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 Morley’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Morley.
Morley was laid out circa 1873 on the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. First called Viroqua, it was renamed Morley in 1886.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 157 in 1950; 96 people lived here in 2020.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Morley’s Wikipedia page.
Passages that mention Morley, cut from the printed page as they were published.
There is but one church building in the village of Morley at the present time, though we are informed that provision is being made for the erection of a second building within a short time. The Methodist Episcopal church is located on the western boundary of the village. This building was erected in the year 1896, at a cost of approximately one thousand, five hundred dollars.
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Morley.
1891Monticello sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Morley.
Nobody well known was born in Morley itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Morley’s post office has been open since 1886. Another post office, Viroqua, 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).
In 1873, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Morley’s post office opened in 1873, and the census of 1930 counted 117 people here.
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 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.
