Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1924 on, and the census since 1870.
Detroit Township dates its founding to 1837 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archivePlat book of Pike County, Illinois
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveDESERTED HOUSEFrom Wikipedia’s history of Detroit Township.
Detroit was laid out in 1837, taking its name after Detroit, Michigan. A post office was established at Detroit in 1845, and remained in operation until the 1970s.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Detroit 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 Detroit Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Detroit Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 76 and 168 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Detroit Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1837, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Detroit Township’s post office opened in 1840, and the census of 1870 counted 160 people here.
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 (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1973
1973
1973
2016