Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Bovey Village Hall. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1910.
The Bovey post office opened in 1904, 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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bovey yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bovey ( BOH-vee) is a city in Itasca County, Minnesota, United States. It is part of Minnesota's Iron Range. The population was 829, at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 804 to 829 (+3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveBovey, Minnesota (circa 1905)
In the archive1910postcardOliverIronMiningCoOfficeBoveyMN
Born hereBabe LeVoir is born here
Born hereRichard Hongisto is born here
In the archiveWashing ore in concentration plant for Danube mine. Bovey, Minnesota
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereAdam Hauser is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1905Bovey, Minnesota (circa 1905)19101910postcardOliverIronMiningCoOfficeBoveyMNPostcard1941Washing ore in concentration plant for Danube mine. B…
1941Taking sample of iron ore before it leaves the concen…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Washing ore in c…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Taking sample of…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bovey. 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 Bovey.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1909Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Bovey’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 662 and 1,377 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bovey’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Bovey post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Bovey Village Hall (listed 1991).
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 Library of Congress (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
