Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
Phillipsburg Township dates its founding to 1872 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
Phillipsburg Township was named for politician and journalist William A. Phillips.
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 Phillipsburg Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Phillipsburg 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 Phillipsburg Township.
Peaked at 3,241 in 1970; 2,337 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Phillipsburg Township’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Phillipsburg Township.
Phillipsburg was organized in 1872 and named the county seat due to its central location in the county on July 26, though the first residents did not arrive until late that year. It was named for politician and journalist William A. Phillips. Phillipsburg was incorporated as a city in 1880.
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 Survey
In the archivePhillipsburg, KS - Oct. 24, 1907One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Phillipsburg Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Another post office, Worthen, 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.
In 1872, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Phillipsburg Township’s post office opened in 1881, and the census of 1880 counted 309 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 (4), Wikidata (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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