Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Elizabeth Village Hall and Jail. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1880.
Elizabeth dates its founding to 1872 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
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 Elizabeth’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was platted in 1872, and named for Elizabeth Niggler, the wife of an early settler. A post office was established under the name Elizabethtown in 1871, and the name was changed to Elizabeth in 1882.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Elizabeth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
native land, immigrating to America when twelve years of age. I le came alone to the United States and located in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where an uncle. John Molt, was then living. For four years he lived with his relative and attended the public schools of Elizabeth, Minnesota, following which he was employed as a farm hand on the surrounding farms, for more than four years. lie then accepted a position as a clerk in a store in Elizabeth, Minnesota, and continued in this occupation until 1904. About this time.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Minnesota, where he worked on the railroad which at that time was being constructed through Deer Creek township, after which he was transferred to Fergus Falls, where he had charge of the railway yards ami also had the care of the line to Elizabeth. After five vears in the railroad business.
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.
BuiltElizabeth Village Hall and Jail is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Elizabeth.
1913Fergus Falls sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Elizabeth.
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.
Between 128 and 204 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Elizabeth’s Wikipedia page.
Elizabeth’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Elizabethtown, 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).
In 1872, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Elizabeth’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1880 counted 128 people here.
One place: the Elizabeth Village Hall and Jail (listed 1984).
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 (3), 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), 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.
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