Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Stone Arch Viaduct, the Carstens Farmstead and the Shelby Consolidated School. Below: maps from 1883 on and the census since 1880.
Shelby dates its founding to 1870 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
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 Shelby’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shelby.
Shelby started in the late 1860s, following the construction of the railroad through the territory.
Shelby was platted in 1870 by Benjamin F. Allen and Thusie Allen and was incorporated in 1877.
The Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad Stone Arch Viaduct, north-east of Shelby, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 year, then a sheet.
1883Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions 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.
Born hereClyde Williams is born here
BuiltChicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Stone Arch Viaduct is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shelby. 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 Shelby.
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.
Between 449 and 727 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shelby’s Wikipedia page.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1870, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1880 counted 449 people here.
Three places: the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Stone Arch Viaduct (listed 1998), the Carstens Farmstead (1979) and the Shelby Consolidated School (2014).
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 (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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