Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Grainfield Opera House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1979 on, and the census since 1880.
The Grainfield post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name.
Grainfield was named for the wheat fields in the vicinity.
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 Grainfield’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grainfield.
Grainfield got its start in the year 1879 following construction of the railroad through that territory. It was named for the wheat fields in the vicinity.
The first post office in Grainfield was established in May 1879.
The Grainfield Opera House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grainfield. 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 Grainfield.
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 Grainfield’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.
Between 77 and 417 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grainfield’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Grainfield itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Grainfield post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Grainfield Opera House (listed 1980).
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 (6), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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