Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1971 on and the census since 1900.
The Schleswig post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hohenzollern (1891), opened inside today’s city 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 Schleswig’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Schleswig.
Schleswig was laid out in 1899. The city was named after the Schleswig in Germany and Denmark, from which the original settlers came.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Schleswig, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Tama county, which he farmed until 1877, when, on January 20 of that year, he removed to his brother's farm near Denison, where he continued for the ensuing six years, and then purchased eighty acres of land one mile west of Schleswig. Here he inaugurated his first business venture by opening a small store on the farm, which he conducted until the advent of the railroad into Schleswig, in 1899, when he moved, not only his business, but his entire building, consisting of the store, a blacksmith shop and a dance hall, to the town and there continued his mercantile pursuits on a more extensive scale. He is now
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
consin, devoting four years to learning the printer's trade and gaining an insight into the details of newspaper management. In August, 1909, being then nineteen years of age and ambitious to make an honorable name for himself, he came to Schleswig and purchased the Schleswig Leader, of which he has since been editor and proprietor. Politically Mr. Vaughan is not affiliated with any of the great party organizations, preferring to be independent and at liberty to exercise a perfectly free judgment in all matters pertaining to the public welfare. In religious faith he
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Schleswig. 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 Schleswig.
Between 233 and 882 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Schleswig’s Wikipedia page.
Schleswig’s post office has been open since 1899. Another post office, Hohenzollern, 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 Schleswig post office opened in 1899, 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 (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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2004