Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1880.
Fairmont Township dates its founding to 1857 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fairmont Township.
Fairmont was established in 1857. The city's name reflects its elevated town site. A post office has been operational at Fairmont since 1858. Fairmont was incorporated as a city on February 28, 1878, and its first city charter was adopted in 1902.
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 archiveThe house built upon a rock
In the archiveBoat landing -- Lake Sisseton
In the archiveWilken's Deluxe Cabin Court, Fairmont, Minnesota (76613)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fairmont 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 Fairmont 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 Fairmont Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 541 and 11,506 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairmont Township’s Wikipedia page.
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.
In 1857, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1880 counted 541 people here.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1908
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2026
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2021
2011
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2005