Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1870.
The Knightsville post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.
Knightsville was named for Dr. A. W. Knight, the original owner of the town site.
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 Knightsville’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Knightsville.
Knightsville sprang up in 1867 around an iron furnace which had been built the year before. It was named for Dr. A. W. Knight, the original owner of the town site. The Knightsville post office was established in 1870.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Knightsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
For a few years after coming here he worked in the mines, and while thus employed accumulated some money. Embarking in mercantile pur¬ suits in 1888, he was for five years located at Knightsville. Desirous of further enlarging his scope of action, he then bought fourteen acres of land on the National Road between Knightsville and Harmony, and here erected a number of buildings, including one for a store and dwelling and another for a stable. Stocking his store with a full line of groceries and of such articles as are of daily use in the household, Mr. John has here
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 Knightsville. 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 Knightsville.
Between 624 and 1,171 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Knightsville’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Knightsville post office opened in 1870, 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, 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) 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.
