Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1939 on and the census since 1880.
The Dakota Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1869. Another post office, Afolkey (1884), 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 Dakota Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Dakota Township.
Dakota was laid out in 1857 when the railroad was extended to that point. A post office has been in operation at Dakota since 1857.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Dakota Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Dakota, or Dakotah, as it is sometimes called, was founded in 1857, when the Western Union Railroad, now the C., M. & St. P. R. R. first laid its rails through Stephenson county. When the railroad decided to touch the southern portion of Dakota Township, several of the public spirited farmers decided to try to found a village in the southeastern corner, and obtain a post office there. The land on which Dakota village was built was then owned by Robinson Baird and Ludwig Stanton. Mr. Baird sold out his claim to Thomas J. Turner, who, in turn, disposed of his interest to S. J. Davis. To Messrs. Davis and
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 SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dakota Township. 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 Dakota Township.
Between 227 and 571 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dakota Township’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Afolkey, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Dakota Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1869.
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 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.
