Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1945 on, and the census since 1850.
Edwardsburg dates its founding to 1828 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Edwardsburg is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Edwardsburg’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Edwardsburg’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archivePublic school
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAmtrak train in Edwardsburg, January 1990
Born hereRuby Soho is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Edwardsburg.
Edwardsburg was established in 1828 in an area that had previously been known as Beardsley's Prairie. It was incorporated as a village in 1911, and is named after Abraham Edwards, a politician and early settler of the area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Edwardsburg, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Dr. Holland, who came to Cassopolis from Edwardsburg in 1895, was a graduate of the medical department of the State University in 1875, and from the dental department in 1877. He located in Edwardsburg in 1880 and conducted a drug store in connection with a general practice.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
From Pokagon we turn to historic Ontwa, which was settled almost contemporaneously with Pokagon. In the western part of the township, near tlie beautiful sheet of water rightly named Pleasant lake, and on the broad pran-ie where now stands the town of Edwardsburg, Ezra Beardsley, who had come from Butler county, Ohio, unloaded his household goods in the spring of 1826 and became the pioneer of the locality which has since borne the name of Beardsley's prairie. In the previous year he had prospected this site, decided upon it as his perma-
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Edwardsburg. 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 Edwardsburg.
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 Edwardsburg’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 252 people in 1850 to 1,304 in 2020, 5 times over.
16 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Edwardsburg’s Wikipedia page.
In 1828, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Edwardsburg’s post office opened in 1829, and the census of 1850 counted 252 people here.
Edwardsburg is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
26% of Edwardsburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1970.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1910
1910
2021
2019
2019
2005