Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1984 on and the census since 1940.
Ellsworth dates its founding to 1881 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1940.
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 Ellsworth’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Ellsworth.
The village of Ellsworth was founded in 1881. It quickly took in the previous villages of Needmore and Ox Bow. It was incorporated as a village in 1938.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ellsworth.
1984Charlevoix sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ellsworth.
Between 347 and 483 people in every census since 1940.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ellsworth’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Ellsworth itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
In 1881, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ellsworth’s post office opened in 1884, and the census of 1940 counted 347 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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
