Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The Sheridan post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Sheridan’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sheridan.
In 1851, Louis Lovell recorded an entry for land here and John W. Winsor built the first business, a sawmill. A shingle-mill owner, Erastus P. Brown, became the first postmaster here on October 14, 1864. It was a station on the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway. Sheridan incorporated as a village in 1877 and was named for Union Civil War General Philip Sheridan.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Sheridan post office opened in 1864, 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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2005