Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the William Green House. Below: maps from 1891 on and old-book passages.
The Rochester post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rock Creek (1837), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Rochester’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rochester.
Rochester is named after Rochester, New York. The city is known for its flour mills, due to its location on the Cedar River. Rochester's population was 53 in 1902.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Rochester, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Section 1, of order No. 40, enacted that a license to keep a tayem in the town of Rochester, be given to Stephen Tonej for the term of one year for the sum of five dollars. A tavern license in those days included the privily or right to keep and retail spiritnous licpiors, such as whisky, etc., and no tavern Wss considorod a tavmi that did not keep a full supply of the ardent.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
S. B. Ghvbbs settled in Rochester in the Summer oi 1830, and was the first resident physician in the town. Elisha Henry, a pretender to the science of medicine, also settled in Rochester in 1830, and previous to Mr. Grubbs, but was a better carpenter than physician. . He moved to Pedee in 1840. Daniel Barber came with Mr. Henry.
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.
BuiltWilliam Green House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rochester. 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 Rochester.
The 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.
Rochester had its own post office from 1854 to 1903. Another post office, Rock Creek, 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 Rochester post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the William Green House (listed 1999).
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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