Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 53 buildings. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1930.
Ulen was named for Henry Ulen, an industrialist.
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 Ulen’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1980 and 1990, then more than doubled.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ulen’s Wikipedia page.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ulen.
The Ulen Country Club was established in 1924 and Ulen was incorporated as a town in 1929. It was named for Henry Ulen, an industrialist. The Ulen Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ulen. 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 Ulen.
Nobody well known was born in Ulen itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
One place: the Ulen Historic District (listed 2015).
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
2020
