Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: old-book passages.
The Paullina post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Paulina (1882), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Paullina was named for the Paullin brothers, who owned the town site.
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 Paullina’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Paullina.
Paullina was laid out in 1882 when the Chicago & Northwestern Railway was extended to that point. It was named for the Paullin brothers, who owned the town site.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Paullina, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of Paullina is located on the northeast quarter of section 9, in Union township, and has an addition on the adjoining section north. It was named after the Paullina brothers, who owned the quarter section on which the town is laid out, and were also the owners of other land adjacent to the town site. This town started ahead of the railroad, in 1882, in anticipation of its coming, and when the first locomotive whistled within the hmits of the townsite, there were already business
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Paullina was incorporated in 1883. The special election called for the purpose of voting for or against, was held the 30th day of November of that year, and resulted in 44 for, and 7 against. Soon after this was the tirst election of officers, and these together with the officers of each year since, are as follows : 1883.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Paullina’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Paulina, 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).
The Paullina post office opened in 1882, 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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2004