Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1933 on and the census since 1900.
The Easton post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Easton’s history is told.
Peaked at 456 in 1920; 312 people lived here in 2020.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Easton’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Easton.
Easton was laid out in the 1870s by James Madison Samuell and named for Oliver C. Easton, postmaster of Havana at the time. A post office has been in operation at Easton since 1873.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Easton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A few years ago he laid out the town of Easton, in the central part of the county, about equal distances between Havana and Mason City. It is pleasantly situated, in the richest agricultural region in the world, and is very rapidly improving. It is no narrow policy in its proprietor that has been the cause of its success, but the reverse. A stranger visiting Easton is first impressed by the fine class of buildings of which it is composed. There is now in process of construction a fine school edifice, of which the citizens
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mason City, Bath, and the one now in process of erection at the pleasant village of Easton. These splendid buildings are very justly the pride of their respective localities. The building in Havana, erected in 1875, at a cost °* onh' $3°r 000, is that city's best ornament.
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 Easton. 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 Easton.
The Easton post office opened in 1873, 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 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.
