Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A.J. Eicholtz House · Photo: Kristi Bender · CC BY-SA 3.0Its Register listings are the A.J. Eicholtz House and the Seward Graham House. Its Register listings are the A.J. Eicholtz House and the Seward Graham House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1890.
The Bird City Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Marney (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Bird City Township was named for Benjamin Bird, a cattleman.
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 Bird City Township’s history is told.
Peaked at 784 in 1950; 437 people lived here in 2020.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bird City Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bird City Township.
Bird City was founded in 1885. It was named for Benjamin Bird, a cattleman. The surrounding area was originally used predominately for livestock grazing.
Bird City was a station and shipping point on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bird City 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 Bird City Township.
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 Bird City Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Bird City Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Marney, 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.
The Bird City Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
3 listings: 2 buildings, among them the A.J. Eicholtz House (listed 2004, the first).
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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.
