Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1920.
Linn dates its founding to 1877 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1920.
Linn was named for Lewis F. Linn, a U.S. Senator from Missouri.
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 Linn’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Linn. 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 Linn.
From Wikipedia’s history of Linn.
Linn was founded in 1877. It was named for Lewis F. Linn, a U.S. Senator from Missouri.
The first post office in Linn was established in January 1878.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Linn, cut from the printed page as they were published.
accompanied by John Otis Wattles and his family. They first settled on a farm in Douglas county but in 1857 they felt the urge to be a part of the struggle to make Kansas a free state, so they moved to Linn County and settled on the prairie north of Sugar Mound. The great increase of settlers made it desirable to have the convenience of a town with a postoffice, school, stores, churches, etc., so they set about incorporating a town, taking ten acres at each of the four corners
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 282 and 483 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Linn’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Linn itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1877, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Linn’s post office opened in 1878, and the census of 1920 counted 282 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 (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2005