Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1880.
Alamo dates its founding to 1826 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
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 Alamo’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Alamo.
Alamo was laid out and platted in 1837. It became a small trading center for nearby farms. In 1859 a road connected Alamo to Crawfordsville, and the Yountsville Covered Bridge was built. The town was named for the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 272 in 1890; 66 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Alamo’s Wikipedia page.
Passages that mention Alamo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Texas, and the batteied down walls allowed the free play of the southern zephyrs and ruder Boreas. The ashes of our honored dead may have been scattered around the Alamo and remain on its walls and mixed with the soil. In this way Texas has done well in preserving the entire Alamo Fortress, as originally laid out, for it thus becomes not only a nominal but the .actual mausoleum of the Alamo heroes and all the more worthy
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
matter of speculation. Alamo is the Spanish name for cottonwood (a species of poplar), and these trees shaded the Alamo. It was not unnatural that the name was so derived. Another account, however, says that the first garrison came from Fort Alamo de Parras, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, and gave it the same name. Any way the building has long been known under that name.
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.
Born hereWilliam E. Humphrey is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Alamo. 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 Alamo.
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 Alamo’s page.
Retake this view · +15In 1826, according to Wikidata. Alamo’s post office opened in 1844, and the census of 1880 counted 220 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 (2), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
Date?
2008
2008
