Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1910.
The Toronto post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1909.
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 Toronto’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Toronto.
Toronto was platted in 1853 by George W. Thorne (1817-1898), born in Maidstone, Kent, England in and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Thorne had built a sawmill and gristmill at the site in the 1840s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 172 in 1980; 102 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Toronto’s Wikipedia page.
Passages that mention Toronto, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The post office is Toronto, on the Wapsie, and also a station on the railroad. Toronto is an old settlement, and has been a smart business point. In 1848, George W. Thorne built a saw-mill at this point, and, in 1850, a grist-mill.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Steele’s people came from Toronto, Canada,”’ she said, ‘‘and named the town of Toronto because of that. We went into Toronto to school. It was a good frame building with good teachers. One side for the girls had two rows of seats, the other for the boys was similarly equipped. There was a little step up for the smaller seats for the little children were very well behaved and sometimes when we played indoors in bad weather we would climb over the desks but mostly we loved to be out of doors especially in winter. The greatest
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
TORONTO—LIBERTY TOWNSHIP Although the city of Toronto is in Liberty Township, first organized in 1844, the oldest resident, in point of years, there is Mrs. Augusta Willert who went in 1873. She is now past 85 years of age but well remembers the feeling of dismay that struck her when she came to the locality. She had been in some of the finest homes in Germany where there were many servants and there was cleanlinss and beauty. She had lived in Chicago until after the great fire there
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Toronto, named after the city of the same name in Canada, Avas settled many years ago by Mr. (r, W. Thoi-n, who emigrated from Canada. It is near the western boundary of tlie courjty.
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Toronto. 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 Toronto.
Nobody well known was born in Toronto itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Toronto’s post office has been open since 1853.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Toronto post office opened in 1853, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1909.
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 (2), 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.
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