Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1909 on and the census since 1920.
The Hanaford post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Smothersville (1879), 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 Hanaford’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 2000, then grew 5-fold.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hanaford’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hanaford. 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 Hanaford.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hanaford.
Initially known as "Smothersville," Hanaford was renamed for land speculator John P. Hanaford. In 1916, the village was renamed "Logan" for the John A. Logan Coal Company, which operated a nearby mine. Since then, the names "Hanaford" and "Logan" have both been used by the village.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 SurveyNobody well known was born in Hanaford itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Hanaford had its own post office from 1908 to 1916. Another post office, Smothersville, 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 Hanaford post office opened in 1908, 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.
2021
2021