Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1900.
Lancaster Township dates its founding to 1857 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.
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 Lancaster Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Lancaster Township.
Lancaster was platted in 1857. It may have been named after Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lancaster was an early contender for county seat. Lancaster was a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
In 1915, Lancaster contained seven stores, a school, three churches, a grain elevator, a lumber yard, and a hotel.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBetween 163 and 299 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lancaster Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Lancaster Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1857, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lancaster Township’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1900 counted 292 people here.
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 (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.
2013
2004