Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1918 on and the census since 2000.
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 Pleasant Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pleasant 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 Pleasant Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pleasant Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pleasant Township is one of twenty-six townships in Fulton County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2020 census, its population was 706 and it contained 359 housing units.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 744 to 706 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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.
Between 706 and 750 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pleasant Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Pleasant Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Washington, 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.
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 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.
