Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1890.
The Hope Township post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Dillon (1872) and Rose Bank (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hope 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 Hope Township.
Two other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hope Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hope Township.
In 1871, a group of about forty people, led by Newell Thurstin, began planning a townsite, named Hope after one of his sons. Its first post office was established in July 1871.
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.
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Smokehouse, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Granary, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Barn, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Frame Outbuilding, State Rout…
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Machine Shed, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Wash House, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Stone House, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Garage No. 2, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Garage No. 1, State Route 3
Date?Kandt-Domann Farmstead, Multipurpose Stone Building, …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 Hope Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 317 and 632 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hope Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Hope Township post office opened in 1871, 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 the Library of Congress (11), 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.
