Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #127 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
Most of Delano was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1997. Its Register listings are the Delano Village Hall, the Eagle Newspaper Office and the Simon Weldele House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
Delano dates its founding to 1868 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Delano is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #127 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Delano’s 4.3 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Delano’s history is told.
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Delano’s post office has been open since 1870. Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Delano.
Delano was platted in 1868, and named after Francis Roach Delano, a railroad official. A post office has been in operation at Delano since 1870. Delano was incorporated in 1876.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Delano, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Delano High School. The foundation of Delano High School was placed before the time of the Civil war, before the railroad was extended westward and prior to the spanning of Crow river with a wagon bridge. A contest over the location of the schoolhouse site led those then living east of Crow river to get together and erect a log schoolhouse on Mill block, which is just west of the block where the school buildings are now located, This was all done before those living in the ‘‘Big Woods’’ west of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A bridge was built in the village of Delano in 1868, the village paying $150, the town proprietors about the same, and the township the remainder. In 1879 the bridge was entirely rebuilt, at a cost of $1,300, the town paying $900 and the county $4.00.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the spring of 1855 he started for Wright county, reaching here in the early part of July. On July 3, 1855, he and his uncle, Samuel Sturman, cut the first road through what is now the village of Delano. It was a crude affair, but enabled their oxen to get through to section 23, Franklin township, where, on July 4, Riley Sturman took a claim of 160 acres and erected a pre-emption shanty. He broke the land and engaged in farming. In time he erected a log house. In 1863, just as he was getting well started
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
in the village of Delano. It was erected in 1901, and is a model village home in every particular. Jlr. Horsch has intimately identified himself with the life of Delano. He has been a member of the village council twelve years, and president four different terms. He has also served thirteen years on the school board, ten years of which he has been president. The M. W. A. lodge finds him a valuable member. Among his other business interests may be mentioned the fact that he is a stockholder and director
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.
BuiltDelano Village Hall is built
In the archive1890 millers
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereBen Meyers is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Delano. 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 Delano.
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 Delano’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 407 people in 1880 to 6,484 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Delano’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1868, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Delano’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1880 counted 407 people here.
Delano is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #127 of 273 in Minnesota. 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.
Three places: the Delano Village Hall (listed 1979), the Eagle Newspaper Office (1979) and the Simon Weldele House (1979).
7% of Delano’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1997.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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