Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1947 on and the census since 1880.
The Clifford post office opened in 1853, 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 Clifford’s history is told.
Peaked at 310 in 1980; 205 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clifford’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Clifford.
Clifford was founded in 1853 (1853). The first post office at Clifford was also established in 1853.
In April 1883, Clifford was officially incorporated as a town, thirty years after it was originally established.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Clifford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Clifford M. E. Church.—As early as 1S50 Ilawpatch Chapel, on the road to Columbus from Clifford, about two and one-half miles from the latter place, was the meeting house of a goodly number of the leading farmers in that section. About 1S65, a Methodist society was formed at Clifford into which the Mawpatch society was merged. The first class was composed of about fifteen members, among whom were Johnson Joiner, leader; Frank Miller, Elmira Barb and W. L. Linke. The first preacher
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clifford. 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 Clifford.
Nobody well known was born in Clifford itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Clifford post office opened in 1853, 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 (1), 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.
2016
