Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Cokaton P.R.S. Onnen Tovio Raittiusseura. Its Register listing is the Cokaton P.R.S. Onnen Tovio Raittiusseura. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1880.
Cokato Township dates its founding to 1869 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cokato Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cokato Township’s 9.0 sits above most of its state (75% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
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 Cokato Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cokato Township.
Cokato was founded in 1869 when the First Division of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad was extended to that point. The city was named after a Dakota word meaning 'amid'. Cokato was incorporated as a village in 1878.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveHigh school building
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHenry C. Bull House2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cokato Township. 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 Cokato Township.
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 Cokato Township’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.
Grew from 274 people in 1880 to 2,799 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cokato Township’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Knapp, opened and closed inside today’s town.
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.
In 1869, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Cokato Township’s post office opened in 1897, and the census of 1880 counted 274 people here.
Cokato Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Cokaton P.R.S. Onnen Tovio Raittiusseura (listed 1976).
15% of Cokato Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1980.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (7), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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