Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1830.
The Detroit post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Chandlerville (1828), 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Detroit’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1920, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Detroit’s Wikipedia page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWalter Franklin Prince is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Detroit yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Detroit (, DEE-troyt) is a town in Somerset County, Maine, United States. The population was 885 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1841. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 852 to 885 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Detroit. 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 Detroit.
Detroit’s post office has been open since 1841. Another post office, Chandlerville, 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.
The Detroit post office opened in 1841, 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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
