Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1969 on and the census since 1880.
The Bluffton 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 Bluffton’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bluffton.
Bluffton was platted in March 1880, and named for the bluffs on the nearby Leaf River. Bluffton was incorporated on February 26, 1903.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bluffton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A prosperous and well-known farmer of Bluffton township, the proprietor of a farm comprising three hundred and twenty acres of contiguous land equipped with a beautiful house and barn, director of both the telephone company and creamery at Wadena, chairman of the board of supervisors of Bluffton township for the last fifteen years and a man who has served as school director — stand as evidence of the energy and thrift, of the eminent success and of the high regard and esteem with which the people of Bluffton township and Otter Tail county regard the man whose name
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A well-known citizen and a pioneer merchant of the town of Bluffton, Minnesota, a town in which he is recognized as one of the leading men, both in business activity and in public life, M. B. Klein, who because of his industrious ways and his resourcefulness has risen from the ranks of more common industry to that of a prosperous and enterprising merchant in a thriving community, is one of those men whose record deserves recognition in this volume.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bluffton. 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 Bluffton.
Between 69 and 239 people in every census since 1880.
13 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bluffton’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Bluffton itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Bluffton’s post office has been open since 1878.
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 Bluffton post office opened in 1878, 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 (2), 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.
2013
2005