Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Tinnes-Baker House. Below: maps from 1957 on and the census since 1880.
The Bird Island post office opened in 1878, 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 Bird Island’s history is told.
Peaked at 1,384 in 1960; 1,005 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bird Island’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bird Island.
Bird Island was platted in 1878, and named for a nearby bird sanctuary in a marsh. After the installation of ditches and tile, the area was converted to farmland, erasing the town's namesake.
A post office has been in operation at Bird Island since 1878. Bird Island was incorporated in 1881.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bird Island, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Bird Island was platted in July, 1878, on land owned by the Bird Island Townsite Company. The plat was refiled Jan. 3, 1914. John A. Johnson, it is said, hauled the first timber onto the townsite of Bird Island, taking the load from Gleneoe.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
brother Benjamin trapped here, making their camp in a crude log shack in the timbers of the island from which the township and village of Bird Island derive their names. The vicinity then abounded in mink, otter, muskrat, fox and other furbearing animals.
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.
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 SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bird Island. 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 Bird Island.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The Bird Island post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Tinnes-Baker House (listed 2021).
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
2023
2008